What­ever may be the expe­ri­ence of off­set­ting in other parts of the world, in Nia­gara it is sim­ply a scheme to reduce pro­tec­tion for provin­cially sig­nif­i­cant wet­lands. This is because the dis­cus­sion in Nia­gara is part of a review of wet­land pol­icy across the province. Now the wet­land pol­icy does not per­mit site alter­ation in provin­cially sig­nif­i­cant wet­land. This could change as a result of the pol­icy review.

The wet­lands in Nia­gara that are actu­ally vul­ner­a­ble to devel­op­ment are all swamp forests. Enor­mous tracts are owned by devel­op­ers both within and out­side urban bound­aries. An off­set­ting scheme was pro­posed in 2008 for the Ram­sey Road Wood­lot in Nia­gara Falls but this was nixed when field research dis­cov­ered Blue-Spotted Salman­ders and Black Gum Trees.