Guided by the best-available conservation science, the Nature Conservancy of Canada seeks to protect areas of natural diversity – like the Tall-Grass Prairie Natural Area in southeast Manitoba – for their intrinsic value, and for the benefit of our children and those after them.
Natural Area Conservation Planning
The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) focuses their work on specific landscapes throughout Canada that have been identified as important to biodiversity conservation, often through ecoregional-scale Conservation Blueprints and Ecoregional Assessments. Specific focal landscapes are referred to as Natural Areas (NA), and a Natural Area Conservation Plan (NACP) is developed for each.
The purpose of these plans is to act as strategic plans for conservation implementation and support decision making at inception and throughout the implementation period, so that limited conservation resources are used most efficiently. Through these plans, NCC seeks to identify desired conservation results; develop, prioritize, and implement activities that will lead to these results; track their progress; and adapt based on what they have learned. The scope of each plan encompasses the long-term conservation of all biodiversity in each NA.
Conservation planning requires recognition of the shifting nature of landscapes and NCC’s knowledge of them. This planning process is viewed as an iterative and ongoing, rather than a once-a-decade exercise.
Vision Statement
The Tall Grass Prairie Natural Area (TGPNA) represents one of the largest and last remaining tall-grass prairie landscapes in North America. The TGPNA forms the northern end of an international conservation corridor comprised of protected and managed prairies, wetlands, forests and streams. The local community takes pride in the area, and their actions contribute to its conservation. The local economy benefits through sustainable grazing and haying of natural lands, employment in the conservation sector, and by hosting an increasing number of ecotourists and researchers.