Terrestrial Natural Heritage

What is Terrestrial Natural Heritage?

Habitats such as wetlands, forests and grasslands are examples of natural heritage features of ecological and conservation importance on the landscape. They are an essential component of watershed health and some of them can have a strong influence on water quality and quantity. Other examples of terrestrial natural heritage features include alvar, beaches, bluffs, cliffs, and rock barren.

Our terrestrial natural heritage program applies the basic principles of conservation biology and landscape ecology to assess the status of the natural heritage system. Ultimately, the aim is to conserve biological diversity and ecological health at landscape, vegetation community and species levels.

The work includes:

• Use of the Ecological Land Classification System for southern Ontario to provide a baseline of community types present in the watershed
• Use of geographic information systems (GIS) to determine the total cover and distribution of major habitat types, and to assess their landscape characteristics such as patch size, shape, and connectivity
• Identification of vegetation types and species of concern, and creating a database to record and map their presence
• Field surveys of amphibians and birds as part of a monitoring program to use these as indicators of ecological health and change, and to relate species presence to habitat patch characteristics
• Identification of key components of the terrestrial natural heritage system as part of individual watershed studies
• Site assessments as required as part of the plan review process

The terrestrial natural heritage work also includes identification and protection of significant features according the Provincial Policy Statement, and ensuring compliance with provincial initiatives the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan and the Greenbelt Plan. In addition there is an ongoing dialogue with other conservation authorities, non-profit organizations and the province to ensure compatibility between the various approaches being used to define and evaluate natural heritage systems from the local to the provincial scale.