Exploring Environmental Stewardship in the Niagara Region

Environmental stewardship is being used as a means to address the ongoing environmental degradation across landscapes. In the Niagara Region, an assessment of current and ongoing environmental stewardship efforts was conducted in 2018. This Story Map will summarize the practical results of this thesis research. Two academic publications are forthcoming.

The Niagara Region of Canada is nestled between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie in Southern Ontario, with the Niagara River connecting the two lakes and acting as the international border. This region is perhaps most well known internationally as the home of Niagara Falls.

This Region was chosen as the focus area so the study could be bound geographically, and for the following reasons: it consists of 12 municipalities; the region is undergoing significant changes, both politically and socio-economically; the region is relatively independent with a diverse economy supported by agriculture (e.g. fruit farms, wineries), tourism (e.g. Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-lake), and two post-secondary institutions; finally, there are many active stewardship and conservation groups in the region. The Niagara Region is located in Southern Ontario (Canada), and borders the United States with the Niagara River marking the international border

The purpose of this thesis research was to advance understanding of local environmental stewardship efforts through an in-depth assessment of environmental stewardship in the Niagara Region. This was done by conducting two studies. The specific research questions and objectives addressed by the two studies are included below.

Organizations were identified using a Google search of key terms. A total of 17 organizations participated in this research. The methods used consisted of an online survey and semi-structured interviews. Additional information on the methods can be provided by contacting the authors.

Participants were asked to discuss four contextual factors outlined in the scholarly literature. They were given the following diagram prior to the discussion:

Interview question: Environmental stewardship in Niagara can be shaped by several contextual factors, such as social/cultural, political, economic, or environmental factors. With these in mind, can you tell me about the state of environmental stewardship in the Niagara Region as a whole?

The following charts describe the local environmental stewardship efforts in the Niagara Region. Both the types of stewardship activities, by percentage of organization, as well as the areas in which organizations focus their efforts:

The organizations presented a total of 91 stewardship initiatives across the Niagara Region. Most initiatives were restoration-focused, with preservation, education, and sustainable use making up the rest. The municipalities of St. Catharines and Niagara Falls had the highest number of initiatives, with Welland, Fort Erie, and Niagara-on-the-lake following close behind. Additionally, the initiatives appear to cluster closer to the Niagara River.

The elements of environmental stewardship that participants were asked about include the following:

• Actors: individuals, groups, organizations, government, and networks
• Motivations: ranging from intrinsic to extrinsic
• Capacity: social, cultural, financial, physical, human, and institutional
• Actions: restoration, preservation, sustainable use, or education; complexity ranging from individual species to entire ecosystems
• Ecological outcomes
• Social outcomes

Ten factors were identified by participants as being important for environmental stewardship success. Those discussed by more than 35% of participants are presented below by percentage of participants that discussed each.

The success factors and sub-themes were further broken down and analyzed by organization type: staff and volunteer-based organizations. The results of this analysis are presented in the table below, delineated by the percent of organizations that discussed each:

There were a number of themes that repeated throughout the study. Two of the most salient themes emerging were:

1) The importance of collaboration to stewardship work and success.

2) The importance of monitoring and evaluation efforts.

Additional common themes include:

• the impact and importance of political will to support environmental stewardship
• having motivated individuals involved in the work
• the importance of both financial and human capacity

Recommendation one: funders should expand the scope of grant criteria to include monitoring and evaluation initiatives.

Recommendation two: members of staff-based organizations should expand their focus to foster motivations within their staff and volunteers.

Recommendation three: organizations should continue to pursue diverse collaboration opportunities.

Recommendation four: organizations should focus efforts on public communication.

Thank you to the following organizations for participating in this research. Without you, this work would not have been possible.

Association for Canadian Educational Resources, Ducks Unlimited Canada, Friends of Walkers Creek, Fort Erie Conservation Club, Friends of Malcolmson Eco-Park, Friends of One Mile Creek, Land Care Niagara, Links for Greener Learning, Nature Conservancy of Canada, Niagara Bruce Trail Club, Niagara Falls Nature Club, Niagara Parks Commission, Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, Niagara Restoration Council, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Peninsula Field Naturalists Club, Port Colborne and District Conservation Club, and Trout Unlimited Canada. 

For any questions about this research, please contact: Brooke Kapeller (bk17ey@brocku.ca) or Dr. Ryan Plummer (rplummer@brocku.ca).

For information on the Advancing Environmental Stewardship (AES) team at Brock University, please visit our website:

Links to the final thesis document and publications will be updated here as they become available.