Financial Support & Incentives

The Ontario government provides legislative support tools to assist with private land stewardship, protecting woodlands and trees in rural and urban areas, balancing land use decisions in designated conservation landscapes and establishing conservation easements.

Information and assistance are provided to landowners in Ontario through a number of programs.

Explore Financial Incentives:

Community Fisheries & Wildlife Involvement Program (CFWIP)
CFWIP is your opportunity to participate in hands-on conservation activities. You can get financial help, expertise and equipment for your approved projects.

The Managed Forest Tax Incentive Program (MFTIP)
The Managed Forest Tax Incentive Program is a voluntary program administered by the MNR to provide lower property taxes to participating landowners who agree to conserve and actively manage their forests. Under MFTIP, participating landowners have their property reassessed and classified as Managed Forest and are taxed at 25 percent of the municipal tax rate set for residential properties.

The Conservation Land Tax Incentive Program (CLTIP)
You can get property tax relief by protecting natural features and species that occur on your property and that have been identified by MNR as provincially significant.

Species at Risk Stewardship Fund:

Ontario's $18-million, four-year Species at Risk Stewardship Fund encourages and supports public stewardship activities. The fund supports Ontario's commitment to a stewardship-first approach in the new Endangered Species Act.

The stewardship fund is open to individuals and groups across the province including landowners, farmers, Aboriginal peoples, education or research institutions, conservation organizations, industries, municipalities, stewardship councils and others who undertake eligible protection and recovery activities.

Application forms and guidelines are available at ontario.ca/speciesatrisk. Eligible proposals will be reviewed and final selection made by the Ministry of Natural Resources.

To be eligible for funding, a proposal must aim to achieve one or more of the following:

• Improve the status of species at risk and their habitats through stewardship and recovery activities
• Encourage involvement in stewardship activities through outreach, education or youth employment
• Increase stewardship-related knowledge and skills of interested landowners or groups
• Support the securement of species at risk habitat by working with willing landowners.

Eastern Habitat Joint Venture Program:

The Eastern Habitat Joint Venture Program (EHJV) is an on-the-ground program that focuses on wetland and related upland securement, enhancement, management and stewardship.

The EHJV coordinates and implements habitat conservation projects to meet biodiversity objectives of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan and the North American Bird Conservation Initiative.

The EHJV is part of a continental partnership and one of six joint ventures in Canada dealing both with regional habitat conservation and with research and management of particular species. These joint ventures provide a framework within which governments, municipalities, businesses, conservation organizations, and individuals collaborate to secure and improve wetland habitat.