Manitoba Habitat Conservancy
The Conservation Trust
Since its inception in 2019, the Conservation Trust has partnered with NCC, investing almost $1.5M into 17 conservation projects to date. These projects have spanned the Trust funding categories of Habitat and Wildlife, Innovation, Conservation Planning and Connecting People with Nature, highlighting the diversity of work that NCC is undertaking and its complementary goals of both protecting habitat and increasing public awareness about the importance of conservation in the face of rapid biodiversity loss and climate change.
The Conservation Trust is delivered by Manitoba Habitat Conservancy (MHC). Supported by the Province of Manitoba, Trust funds provide opportunities to improve peoples’ connection to nature, enhance wildlife populations and habitats, and address water and soil conservation needs across Manitoba. The $204 million Provincial endowment was established to create the Conservation, GROW, and Wetland Grow Trusts. The Winnipeg Foundation holds the endowment from which the annual interest revenues will, forever, support conservation projects in Manitoba.
See mbhabitat.ca/the-conservation-trust for more information about the Trusts.
Community Knowledge Exchange (2024)
Connecting People to Nature Category
With the support of Conservation Trust, the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s (NCC’s) Community Knowledge Exchange will foster relational growth among Manitobans as they share the ways in which they care about our amazing natural landscapes. This program will facilitate habitat stewardship activities, two-way knowledge sharing, and community gatherings that affirm the personal connections our communities have with nature and strengthen a shared commitment to conservation in this province. This project will deliver 17 events, improve seven trail systems by installing 16 signs, hire three staff and contractors, one joint community relations team, and connect 1375 people with nature.
Interlake Habitat Protection and Planning (2024)
Habitat & Wildlife Category
This project will bring together partners to better protect and manage the working landscape of Manitoba’s south-central Interlake region. By drawing together local and traditional knowledge with surveys and assessments, the partners will develop plans and best management practices (BMPs) for this unique landscape. This project will protect at least 480 acres of habitat, collect data on over 2000 acres of land, and create plans and BMPs that will influence over 3,000 acres of grassland, wetland, and forest habitats.
Enhancing Grazing Systems to Support Grassland Biodiversity (2024)
Habitat & Wildlife Category
This project will improve livestock grazing systems to maintain biodiversity and improve habitat health on NCC lands in western Manitoba. Through design, establishment, and maintenance of grazing systems, NCC will achieve these outcomes on 647 acres of grassland, wetland and forest habitats. To maintain the history of grazing management and improve management practices to benefit grassland-obligate species, NCC will secure a 377 acre project supporting grassland and wetland under grazing management.
An integrated approach to restoring mixed-grass prairie on Yellow Quill Prairie (2024)
Habitat & Wildlife Category
With support from Conservation Trust, the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) proposes to pilot an integrated management approach to enhance biodiversity and restore historic extent and connectivity of mixed-grass prairie. On our Yellow Quill Prairie project, NCC plans to restore 50 acres of forest encroachment to mixed-grass prairie and enhance 100 acres of existing mixed-grass prairie in areas that burned in a 2021 wildfire through woody vegetation control, prescribed fire, and invasive species control. In addition, this project will contribute to resilient landscapes and durable outcomes by conserving 276 acres that supports native prairie, forest, riparian, and wetland habitat in the Assiniboine Delta Natural Area.
Enhancing Grazing Systems to Support Grassland Biodiversity (2023)
Habitat & Wildlife Category
This project will improve livestock grazing systems to maintain biodiversity and improve habitat health on NCC lands in central and western Manitoba. Through design, establishment, and maintenance of grazing systems, NCC will achieve these outcomes on 1746 acres of grassland, wetland and forest habitats. To maintain the history of grazing management and improve management practices to benefit grassland-obligate species, NCC will accept a 161-acre land donation.
Grasslands Education Program (2023)
Connecting People to Nature Category
Through the support of Conservation Trust, the Grasslands Education Program will inspire people to take action for grassland conservation through the delivery of 11 conservation events, 10 in-class activities, two interpretive events, two virtual education events, the growth of seven Indigenous partnerships, six public engagement events, two new interpretive sites, and one Indigenous community engagement workshop. These components will both inspire and empower communities to engage in grassland conservation.
Improving grazing management systems and conserving wetland and forest habitat in the Interlake Region of Manitoba (2023)
Habitat & Wildlife Category
This project will improve livestock grazing systems to increase biodiversity and improve habitat health on NCC lands in Manitoba’s Interlake Region. Through the establishment and maintenance of grazing systems, NCC will achieve these outcomes on approximately 4,350 acres of grassland, wetland and forest habitats.
Enhancement of Riparian Habitat on Souris River Tributaries (Graham Creek and Jackson Creek) (2023)
Habitat & Wildlife Category
The Enhancement of Riparian Habitat on Souris River Tributaries (Graham Creek and Jackson Creek) project conserves and enhances riparian habitat contributing to hydrological integrity within the Souris River watershed. This project will enhance 25 acres of riparian habitat and 65 acres of wetland habitat, conserve 5 acres of wetland habitat, 40 acres of grassland habitat, and 62 acres of forest habitat, and install at least 4 km of fencing to exclude livestock from riparian areas within the Souris River watershed.
A turning point in Manitoba’s prescribed fire community: enhancing capacity and inter-agency cooperation (2022)
Habitat & Wildlife Category
A turning point in Manitoba’s prescribed fire community: enhancing capacity and inter-agency cooperation is a Nature Conservancy of Canada project that builds on NCC's current experience and prescribed fire partnerships to conduct prescribed fire through 5 prescribed fire events and enhance 285 acres. The project simultaneously creates sustainable processes and resources for project partners to increase their own capacity and implement prescribed fire across Manitoba.
Expanding native prairie seed production in support of a growing private & public land diversified restoration economy (2022)
Innovation Category
Expanding native prairie seed production in support of a growing private & public land diversified restoration economy is an innovative Nature Conservancy of Canada project that supports the development of a strategic plan to analysis and assess building capacity of field-grown native prairie seed production to help stabilize variability in supply, quality, and prices across the conservation community.
Enhancing soil health for the future using regenerative agriculture practices (2022)
Habitat & Wildlife Category
Annual soil cultivation for cropping can destroy soil structure making it prone to wind and water erosion, while perennial species help stabilize soil, improve structure and benefit both above and below ground ecosystem functions. With support from Conservation Trust, the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) established 335 acres of perennial vegetation cover on 3 formerly cultivated fields, enabling the improvement of soil health through regenerative agriculture practices. Match funding conserved 466 acres of upland grassland on the Lake Ranch property. This project helped improve local biodiversity, water availability, ecosystem services, carbon sequestration, and resilience to climate change.
Enhanced biodiversity-focused grazing systems (2022)
Habitat & Wildlife Category
This project enabled the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) to implement land management activities that will contribute to improving soil health and increasing soil carbon sequestration by managing grasslands with compatible grazing. Resilient grasslands support flood and drought mitigation measures, enhance soil health, contribute to biodiversity, and provide wildlife and ecosystem benefits. Having these projects available for grazing also contributes to local economies through collaboration with agriculture producers & partners.
This project resulted in 3 grazing management systems being developed and modified on approximately 1,970 acres of NCC and partner lands, and overall improved grassland management on 430 acres of grassland, 970 acres of forest, and 570 acres of wetland.
The activities followed NCC’s landscape-scale Natural Area Conservation Plans and property specific management plans and grazing plans. The activities followed an evidence-based adaptive management planning and evaluation framework. Within NCC’s Natural Areas, NCC owns over 50,000 acres of conservation land and partners with dozens of agricultural producers.
Heron Creek (2021)
The Conservation Trust Land Donation Support Fund
Supported closing costs of the Heron Creek property donation.
Native Prairie and Wildlife Habitat Restoration and Enhancement (2021)
Habitat & Wildlife Category
Our objective of this project was to restore and enhance native prairie and wildlife habitat in Manitoba’s Aspen Parkland, Boreal Transition & Lake Manitoba Plain eco-regions. Through the support of the Conservation Trust, the Nature Conservancy of Canada enhanced and restored over 750 acres of grassland habitat. 400 acres of woody species encroachment was controlled on 6 properties, to improve the health of grassland habitat for species at risk. 350 acres of cultivation was seeded with a cover crop to prepare sites for future prairie restoration, and 50 previously cultivated acres were restored to native prairie. 4 km of unnecessary fencing was removed to improve connectivity for wildlife on NCC properties. To ensure land management continues to meet the needs of the species at risk that call our lands home, seven NCC properties were assessed for condition of habitat for 13 species at risk that occur on these lands. Finally, NCC secured additional lands on our Fort Ellice property and purchased native prairie seed to be used for prairie restoration on this property.
PINE: Preserving Interest in Nature through Engagement (2020)
Connecting People to Nature Category
PINE provided Manitobans a connection to nature through outreach activities targeted at a variety of interactive, hands-on programs aimed at diverse audiences and that engaged communities in a variety of important conservation issues. Despite the impact of COVID-19, we met the project objective of bringing people into contact both with amazing habitats in Manitoba, and with the work being done to conserve it. The project collaborated with 28 community partners. Through connections with our partners and with a COVID-adapted delivery strategy, we reached 7,899 people across 16 virtual and 10 in-person events, in addition to other outreach efforts. This included 80 volunteers who were involved in stewardship and training activities on conservation lands and 98 students through education programming. In total, we installed 25 property signs across Southern Manitoba and five interpretive panels at one new interpretive site at Douglas Marsh.
Restoration & Conservation of Land and Water in Agro-Manitoba (2020)
Habitat & Wildlife Category
With it being the UN decade of restoration, at NCC we have increased our focus on ecological restoration. The CT 2020/21 funding facilitated strategic planning and workshops to increase capacity to implement grassland restoration in Manitoba. NCC hosted a restoration project class with Skinner Native Seeds and drafted a 5-year mixed-grass prairie restoration plan for 350 acres of cultivated lands on Fort Ellice 3. NCC established two forest restoration projects in the Blue Wing / Rose Ridge Corridor between Duck and Riding Mountains, to restore habitat for a diversity of species, including large mammals, birds, and plants. 18 acres of forest were restored with trust funding, and an additional ten acres of forest and 25 acres of wetland, were restored with matching funds. We also ramped up control of woody species in grasslands using brush mowing and prescribed fire to reduce the threat on 591 acres of NCC lands, and brush mowing on 83.2 acres of private, partner lands. Grazing was managed on 10,320 acres of NCC lands and 2,100 acres of partner lands, to maintain or improve the condition of natural habitats. Haying was managed to improve species at risk habitat on 1,726 acres of NCC lands and 240 acres of partner lands. Ten landscape scale adaptive management plans were updated, as well as 14 property management plans. Invasive species were controlled to improve SAR habitat on 175 acres of NCC lands. Effectiveness monitoring was completed on 15,152 acres of NCC lands to help guide our adaptive management. Finally, the Boggy Creek Wetlands property was secured, which protects 462 acres of native habitat.
Habitat & Wildlife Enhancement in Working Landscapes (2019)
Habitat & Wildlife Category
This project secured and enhanced critical habitat for wildlife and other biodiversity within ecologically significant working landscapes. Results achieved included enhancement of 16,905 acres of grassland habitat, restoration of 1,105 acres of grassland habitat, 660 acres of forage planted, 52 management plans produced, 11 properties monitored for habitat management effectiveness, 474 acres of species at risk habitat monitored for invasive species, improved infrastructure for 6 grazing units, and delayed haying of 320 acres to support grassland birds.
Nature & You: Making a Connection (2019)
Connecting People to Nature Category
The Nature & You project addressed the need for Manitobans to be more connected to natural areas in their province, and to increase understanding of the conservation of these areas. The project engaged Manitobans in a variety of interactive hands-on programs for diverse audiences that are relevant to their communities and locations reaching 3835 people inclduing 91 volunteers.
