Our Approach

The W. Garfield Weston Foundation is a leader in private land conservation in Canada. 

We are proud to have conserved more than 100,000 acres of ecologically significant land from coast to coast.

Our conservation work is based on a foundation of the best available science and includes a constant search for advanced stewardship techniques. The Foundation contributions are helping to ensure the long term viability of important landscapes.

The Weston family is proud of its significant role in preserving Canada’s natural legacy. Our work in land conservation demonstrates what private individuals, family foundations, and non-governmental organizations can achieve.

Goal: To protect critical habitats and the endangered species which call them home.

Strategies:

• Acquiring ecologically significant land.

• Ensuring proper stewardship of these acquired lands.

• Promoting and supporting outreach and education initiatives that will have a positive impact on these acquired lands.

Since 1989, The W. Garfield Weston Foundation has been a strong supporter of the conservation activities of the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC).  Support for NCC has now expanded to include land conservation and stewardship projects across Canada.

The Foundation’s commitment to developing enduring, science-based solutions to protect threatened landscapes has resulted in support for high-level Canadian scientists and graduate students. 

Focused scientific studies include the completion of conservation blueprints from coast to coast.  Made available through the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC)’s website, these blueprints help set conservation priorities.  The Foundation has also partnered with NCC scientists to create a digital public library of stewardship and planning materials which have informed many conservation actions.

The Foundation works with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) to raise awareness of the importance of ecologically significant land through interpretation and outreach initiatives. For example, visitors are engaged at the Weston Family Conservation Centre at Waterton Park Front, Alberta, at the Old Man on His Back Interpretive Centre in southwest Saskatchewan, and by walking some of the 20 km of trails at Musquash Estuary, New Brunswick. To date more than 15,000 students have participated in the Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie studies program.

The Foundation’s leadership support of the Waterton Park Front has realized one of the largest private conservation efforts in Canada. The W. Garfield Weston Foundation helps to preserve landscapes that inspire and inform.