The key first stage in all types of planning is the preparation of an evaluated inventory of the area’s resources. Commonwealth has produced many inventories of aboriginal and non-native cultural resources, as components of regional land-use plans, forestry plans, municipal plans, and tourism plans. In British Columbia, for example, the firm prepared evaluated inventories of cultural resources in three large regions, the Kootenay, Kamloops, and Prince George forest districts as part of the Provincial initiative in regional land-use planning. In Ontario, Commonwealth participated in an extensive resource inventory for the Oak Ridges Moraine, a major watershed boundary that defines the outer limits of the Greater Toronto area.
Inventory information is usually organized with computer databases, and mapped digitally for GIS analysis. Commonwealth has pioneered methods for evaluating cultural data,building on the innovative system developed by Harold Kalman. The firm strengthens its work in resource identification and evaluation by integrating extensive public consultation, to identify the community’s values and learn from its experiences.