Natural Assets

Our forests, waterways, foreshore and parks make West Vancouver a great place to live. They also provide valuable services for our community. Creeks, for example, collect and carry stormwater, and forests clean the air and keep us cool. Beaches buffer the coast, protecting properties and infrastructure located inland, while beautiful parks give our community its special character.

Nature provides all these services and more, seemingly for free. This can lead people to take them for granted, to undervalue or neglect them. However, if we maintain natural assets with as much care as we do other assets, like pipes, roads and buildings, they can serve us well forever.

The District of West Vancouver is one of the first Canadian municipalities to estimate the value of our natural assets in terms of the services they provide annually and into the future. This is a first step toward integrating natural assets into the District’s financial and asset management plans.

Our forests, waterways, foreshore and parks provide services worth as much as $3.2 billion.

Natural Assets Booklet (PDF) Budget Video