FAQs

Natural asset management is the practice of recognizing, valuing and protecting the services provided by natural ecosystems, organisms and landscapes through integration into asset management practices. 

Natural assets such as forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and parks support important services including:

• Water supply
• Flood mitigation
• Recreation
• Climate resilience
• Biodiversity
• Community well-being

The NAM Project helps ensure these services continue into the future as climate impacts such as drought, wildfire, and extreme weather increase. Residents, community members and elected officials should care about this work as this project is focused on developing strategies for ensuring these natural areas continue to serve the community without the need for costly engineered solutions, such as water treatment plants or storm sewers.

Following Board adoption, the NAM plan will serve as a roadmap for integrating natural assets into RDN decision-making. The plan will identify priority actions, partnerships, programs, policy directions and potential future investments that can be incorporated into asset management, climate adaptation implementation, land use planning, stewardship initiatives and annual work planning processes.

The NAM plan provides the information needed to manage natural assets more like other RDN assets by identifying the services they support, assessing climate-related risks, establishing management priorities, and identifying actions that can be incorporated into asset management, long-range planning, and climate adaptation initiatives. At the strategic level, the project helps answer the following questions:

1. What natural assets do we have?
2. What is the value of the services that natural assets provide?
3. What services do they support and what risks do they face?
4. What actions should we prioritize to sustain those services over the long-term?

The NAM Project is the next phase of the RDN's natural asset management program. It builds upon the existing natural asset inventory by updating inventory data, assessing climate risks and ecosystem services and developing a prioritized adaptation plan that can be integrated into the RDN's overall asset management and climate action work.

No. While RDN-owned natural assets are included, the majority of lands within the RDN are privately owned. As such, the NAM Project is intended to apply to both RDN-owned and privately-owned lands. 

The project includes assessing climate and other risks to natural assets by type and location where possible, refining risk ratings and developing a risk prioritization framework using a climate risk lens.

The project will identify natural assets that help communities adapt to climate impacts. The project will assess risks to those assets, and develop management actions that help sustain the existing level of services provided to the community and greater environment.

Not automatically. The project will define and document baseline levels of service for natural assets and establish key performance indicators to measure them. This may reveal opportunities to refine, enhance, or formally recognize levels of service associated with natural assets, but any decision to adopt new service levels would be considered separately by the RDN Board through future planning and budget decisions.

The project includes engagement with internal stakeholders, external partners, and the community. Information about engagement opportunities will be shared as the project progresses. 

Feedback will help inform management priorities, technical information, asset classification, condition and risk assessment, valuation, level of service considerations, and priority management actions. 

The project is jointly funded by a grant received from the Green Municipal Fund in the amount of $103,350 and $55,650 RDN contribution approved in the 2026 budget.

The project is intended to help understand how natural assets contribute to cost-effective and resilient service delivery. Cost savings and/or avoiding the need for more expensive engineered infrastructure could result in the long-term following future RDN Board consideration of updated or new policies.

Participation provides an opportunity to share information and perspectives that can help improve the plan. The NAM project may also provide information that is useful in making informed private land management decisions.