Stephanie Merrill, of the Conservation Council, said it remains 'open season' for some wetlands. (CBC)

Environmentalists are disappointed with what they say is a lack of detail in the provincial government's long-awaited wetlands announcement Monday afternoon in Saint John.

Environment Minister Margaret-Ann Blaney was expected to reveal a new plan for managing the province's wetlands.

But instead she outlined a number of steps the government plans to take in the future, including forming a group to create a new wetlands map.

The current map leaves some provincial wetlands open to development, said Stephanie Merrill, the fresh water co-ordinator for the Conservation Council of New Brunswick.

"It's grossly incomplete, and it basically says that our definition of a wetland is if it's mapped, with no regard to what's actually existing on the landscape," she said. "If it doesn't exist on the map, it virtually doesn't exist."

Blaney scrapped parts of the policy almost a year ago after complaints from some businesses and landowners that the policy was too restrictive.

Environment Minister Margaret-Ann Blaney said the province's new wetlands strategy is an ongoing process. (CBC)

Blaney toured the province last year, listening to what citizens and groups thought about how wetlands should be managed in the future.

She had pledged to have a new plan ready around this time.

On Monday, Blaney told CBC News she doesn't have a timeline for the new map. It's a work in progress, she said.

The prospect of more stakeholder discussions got mixed reviews.

"Sure, we can always come to the table and keep discussing this, but in the meantime it's still open season for wetlands that don't require any sort of permitting process at all," said Merrill.

"I'm just hoping the process speeds up and we can get some solutions," said fellow environmentalist Vanessa Roy-MacDougall.

Developers optimistic

But Hampton builder Matt Hughes doesn't mind delays in the wetland policy since developments can proceed under the old rules for now and be grandfathered in later if they are in violation of the new rules.

"We're hopeful today is a good day for us," he said.

Prior to the announcement, Majid Debly said he has high hopes for what Blaney’s announcement will mean for his Saint John construction business. He said the old system left some of his projects up in the air.

"It just made it so every piece of land you ever tried to develop would be under scrutiny, and you have to go out and spend all this money to prove that it's not a wetland,” Debly said.

The New Brunswick government implemented its wetlands protection policy in 2002 and since that time many different groups have expressed their frustration with the system.

The latest controversy, however, started over the designation levels assigned under the new wetlands policy. Those designations pushed the overall percentage of wetland area, or potential wetland area, in the province to 18 per cent from four per cent.

Under those rules, a developer would need to do a study to determine that a parcel of land is not a wetland before any development would go ahead.

For instance, Moncton estimated that 40 per cent of city-owned land could be considered a wetland or potential wetland.

The environment minister dropped that designation system and moved the buffer zone back to 30 metres after some public opposition.

Environmentalists say those changes went too far, leaving some provincial wetlands unprotected.

The provincial government has said the new plan will clarify the process for developing land.

The changes could have significant implications for the future of wetlands around the province, according to the Conservation Council.

"That has huge consequences for flood control, and filtration of our groundwater recharge systems, and things of that nature,” Merrill said.