The Winnipeg Metropolitan Region (WMR, population ~874,290) is the agency tasked to coordinate a regional approach to land use planning and infrastructure development for Manitoba’s capital region. The WMR constitutes 18 municipalities, including the City of Winnipeg.

The region is located in Treaty One Territory, which is the traditional territories of the Cree, Dakota, Dene, Ojibway, and Oji-Cree First Nations, and the homeland of the Red River Métis Nation. NAI had previously worked with WMR and the Chiefs of Treaty One to explore how natural asset management could be applied in an Indigenous context, and develop a land, water and natural resources inventory to support collaborative decision-making and land management. See The Journey So Far (2022) for details.

Following the 2021 pilot, NAI worked with WMR to maximize their natural asset management efforts by identifying and prioritizing management actions related to natural assets that benefit species at risk (SAR), critical habitat (CH) and the provision of core local government services. The project took place between February 2022 and July 2023. 

The project results provide business case (in the form of a cost-benefit analysis) for practical actions rooted in existing planning and governance frameworks that, if acted upon, will result in the protection of SAR/CH and the provision of important ecosystem services. This project established a methodology based on financial analysis best practices that can be used to communicate key information to decision-makers when developing local government budget priorities while emphasizing the protection of important services ecosystems provide.