When NAI first began working with local governments, inventory projects were generally confined within a specific area, often at the sub-watershed level. While this approach usually aligns with the local government’s jurisdiction, there are notable advantages to assessing natural assets at the watershed scale. 

Working at the watershed/ecosystem level is the most effective way to manage natural assets.  Parcelling out sections of a watershed makes restoration efforts null if those upstream pollute or mismanage their waterways. Calculating ecosystem services across an entire, connected watershed offers a truer picture of the health and service value of natural assets. 

Read about NAI’s first watershed-scale project in Comox Valley, BC.

2022 Grindstone Creek Watershed Natural Asset Management Project

The Grindstone Creek Watershed Natural Asset Management (NAM) Project is the first of its kind in Ontario, bringing partners from across jurisdictions to address their shared watershed and regional flooding.

In 2019, with support from the Greenbelt Foundation, Conservation Halton, the Cities of Hamilton and Burlington, and the Royal Botanical Gardens partnered with NAI on a landmark project for the province. The purpose was to explore the value of natural assets in Grindstone Creek in addressing natural resource issues, with a focus on stormwater management against increasing pressures from climate change. Another key goal was to assist partners in incorporating natural assets in local financial planning and asset management.

The Grindstone Creek watershed and its sub-watersheds are located partially within the Cities of Burlington and Hamilton and the Regional Municipality of Halton. At 91 km², the watershed is also a part of Ontario’s Greenbelt, and contains the greatest diversity of wildlife of any Canadian Forest Zone, including species found nowhere else in the country.

Findings reveal the natural assets provide immense service value through stormwater management and co-benefits to the region and provides an example of how beneficial cross-jurisdiction collaboration is to watershed management.

Partners were provided with an inventory and framework to pursue next steps, including:

• Enhancing collaborative monitoring
• Incorporating natural assets into asset management policies and a watershed plan
• Expanding modelling to identify priority areas for restoration and management activities to reduce downstream flooding

The three-year project represents a new way forward to address the impacts of climate change and reduced municipal budgets. The resulting inventory and recommendations by NAI in the report provide a case study and framework for watershed management in Ontario and beyond.

Reports

Water Canada Award winner – Grindstone Creek Watershed Project (category: Stormwater)

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