A conservation authority is a local, community-based natural resource management agency
[
] based in
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, Canada. Conservation authorities represent groupings of municipalities on a
watershed basis and work in partnership with other agencies to carry out natural resource management activities within their respective watersheds, on behalf of their member municipalities and the Province of Ontario.
The 1946 ''
Conservation Authorities Act
The ''Conservation Authorities Act'' (french: Loi sur les offices de protection de la nature) was created by the Ontario Provincial Legislature in 1946 to ensure the conservation, restoration and responsible management of hydrological features t ...
'' provides the means by which municipalities within a common
watershed can petition the Province of Ontario to form a conservation authority for that watershed to undertake programs of natural resource management. Conservation authorities are established as corporate bodies under the Act.
[https://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_90c27_e.htm Conservation Authorities Act, e-Laws.] There are currently 36 conservation authorities in Ontario.
Conservation authorities are mandated to develop programs to further the conservation, restoration, development and management of Ontario's natural resources.
They carry out programs in natural hazard management on behalf of the province and municipalities, and may also carry out other programs that serve municipal interests, such as nature education, land conservation and management, recreation programs, and research.
Management programs generally occur in lands known as ''conservation areas'', ''restoration areas'' or ''wilderness areas'', though not all lands managed are necessarily designated as such.
Conservation authorities' primary responsibilities are in natural hazard management and environmental protection. While all conservation authorities carry out natural hazard management programs, their roles in environmental protection vary significantly because these are determined by local municipalities.
Structure
Each conservation authority is governed by a board of directors made up of representatives from its member municipalities. The number of representatives each municipality can have is determined by the ''Conservation Authorities Act'' based on its population within the watershed.
Board members act on behalf of the municipalities they represent. Boards collectively determine the direction of authorities including the programs they will carry out and operational decisions throughout the year. For most matters, each member is entitled to one vote, and decisions are made by majority vote.
For voting on non-matching levies (levies against municipalities which are not matched by the Province), voting is done using a weighted vote, where each municipality has the same share of the vote as the share of the budget that it pays, except that no municipality can have more than 50% of the vote. If a municipality pays more than 50% of the budget, its share of the vote is capped at 50% and the shares of other municipalities are increased proportionately.
Conservation authorities are administered by a General Manager or Chief Administrative Officer who reports to the Board.
Funding
Conservation authorities' funding comes from a variety of sources. Conservation authorities have the power to generate revenue through fees and other self-generated revenue, and also the power to levy their member municipalities. As registered charities, they are eligible for certain government grants. Under Section 39 of the ''Conservation Authorities Act'', the Province may also provide grants to conservation authorities.
Historically, conservation authorities' funding was split evenly between the Province and member municipalities. In the mid-1990s, under the ''Red Tape Reduction Act'' of the Progressive Conservative government, conservation authorities' provincial funding was drastically reduced from more than million annually divided among all the authorities to $8 million, and the Province reduced the scope of its support to natural hazard management programs and programs for protecting provincially significant conservation land, although the $8 million in funding was exclusively for natural hazard management. Other programs were considered to be only in the local interest and the Province stated that those programs could be funded by municipalities if the municipalities wished them to continue. At the same time, the government provided conservation authorities with new powers to charge fees and generate revenue. As a result, most conservation authorities became more entrepreneurial to generate the revenue needed to continue their local programming. Funding was further cut by 5% to $7.6 million in 2000. In 2012, under the Liberal government, funding was cut again by 2% to $7.448 million, and in 2019, under the Progressive Conservative government, it was cut again by 48% to $3.58 million.
The Province also provides funding to conservation authorities for the implementation of the ''Clean Water Act'', brought in as a result of the inquiry into the E. coli outbreak in Walkerton in 2000 which resulted in six deaths, which is meant to identify threats to and protect drinking water sources.
Annual budgets are determined by the board of directors. The portion to be funded by municipal levy (payment by member municipalities) is divided among the participating municipalities according to a formula set out in Ontario Regulation 670/00 which is based on the total value of all lands within each municipality, multiplied by modifiers in the regulation and by the proportion of the municipality which falls within the authority's jurisdiction, as a proportion of the total modified value within the authority's jurisdiction. For example, if 30% of a municipality's area falls within an authority's jurisdiction, and the total value of land in that municipality after applying modifiers is 10 million dollars, 3 million dollars is the value used to calculated the municipality's share of the levy (30% x 10 million). If the total value in the jurisdiction, after adding together all such values for all the participating municipalities, is 20 million dollars, the municipality's share of the levy is 15% (3 million divided by 20 million).
In 2013, municipal levies accounted for approximately 48% of all conservation authorities' revenue; self-generated revenue accounted for 40%; provincial funding, including the natural hazards management funding as well as ''Clean Water Act'' funding and various other grants for special projects, accounted for 10%; and federal funding, for special projects and Areas of Concern, 2%.
Role in natural hazard management
Each conservation authority has a ''Regulation of Development, Interference with Wetlands and Alterations to Shorelines and Watercourses'' under the ''Conservation Authorities Act'' which conforms to a provincial template regulation.
Under these regulations, conservation authorities regulate development and other activities in and near natural hazard areas such as shorelines, floodplains, unstable slopes, wetlands, and other hazardous lands, such as
karst
Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...
topography and
Leda clay
Quick clay, also known as Leda clay and Champlain Sea clay in Canada, is any of several distinctively sensitive glaciomarine clays found in Canada, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Finland, the United States and other locations around the world. The cla ...
. Development is prohibited in areas designated by the regulation unless permission is granted by the conservation authority. Landowners or developers may need permits from a conservation authority, similar to a building permit, to do work such as constructing buildings or placing fill in these areas. These regulations were put in place after the devastating impacts of
Hurricane Hazel
Hurricane Hazel was the deadliest, second costliest, and most intense hurricane of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm killed at least 469 people in Haiti before striking the United States near the border between North and Sout ...
in 1954.
[http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?did=9231]
Conservation authorities also do flood forecasting and warning, flood and erosion control, ice management and drought programs, and contribute to municipal land use planning.
Role in environmental protection
Conservation authorities may have programs to protect local ecosystems and contribute to the quality of life in communities throughout the province. Some of the activities conservation authorities may include:
*Water resource management - Conservation authorities carry out research and activities to manage Ontario's water resources on a watershed basis, maintain secure supplies of clean water, and contribute to municipal planning processes.
*
Stewardship
Stewardship is an ethical value that embodies the responsible planning and management of resources. The concepts of stewardship can be applied to the environment and nature, economics, health, property, information, theology, cultural resources e ...
- conservation authorities collectively own about 146,000 hectares of land in Ontario. They also may work with landowners to plant trees or make other environmental improvements to private property, such as helping farmers improve drainage systems.
*
Recreation
Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasur ...
- conservation authorities own over 400 conservation areas for public use, with 8,400 campsites and almost 2,500 kilometers of trails.
*Science, data collection and monitoring - conservation authorities may collect a variety of information about their watersheds, including about water quality, land use, and types of lands (e.g., amount of wetlands and forest cover).
*
Education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...
- through school programs, at conservation authority facilities, and through participation at local events and festivals
List of conservation authorities
Conservation Ontario
Conservation Ontario is the umbrella organization which represents all of the conservation authorities in Ontario. Conservation Ontario is the network of Ontario’s 36 Conservation Authorities.
Conservation Authorities are local, watershed m ...
is the umbrella
organization
An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose.
The word is derived from ...
for all 36 regional Conservation Authorities in the Province of Ontario:
*
Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority
Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) is a local conservation agency named in the Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it ...
*
Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority
The Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority is one of 36 conservation authorities in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is headquartered in Kingston, Ontario The authority was established by an Order in Council in December 1964 via the Conserv ...
*
Catfish Creek Conservation Authority
Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive ...
*
Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority
Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority (CLOCA), is a conservation authority established under the Conservation Authorities Act of Ontario in 1958. It forms a partnership with the Province of Ontario, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the ...
*
Conservation Halton
Conservation Halton, also known as the Halton Region Conservation Authority, is a conservation authority established under the Conservation Authorities Act of Ontario. It forms a partnership with the Province of Ontario, the Ministry of Natural ...
*
Credit Valley Conservation
Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) is one of 36 conservation authorities in Ontario, Canada, responsible for protecting, restoring, and managing natural resources at the watershed level. CVC operates within the Credit River watershed and smaller ...
*
Crowe Valley Conservation Authority Crowe may refer to:
* Crowe (surname), origin of the name and a list of people
* Crowe baronets, a former baronetcy of England
* Crowe Global, an accounting, consulting, and technology firm from the USA
* Crowe Lake, Peterborough County, Ontari ...
*
Essex Region Conservation Authority
The Essex Region Conservation Authority (ERCA) is a public-sector agency with delegated provincial authority to address risks of natural hazards, relating to flooding and erosion.
ERCA was established in 1973 to manage the natural resources of th ...
*
Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority
The Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority is a conservation authority in the Canadian province of Ontario. It was established in October 1946 via the Conservation Authorities Act, and is a member authority of Conservation Ontario.
The authority ...
*
Grand River Conservation Authority
*
Grey Sauble Conservation
Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed ...
*
Hamilton Conservation Authority
The Hamilton Conservation Authority maintains the greenspace, trails, parks and some attractions in the Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
The Hamilton Conservation Authority (HCA) has managed the natural environment in partnership with the City of Hami ...
*
Kawartha Conservation
Kawartha Conservation is a conservation authority in Ontario, Canada, serving the watershed of the Kawartha Lakes.
Conservation areas
*Durham East Cross Forest Conservation Area
*Fleetwood Creek Natural Area
*Ken Reid Conservation Area
*Pigeon Ri ...
*
Kettle Creek Conservation Authority
A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a type of pot specialized for boiling water, commonly with a ''lid'', ''spout'', and ''handle'', or a small electric kitchen appliance of similar shape that functions in a self-contained m ...
*
Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority
The Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority is a conservation authority established in 1951, and is among the oldest in the Canadian province of Ontario.
The LSRCA is responsible for the waters, wildlife, and plants within the Lake Simcoe wate ...
*
Lakehead Region Conservation Authority Lakehead can refer to:
Geographic
* The head of Lake Superior (and of the Great Lakes), typically referring to the Thunder Bay–Duluth region
* Lakehead, California, a census-designated place
* Lakehead-Lakeshore, California, a former census-de ...
*
Long Point Region Conservation Authority The Long Point Region Conservation Area is an agency of the province of Ontario, Canada, formed to preserve the volume of flow, and purity, of the watercourses that flow into Lake Erie, near Long Point.
Rivers that flow through the region include ...
*
Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority
Lower may refer to:
*Lower (surname)
*Lower Township, New Jersey
*Lower Receiver (firearms)
*Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England
See also
*Nizhny
Nizhny (russian: Ни́жний; masculine), Nizhnyaya (; feminine), or Nizhneye (russian: Ни́ ...
*
Lower Trent Conservation
Lower may refer to:
*Lower (surname)
*Lower Township, New Jersey
*Lower Receiver (firearms)
*Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England
See also
*Nizhny
Nizhny (russian: Ни́жний; masculine), Nizhnyaya (; feminine), or Nizhneye (russian: Ни́ ...
*
Maitland Valley Conservation Authority
Maitland is an English and Scottish surname. It arrived in Britain after the Norman conquest of 1066. There are two theories about its source. It is either a nickname reference to "bad temper/disposition" (Old French, ''Maltalent''; Anglo Norm ...
*
Mattagami Region Conservation Authority Mattagami may refer to:
* Mattagami River, Northeastern Ontario, Canada
* Mattagami First Nation, situated near the Mattagami River
See also
* Matagami
Matagami (, ) is a small town in Quebec, Canada. It is located north of Amos, on Matagami La ...
*
Mississippi Valley Conservation
The Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority (MVCA) (formerly Mississippi Valley Conservation (MVC)) is a conservation authority in the province of Ontario. It is headquartered in Carleton Place, Ontario and serves a 4450 km watershed locat ...
*
Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority
The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority is one of 36 conservation authorities in the Canadian province of Ontario. It was established via the Conservation Authorities Act, and is a member authority of Conservation Ontario.
The authority is ...
*
Nickel District Conservation Authority The Nickel District Conservation Authority is a conservation authority in Greater Sudbury, Ontario. Formed in 1973 by the merger of two former conservation authorities in the region, the Junction Creek Conservation Authority in Sudbury and the Whit ...
*
North Bay-Mattawa Conservation Authority
The North Bay-Mattawa Conservation Authority (NBMCA) is one of 36 conservation authorities in Ontario, Canada consisting of 16 Conservation Areas.
It is responsible for conservation areas within North Bay, but also extending into the surroundi ...
*
Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority
*
Otonabee Region Conservation Authority
The Otonabee Region Conservation Authority (ORCA), sometimes shortened to Otonabee Conservation, is a conservation authority in Ontario, Canada. Established in 1959 and based in Peterborough, its member municipalities include Asphodel-Norwood, C ...
*
Quinte Conservation
The Quinte Conservation is a conservation authority in the province of Ontario. It is headquartered in Belleville, Ontario. Quinte Conservation was created as a result of the amalgamation of three local conservation authorities in 1996; Moira Rive ...
*
Raisin Region Conservation Authority
*
Rideau Valley Conservation Authority
The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA) is an inter-municipal environmental protection and advisory agency that works with local municipalities, government agencies, special interest groups and the general public to protect the natural reso ...
*
Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority
The Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority (SVCA) is a conservation authority in Ontario, Canada. It operates under the Conservation Authorities Act of Ontario. It is a corporate body, through which municipalities, landowners and other organizati ...
*
Sault Ste. Marie Region Conservation Authority
*
South Nation Conservation
*
St. Clair Region Conservation Authority
The St. Clair Region Conservation Authority is a conservation authority in the province of Ontario. It is headquartered in Strathroy, Ontario. The conservation authority's jurisdiction covers all of the waterways that feed into the St. Clair Riv ...
*
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority
The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) is a conservation authority in southern Ontario, Canada. It owns about of land in the Toronto region, and it employs more than 400 full-time employees and coordinates more than 3,000 voluntee ...
*
Upper Thames River Conservation Authority
The Upper Thames River Conservation Authority is a body based in London, Ontario, Canada. It was created in 1947. It was responsible for the construction of the Fanshawe Dam, completed in the 1950s, to control flooding from the Thames River (On ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
Conservation Ontario e-Laws. ServiceOntario. Government of Ontario. Retrieved 2011-05-18.
Ministry of Natural Resources Ministry of Natural Resources. Government of Ontario. Retrieved 2014-08-08.
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Environment of Ontario
Ontario government departments and agencies
Natural resources agencies in Canada
1980 in the environment
1980 establishments in Ontario
Environmental organizations established in 1980
Government agencies established in 1980