In recognition of the many values that people ascribe to nature, federal, provincial, and territorial agencies worked in partnership to complete the 'Survey on the Importance of Nature to Canadians' (SINC) in 1981, 1987, 1991, and 1996. Between 1981 and 1996, more than 80% of Canadians 15 years of age and older engaged in one or more nature-related activities. This paper describes the evolution of this cooperative monitoring program, defines a classification system as a context for the values examined by the SINC, highlights trends of some nature-related recreational activities measured by the survey, and comments on the importance of this information to Canadians.