Sackville’s Natural Assets Inventory
The Town of Sackville engaged the Municipal Natural Assets Initiative (MNAI) to complete a preliminary natural assets inventory to assess the current state of Sackville’s natural assets. The process involved various steps, including an asset management readiness assessment, the collection of geospatial data, condition assessments and identifying risks to the assets.
Upon completion of this process, MNAI created an online interactive dashboard that summarizes the asset inventory in both tabular and map formats. The dashboard provides a summary map of the different asset categories, along with the area and number of assets in each category. The dashboard also displays an urban tree inventory, which illustrates the number of trees within each asset by their height to diameter ratio. Finally, the condition of the assets is presented for each category and were given a rating from good to very poor. Assessing the condition of the assets is key in understanding the asset’s ability to provide both ecological and municipal services such as stormwater management, which can then support proper management and protection measures for those assets.
For the risk identification process, staff considered possible risks to Sackville’s natural assets and the related consequences that might occur if the condition of the assets degrades. This process revealed the three highest-level risks are overland flooding, erosion (specifically at certain locations along the dykes and river edges), and the overuse of trails/dumping. These identified risks have the potential to affect forest, water, and wetland assets.
Possible actions for the development of the inventory include but are not limited to:
- Identifying linkages between services and assets to better assess their ability to deliver priority services (such as stormwater management).
- Further evaluation of the condition of identified priority assets including wetlands, the urban tree canopy and water by incorporating local climate projections and land use modelling.
- If the Town advances with a full asset management plan, the natural assets can be included in the management plan where long-term strategies would be developed for the protection of Sackville’s natural assets.
A summary report of MNAI’s inventory results and recommendations is available on their website. Questions? Contact Kirsti Mrazek at climatechange@sackville.com.