Since its founding in 1962, the organisation and its partners have protected 15,000,000 hectares (37,000,000 acres) of land and water across Canada, which includes the natural habitat of more than a quarter of the country’s endangered species.

[2] With offices in each province, NCC works at a local level with interested parties and partners to secure parcels of land.

Administered by NCC, the program allowed partners to match federal investment at a two-to-one ratio with contributions from foundations, corporations, individuals and other levels of government.

In 2019, the NACP was succeeded by the Natural Heritage Conservation Program[7] (NHCP), a four-year partnership with a $100 million commitment from the federal government.

The result is more than $1.2 billion in conservation outcomes including the protection of nearly 700,000 hectares for more than 200 endangered species — an area slightly larger than Banff National Park.

NCC formally acknowledges that “Indigenous Peoples have protected and cared for the natural areas, plants, and wildlife that have sustained them for millennia and NCC has much to learn from Indigenous Peoples across Canada that will help us to become better land managers and conservationists.”[12] Collaborative projects include the Gámdis Tlagee Conservation Area[13] in Haida Gwaii, BC, working with the Haida Nation, to the Cascumpec and Conway Sandhills projects[14] in conjunction with L’Nuey, the Mi’kmaq Rights Initiative on PEI.

Landowners can also donate ecologically important properties to the organization and receive tax incentives in return under the Ecogift program.