The Commuity Mapping Network (CMN) is a cooperative commuity based approach to sharing resource information, combining agency base maps and information with local data about sensitive aquatic habitats and their riparian areas, primarily for settlement areas of British Columbia. The CMN provides reliable, current, and spatially accurate information about local fish and wildlife habitats derived form Sensitive Habitat Inventory & Mapping (SHIM) Procedures. SHIM is a 1:5,000 scale inventory and mapping procedure that is watershed based, building on existing local and senior government information through the Commuity Mapping Network.

Adopting one standardized inventory and mapping method is key to successful land use planning by community groups and local/senior governments and it is essential for restoration and monitoring of British Columbia's urban fish and wildlife habitats. (CMN source)

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Since 1995 the Real Estate Foundation has supported several projects to inventory and map streamside lands in BC. The Foundation places a priority on projects that emphasize the governance aspects of sustainable land use practices. Applicants must define the conservation values that their projects address in the context of relevant land use planning, policy, and regulation. The decision-making context might include official community plans, regional district plans, watershed management plans, or planning activities of senior government agencies.

Inventory and mapping projects that the Foundation supports do all of these things: they collect relevant data about sensitive ecosystems so that decision makers can make informed decisions about land use in a certain geographic area (often a watershed or part of a watershed in a municipality or regional district). They provide accurate, current information on which to base planning and policy. They also provide means to educate land use practitioners and the public. Often inventory and mapping is undertaken in sensitive areas under threat of development. The Community Mapping Network provides information that enables local governments and developers to make informed choices about property development on the one hand, and habitat protection on the other.

From the Foundation's point of view local government participation is key because local governments are primarily responsible for non-resource based (i.e. not forestry, fishery, mining, or agriculture) land use decision-making. Partnerships among senior and local government agencies, and community groups help to ensure that the data collected will be accurate and usable, and that it will generate products that communities can use to impove their own stewardship practices.

To date (May 2002) the Real Estate Foundation has supported the following projects which have used SHIM methodology in their mapping activities:

• City of Surrey - Little Campbell River Watershed, 2002 ($26,104)
• Regional District of Central Okanagan, 2002 ($13,646)
• Community Fisheries Development Centre - Regional District of Nanaimo, 2002 ($23,665)
• University College of the Fraser Valley - Eastern Hillside, Chilliwack, 2001 ($25,000) 
• Capital Regional District - Natural Areas Atlas, 2000 ($40,000)
• Alberni Valley Enhancement Association - Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District, 2000 ($12,000) 
• Comox Valley Project Watershed Society - Brooklyn Creek, 2000 ($4,140) 
• Corporation of the District of Saanich - Environmentally Sensitive Areas Atlas, 1996 ($57,500) 
• Alberni Valley Enhancement Association - Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District, 1995 ($22,500)

• Project coordinators:
  • Rob Knight, BC Ministry of Water, Land & Air Protection
  • Brad Mason, Fisheries & Oceans Canada

• CMN website - Click on Maps and Data Entry to link to GIS-based maps.