A recent project in the Town of Pelham, Ontario, reveals how much communities in the Greater Golden Horseshoe region rely on natural infrastructure, especially the intact ecosystems that make up Ontario’s Greenbelt.
In a first-of-its-kind study for the Town of Pelham, Council and residents understand the significant contribution — over $585 million — local forests and wetlands provide directly to the community in stormwater management and flood control services.
“Pelham is proud to be a leader in including natural infrastructure as part of our asset management plan,” said Mayor Marvin Junkin. “With the success of this project, we hope that other municipalities will follow our example and find ways to preserve and protect natural infrastructure assets within their boundaries.”
The Pelham Greenbelt Natural Asset Management Project also outlines how the local government can preserve services for the long-term using asset management strategies —usually applied to grey infrastructure like roads and bridges — that have been adapted to include nature in overall planning.
“With urban hubs, rich farmland, and expansive natural areas, managing the infrastructure needs of Pelham to accommodate existing residential areas and anticipated growth can be challenging. Accounting for the many ways in which natural and man-made infrastructure work in tandem provides Pelham with a unique opportunity to identify cost-saving measures and best practices moving forward.”
Dr. Pamela Duesling, Director of Planning, Town of Pelham, ON
Health of the Greenbelt has Wide-Reaching Impacts
The project area went beyond just the Town of Pelham to include significant natural lands that intersect with the Ontario Greenbelt, defined by the ecological boundary of the Upper Twelve Mile Creek subwatershed.
- Upper Twelve Mile Creek is a largely untouched ecosystem that boasts diverse flora and fauna, unique geological landscapes and a self-sustaining population of Brook Trout. Stewarding the health of the watershed is crucial for maintaining high-quality groundwater for Pelham, while mitigating erosion and controlling floods.
- Ontario’s Greenbelt covers 2 million acres of protected farmlands, forests, wetlands, and rivers; the Greenbelt provides an immense amount of ecosystem services to the wider region, and its health affects drinking water quality for more than 7 million Canadians.
These intact natural areas provide services not just to Pelham citizens, but the wider region. Currently, the total built (i.e., impervious) area is estimated at over 20% of the subwatershed—continuing to increase the total built area would degrade water quality and weaken the ability of natural assets to act as a buffer against climate change climate.
For natural infrastructure, it is always more worthwhile to protect what we already have, because the alternatives are more costly and less effective in meeting the needs of communities.
The Pelham Greenbelt project is a strong example of how unique natural assets are. They cannot simply be ‘replaced’ by a different natural area, as the original assets are already providing services (and co-benefits) which that locale relies on. Connected, continuous ecosystems are also stronger and provide a wider range of services than disconnected greenspaces.
Valuing Stormwater Services in Ontario
The project includes an evaluation the stormwater services provided by natural assets in the subwatershed, allowing Pelham to compare the estimated current and future costs of replacing these ecosystems with engineered solutions against the benefits they provide.
The analysis showed that preserving the watershed has a strong advantage: it would cost the municipality $585,859,327 to replace the stormwater and flood management services that natural assets provide, compared to the capital costs to replicate these services using stormwater management ponds and low impact development (LID) unit.
Findings also highlight the vital role of wetlands to communities. In Pelham, stormwater management services provided by local wetlands costs 10 times more to replace than forest assets, as wetland systems are more complex and harder to replicate.
Stormwater management is only one of many ecosystem services that the Upper Twelve Mile Creek subwatershed provides. Different approaches and previous studies were used to assess the value of other priority services, specifically recreation, carbon sequestration, freshwater supply, and habitat provision. Natural assets provide an estimated $22.1 – $24.7 million a year in value across these four services.
A Path for Pelham—and an Example for Early-Stage Local Governments
This project is one of few studies of its kind completed, particularly for Ontario and on a watershed scale. By basing the approach in scalable natural asset management practices, the Pelham Greenbelt Project is a case example for other Ontario municipalities as they work to meet O.Reg 588/17 and integrate natural assets into their overall asset management programs.
Its unique scope means that project results can also be used to protect ecological connectivity and biodiversity across the municipality and the Greenbelt, which will only become more important as governments manage infrastructure and development needs against impacts from climate change.
As for the Town of Pelham, it is in a strong place to continue advancing natural asset management through proactive policies in both financial and asset management plans. Natural asset management is an ongoing process—the project includes recommendations to guide Pelham through next steps, aligning with their priorities and results from the study.
“This report positions Pelham council and staff to have a deeper understanding of the financial benefits of the Town’s many natural assets,” explained Town of Pelham CAO, David Cribbs. “From the long-term impact of a healthy tree canopy to the unmatched effectiveness of naturally occurring drainage systems, through evaluating and managing these assets, we ensure that they are considered through the lens that will ensure they are protected in the future.”
Detailed recommendations are available in the Technical Report, and the key takeaways can be applied to any community interested in progressing resilient, cost-effective service delivery through natural infrastructure:
1. Protect What You Can
It’s easier to protect existing ecosystems than it is to rehabilitate them if degraded. Actions can include policy reviews and bylaws to ensure natural areas are proactively management where possible; naturalization of priority areas; and continued efforts to secure or protect forests and wetlands.
2. Make Evidence-Based Decisions to Manage Natural Assets
Monitoring, management, and assessment activities are continuous, and local governments can benefit from using existing studies and increasing their capacity for regular data collection where possible. For Pelham, priority actions include identifying risks to erosion sites and formalizing their invasive species management.
3. Build Awareness and Partnerships
Many of the natural assets that provide services to Pelham residents are not owned by the Town of Pelham, and it does not have direct control over their management. Collaborative partnerships with neighbouring jurisdictions (rightsholders and stakeholders) and building awareness of the benefits of natural assets among its Council, staff, and the public is necessary to generate support and implement effective natural asset management strategies.
Read the full Pelham Greenbelt Project Report
Keep up-to-date with natural asset management in the Town of Pelham at engagingpelham.ca/mnamp.
