A conservation authority is a local, community-based natural resource management agency[1] based in Ontario, Canada.
While all conservation authorities carry out natural hazard management programs, their roles in environmental protection vary significantly because these are determined by local municipalities.
The number of representatives each municipality can have is determined by the Conservation Authorities Act based on its population within the watershed.
Boards collectively determine the direction of authorities including the programs they will carry out and operational decisions throughout the year.
In the mid-1990s, under the Red Tape Reduction Act of the Progressive Conservative government, conservation authorities' provincial funding was drastically reduced from more than CA$50 million annually divided among all the authorities to $8 million, and the Province reduced the scope of its support to natural hazard management programs and programs for protecting provincially significant conservation land, although the $8 million in funding was exclusively for natural hazard management.
At the same time, the government provided conservation authorities with new powers to charge fees and generate revenue.
As a result, most conservation authorities became more entrepreneurial to generate the revenue needed to continue their local programming.
[1] Conservation authorities may have programs to protect local ecosystems and contribute to the quality of life in communities throughout the province.