NAI Roadmap Program gives Alberta city a leg up.
Often referred to as a “city within a park,” Red Deer, Alberta, takes pride in its natural areas. From the Red Deer River to the multi-season Waskasoo Park system, nature is central to how residents live and, increasingly, to how the City plans for its future. Now, Red Deer is taking nature to the next level by completing NAI’s Natural Asset Management Roadmap Program.
“I think our staff got a lot of value from the Roadmap workshops.
It covered everything from the basics of what natural assets are and why they’re important, and we were able to take what we learned and align it with what Red Deer stands for.”
Calvin Kwan, Red Deer’s Community Services Planning Coordinator
While the Roadmap Program marks Red Deer’s first formal natural asset management initiative, the City has long been active in managing its greenspaces. With the Roadmap, they are working on how to incorporate natural assets into their park operations and climate resilience planning.
For Erin Hanrahan-Klassen, Environmental Program Specialist in the City’s Community Development branch, the timing of the program was no coincidence.
“We recently completed our Climate Adaptation Strategy which had some focus on natural assets, so when the program came up it seemed like a great time to look at how the City was managing its natural assets overall.”
The urgency was hard to ignore. Red Deer’s Climate Adaptation Strategy estimates that climate change could cause $28 million in annual losses by the 2050s—up to $53 million by the 2080s—from damage to natural assets and related ecosystem services alone. Understanding the full value of natural infrastructure, and managing it proactively, is no longer optional.
Red Deer’s Roadmap for Natural Asset Management
Over 100 local governments and conservation agencies across Canada have now participated in the Natural Asset Management Roadmap Program, an initiative designed to help organizations identify opportunities, address data gaps, and develop high-level action plans for advancing NAM in their own context. For Red Deer, joining this cohort provided an opportunity for them to take the reins on prioritizing their natural assets.
Kwan described the workshops as what they needed to get started, especially for a team spanning multiple departments that may not have had a shared vocabulary around natural assets.
“What we really valued from the workshop was getting aligned on what ‘natural assets’ are and what we think they are. It gave us the opportunity to make a very detailed picture on what we currently have at the City when it comes to protecting our natural assets. It’s kind of like a one-stop shop for everything we can refer to, even as we move through later phases of a project.”
Hanrahan-Klassen appreciated how the process helped them identify strengths and opportunities in existing work to support dedicate natural asset management. As she explained, “Sometimes it can feel like work is growing stagnant, but having the opportunity to lay out everything that has been done and is being planned showed us where we still needed to put some more effort. It made it feel less daunting to start with what’s already working.”
With the Roadmap Underway, What Comes Next?
Red Deer is currently in the process of finalizing and prioritizing the actions in their roadmap, and two priority actions have already risen to the top.
The first is to develop a formal Natural Asset Management Plan, which involves more detailed considerations and goal setting to integrate natural assets as a part of overall operations and infrastructure planning.
The second is to establish a more proactive approach to GIS data management. Kwan explained that the next step is building systems that keep that data current and actionable.
“We know what natural assets are out there and their age, but it’s coming up with a way to streamline the process of updating GIS info, like having field staff be able to make reports on their cell phones.”
Red Deer’s Advice to Local Governments
For other communities considering the Roadmap Program, especially those in the early stages of natural asset management, Kwan and Hanrahan-Klassen have three tips on how to get the most out of the exercise.
- Pay close attention at the start
“Learning the natural asset management definitions and getting that base understanding from the first meeting is crucial to the project, because you need to be able to communicate to whichever department you’re including in this,” stressed Kwan. “If people aren’t completely, 100% in understanding of what those definitions are and what we’re doing it’s going to be very difficult to move forward.”
Hanrahan-Klassen added that the project should be positioned as a collaborative effort across your municipality, as natural asset management relies on many perspectives. “Inclusion of those perspectives from the beginning will build trust and relationships, allowing for better conversations and planning.”
- Run your own internal brainstorming session
The Roadmap Program includes a meeting with NAI the and local government staff to identify and collaborate on goals to include in the roadmap, nut your discussion should continue offline.
“We’re holding an action planning workshop internally at the City,” said Kwan. “It’s going very well at the moment.”
As an interdisciplinary practice, natural asset management relies on expertise from fields such as engineering, finance, ecology, and land use planning. Kwan encourages others to hold their own city-wide brainstorm to further refine ideas and build a more comprehensive roadmap.
- Start with what’s already working
Hanrahan-Klassen believes that it was easier to build momentum by identifying the natural asset work that’s already happening across your organization, even if it hasn’t been labelled as ‘NAM’.
“We like to start with what is strong and not what is wrong,” she stated. “Oftentimes you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Taking a look at the work you’ve already done allows for recognition, and you might be further along than you think.”
Red Deer is just one of a growing group of Prairie local governments working with natural infrastructure, and there is support available for others looking to do the same! IISD’s Natural Infrastructure for Water Solutions (NIWS) program offers a number of resources and expertise to advance local governments natural infrastructure projects across Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.
Ready to kickstart natural asset management in your community?
Apply to the 2026 Natural Asset Management Roadmap Program today!
