Peel Greenlands Securement Program overview
Natural heritage features are important because they support life and the health of people, plants, and wildlife.
Natural heritage features include:
- Areas of natural and scientific interest.
- Fish habitats.
- Habitats of endangered species and threatened species.
- Valley lands.
- Wetlands.
- Woodlands.
Greenlands securement tools – such as planning policies, stewardships, and monitoring and acquiring land through bequests, easements, donations, or purchase – protect Peel's key natural heritage features, functions, and values.
Greenlands Securement programs for Peel landowners
Discover our range of opportunities to protect, preserve, and enhance key natural heritage features and areas on your property.
Established in 2005, the Peel Greenlands Securement Program helps conservation authorities, municipalities, the Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust, and the Bruce Trail Conservancy in Peel:
- Implement Greenlands Securement strategies.
- Support the policies of the official plans that aim to protect, preserve, and enhance the Regional Greenlands System.
Within Peel Region, natural heritage features and areas are protected, preserved, and enhanced through planning policies in the Official Plans of the City of Brampton, Town of Caledon and City of Mississauga.
The Greenlands Securement Program is led by the Peel Region Planning and development services division.
Peel Region works in partnership and supplies greenlands securement funding to support the efforts of these conservation authorities, land trusts, and municipalities:
- Credit Valley Conservation
- Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA)
- The Cities of Brampton and Mississauga
- The Town of Caledon
- The Bruce Trail Conservancy
- The Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust
Leaving a natural heritage legacy
The creation of the Peel Region Greenlands Securement Program shows Peel Regional Council's dedication to leaving a natural heritage legacy for Peel residents.
Planning policy, stewardship, and monitoring should be the first step in every securement opportunity, after which acquisition may be considered.
To permanently protect significant natural heritage lands through public ownership, the most effective tools involve acquiring an interest in title of lands through:
- Fee-simple purchases
- Conservation easements, or
- Land donations
The core areas of the Peel Region Greenlands System contain natural heritage features, forms, and areas and their functions, which provide favourable conditions for healthy ecosystems and abundant biodiversity.
Peel Region and its partners value these areas for their importance in maintaining the health of Peel's Greenlands System.
The Core Areas of the Greenlands System include Provincially Significant Wetlands (PSWs) and core woodlands that meet the criteria in the Regional Official Plan (for example, >16 ha in Rural System and > 4 ha in Urban System).
Core areas also include Environmentally Sensitive or Significant Areas (ESAs), such as:
- Provincial life science Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest (ANSIs).
- Habitats of endangered species and threatened species.
- Escarpment natural areas of the Niagara Escarpment Plan.
- Significant valley and stream corridors.
Since 2001, Peel Region has been working to secure key natural heritage features and areas in Peel with these key partners:
- Credit Valley Conservation (CVC)
- Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA)
- Bruce Trail Conservancy (BTC)
- Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust (ORMLT)
- Town of Caledon
- City of Brampton
- City of Mississauga
Through the Greenlands Securement Program, Peel Region has granted funding to permanently protect 32 properties for a total of 713 hectares (1,764 acres) of conservation lands secured in perpetuity.
We will continue to work with our partners to protect and enhance Peel Region's Greenlands System through greenlands securement.
To request a copy of the Greenlands Securement Program Implementation Guidelines (2018), please contact us.
2021 key dates and council resolutions
In 2021, Peel Regional Council:
- Authorized the Greenlands Securement Program pilot project, which increases the Regional funding cost share to 70%, to be extended for an additional 3 years starting June 28, 2021.
- Waived the current requirement stating that the pilot project be suspended if the Greenlands Securement Reserve is reduced to $2 million for the extended period.
- Authorized that the Regional Chair, on behalf of Regional Council, write to the federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change and the Minister of Natural Resources — as well as the provincial Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks and the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry – to request the reinstatement of adequate federal or provincial funding for greenlands securement to municipalities and conservation authorities while continuing to provide funding for land trusts.
- Circulated the report to program partners.
Related
Get definitions and access our Peel Region Greenlands Securement Program interactive map to:
- Get a summary of each property secured with funding support from the Peel Region.
- Confirm who owns the property, how it was secured, and if it can be readily accessed.
For more details about greenlands securement, refer to:
- Bruce Trail Conservancy
- Carolinian Canada
- Credit Valley Conservation
- Ducks Unlimited
- Ecological Gifts Program
- Nature Conservancy of Canada
- Niagara Escarpment Commission
- Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust
- Ontario Heritage Trust
- Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Land Securement
- Peel Data Centre
- Toronto and Region Conservation Authority