The transformation of the Holland Marsh and the dynamics of wetland loss: a historical political ecological approach

In an era of ostensibly enlightened ecological stewardship, it is concerning to say the least that wetland destruction continues seemingly unabated. The temptation is to frame the renewed threat to wetlands across Ontario (and elsewhere) as a matter of simple economics. Indeed, those at the center of some of the most recent conflicts have used economistic language and rationales to justify the potential drainage. However, I argue that economic factors are only the outward expression of a deeper-seated range of socionatural processes which render wetlands (and other ecologically frail landscapes) legible as places to transform and destroy for intentional human exploitation. Through a historical examination of the conditions that led up to the drainage of the Holland Marsh, this paper highlights the discursive and material work that goes into wetland loss and the transformation of landscapes. The paper draws primarily on archived materials and historical newspaper articles to demonstrate that the destruction of wetland and creation of farmland in the Holland Marsh was facilitated and enabled by a complex intermingling of modernity and colonialism, the flow of ideas from other jurisdictions, amenable institutional configurations, and opportunities emerging from extant geo-political circumstances.