“As you near the Old Man River, there’s a grassy basin, and it’s part of a grazing co-op owned by a group of ranchers called the Waldron Grazing Co-operative,” said Larry Simpson, senior advisor to the Alberta region of the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

In 1999, the Bob Creek Wildland Park was created thanks to British Petroleum, a company which donated 2,900 acres of its mineral interests to the Nature Conservancy of Canada to create the park. The park was about 70,000 acres.

In 2013, the Nature Conservancy of Canada entered into an agreement with the Waldron Grazing Co-operative to preserve the 13,000-acre Waldron Ranch.

Simpson said the piece of land at that time was the largest conservation easement in Canadian history. The Waldron Grazing Co-operative, possibly the largest grazing co-op in North America, used some of the money paid to them by the Nature Conservancy of Canada to buy the King Ranch.

“The last piece is the Bob Creek Ranch,” said Simpson. The ranch connects with miles of riverfront on the Old Man River and is bordered on two sides by the Bob Creek Wildland Park. The ranch is more than 2,400 acres.

The first phase of the project is done, and the groups are moving on to the second phase.

Conserving it will create a continuous land block of over 100,000 acres of conserved and protected lands within the headwaters of the South Saskatchewan watershed.

“When you put them all together, it creates connectivity between the Rocky Mountains and a forest reserve called the Porcupine Hills Forest Reserve. It creates 20 miles of connectivity in between two big blocks of land that are frequented by all kinds of wildlife and all kinds of people,” said Simpson.

When the Nature Conservancy of Canada and the Waldron Grazing Co-operative put a conservation easement on the land, it does not mean that the Nature Conservancy of Canada owns it.

“It means they (the Waldron Grazing Co-op) still own it, but they have agreed to register restrictions on the title of their land, that they won’t subdivide the land, they won’t cultivate it, but they will still own it,” said Simpson.

The land can still be used for grazing and sold if future owners do not subdivide it or break it up in any way.

The Bob Creek Ranch was purchased by the Waldron Grazing Co-operative about two and a half years ago.

“We are looking to preserve this land so it can’t be developed. It can stay in the state that we’ve acquired it in, and it will be forever undeveloped and uncultivated and grazing cattle,” said Kim Wachtler, a member of the board of directors of the Waldron Grazing Co-operative and a fourth-generation rancher at Burke Creek Ranch.

“It’s important for people to know that we’re using cattle to keep these landscapes intact,” said Wachtler.

Negotiations to acquire the first piece of the Bob Creek Ranch began in 2021, and the land was acquired in 2022, said Wachtler. The Waldron Grazing Co-operative entered negotiations immediately with the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

“It took a while for them to get their funds together and go through terms to be worked out,” said Wachtler.

The conservation easement on the Bob Creek Ranch has been done in two phases. The first part of the conservation easement on the Bob Creek Ranch was finalized in May 2025. Wachtler said the second phase has acreages that are a bit different and there is more waterfront on the second piece.

The Waldron Grazing Co-operative was created in 1962 and took over a private ranch at that time. Since then, the co-operative has brought little pieces of land and attached them onto the ranch. There are currently 80 ranching families involved with the co-operative.

“As the shareholders, we find a lot more economies of scale. We can do things as a group that we couldn’t do as individual ranchers,” said Wachtler.

Both Simpson and Wachtler agree the Bob Creek Ranch is a unique area that can also be used for hiking, as well as grazing.

Wachtler said the area is very diverse and contains ecologically sensitive grasslands. Many species of risk pass through the land, including black bears, grizzly bears, moose and large herds of elk.

“There are different species at risk that they’re seeing out there right now. Some of these are things that you wouldn’t be so aware of, like leopard salamanders and different kinds of bats,” said Watchler. MULTISAR, an organization that collaborates with partners throughout Alberta to work towards conserving species at risk in the province, is currently doing a study on the land.

“They’re out there right now, assessing the range health and doing a wildlife species count and looking at the riparian areas,” she said.

Simpson said the area has an interesting mix of wildlife that you would find on the Prairies as well as the Rocky Mountains.

“Part of the Bob Creek Ranch is part of the Bob Creek Wildland Park, and it’s the largest block of uneroded montane. It’s not mountain, it’s just in between,” said Simpson.

There are big ridges, with partial forest with lots of open spaces.

Simpson said the area was Napi’s playground. Napi is a trickster figure in Blackfoot culture.

The Nature Conservancy of Canda is seeking support to help fund the second phase of the conservation easement and complete the Bob Creek Ranch project. When the second section of the Bob Creek Ranch is preserved, three quarters of a section will be added to the conservation easement.

“That’s going to happen here, this fall,” said Simpson.

“And so we need to raise $100,000 for that as well.”

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The deal, if ratified in an employee vote, would end the lockout at Federated Co-operatives’ (FCL) Co-op Refinery Complex (CRC), a major bulk fuel supplier to farmers and rural co-ops across the West.

The Regina refinery will “begin the process of welcoming hourly employees back to work” when or if a new contract is ratified, FCL said Thursday.

Details of the proposed deal weren’t released in statements from FCL or the workers’ union, Unifor 594. FCL said the deal “balances an appreciation for our unionized employees with the fiscal realities of the refining sector.”

Unifor 594 said it “worked to ensure the ‘return to work’ protocol protected members and local union leaders from retribution from Co-op.”

The union’s 730-odd members at the CRC were locked out Dec. 5 after serving 48 hours’ strike notice, mainly over FCL’s proposals to move employee pension plans from a “defined benefit” to a “defined contribution” model.

The labour dispute and related picketing have weighed intermittently on Prairie farmers, such as when affected fuel stations briefly imposed volume caps on purchases in February.

Last month, Unifor published a notice saying it was “in a position where disrupting the flow of fuel to farmers during seeding is the only option we have to get back to work.”

FCL said Thursday it’s “optimistic that an agreement can be reached as the union bargaining committee has tentatively accepted the deal and will recommend it to their membership.”

“This deal, if accepted by bargaining unit employees, along with the operational efficiencies our team has recently realized, will go a long way towards ensuring a sustainable CRC for generations to come,” Gil Le Dressay, FCL’s vice-president for refinery operations, said in its release.

“The labour disruption has been a difficult process for everyone involved, but we are hopeful that the membership will ratify the deal and our employees will return to work soon.”

“Nasty”

The union’s statement on Thursday implied hard feelings may linger regardless of the vote’s outcome. Unifor 594 local president Kevin Bittman on Thursday hailed workers as having “never wavered throughout this nasty dispute.”

The lockout, he said, was “union-busting from an employer that has made billions off of our backs and together we fought and defended our collective agreement.”

A tentative deal “would have been signed weeks ago but Co-op showed their true colours by punitively continuing the lockout,” Unifor negotiator Scott Doherty said in the same release.

FCL, he said, “will have to try and build back a dedicated and committed workforce that will not forget the disrespect they felt from this profitable employer.”

The National Farmers Union, a booster of the co-operative system, had called in January for FCL to end its lockout, saying the circumstances showed “it has become harder to see how (FCL) is different from other companies.”

The Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) had also raised concerns about the ongoing dispute, saying last month that “in many cases farmers replenish their fuel supply daily and traveling long distances to avoid picket lines is not an option.”

The Regina refinery can produce up to 130,000 barrels of refined petroleum products per day and ships up to 17 million litres of product per day, supplying over 650 retail co-ops operating fuel stations and cardlocks across the West.

The CRC operation in Regina dates back to 1935, when area farmers put up money to build what was billed as the world’s first co-operative oil refinery. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The “Only Alberta Beef” commitment marks the first time a major grocery retailer in the Calgary area is promising only locally produced fresh beef to its members. The co-op is partnering with JBS Canada in Brooks to ensure all of its fresh beef is locally sourced for its 24 stores in Calgary and the surrounding area.

Promoting Alberta beef is one of the top priorities of Alberta Beef Producers, said Rich Smith, the organization’s executive director.

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The Nova Scotia-based grocery chain on Tuesday announced ABP’s Island View Farms is now the “primary” brand for beef sold at the five Sobeys, five Co-op and three Foodland stores the grocery company supplies on Prince Edward Island.

The agreement, phased in over the past few weeks, “means P.E.I. customers can choose local first, it means larger herd sizes for P.E.I. and Maritime beef cattle producers, and it means ABP has a committed local partner as it increases plant capacity and grows its business,” Peter Doucette, general manager for Sobeys Atlantic, said in a release.

Sobeys said the agreement means about 80 per cent of the selection at the 13 stores stores is now supplied by ABP, under the packer’s Island View and Certified Island Beef brands.

Sobeys said Tuesday it entered talks 18 months ago with ABP and Atlantic Canada’s cattle producer groups, to make sure ABP’s plant capacity and cattle herds in the region could be expanded to meet the added demand.

The federally-inspected ABP plant at Albany, northeast of Borden, now has the capacity to supply the P.E.I. stores on top of its other existing business, the packer said.

ABP said it’s also looking for more supply from beef producers, to further expand its space in both domestic and export markets. “We hope local producers can ramp up production of beef cattle by at least 10,000 head per year in total,” the company said via email.

Brian Morrison, chair of P.E.I. Cattle Producers, said in Tuesday’s release the grocery chain “has really stepped up in terms of their commitment to local cattle producers. They have sat at the table with us and helped us plan our herd growth to ensure we have the capacity to meet their needs.”

The ABP plant, which was built in partnership with local producers, sources beef from producers in P.E.I. as well as New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and is the only federally inspected cattle slaughter plant in Atlantic Canada.

The plant, however, booked annual losses for years after its opening in late 2004. The P.E.I. government has committed regular funding to ABP since 2009, following a 2007 cash infusion from the federal, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and P.E.I. governments.

Since then, the plant has set up a ground beef production line and rolled out its branded beef lines such as Island View, Certified Island Beef and Blue Dot Reserve.

The new deal with Sobeys “means additional volume through our plant in a business where volume is a key ingredient to operate efficiently and cost-effectively,” ABP president Russ Mallard said in Tuesday’s release.

“We appreciate the commitment Sobeys is making to assist us in our goal to ensure ABP is here for the producers in our region for the long term.”

The specifics of ABP’s agreement with Sobeys weren’t made public, but the two companies said via email they want to see it continue over the long term.

“We are confident (customers) will be very happy with Island View Farms beef, so we cannot see any reason at this point to be anything but optimistic for a long-term supply arrangement.”

Asked whether the arrangement could eventually expand elsewhere in Atlantic Canada, the two companies said they “want to make sure we get it right on the Island first and then will look to future plans for expansion to other provinces.”

Sobeys, whose roots in Atlantic Canada’s grocery business date back to 1924, has been on an aggressive expansion track coast to coast since 1987, taking over the Thrifty Foods chain in British Columbia in 2007, the Safeway chain in Western Canada in 2013, and several Co-op Atlantic grocery stores last year.

The company also operates the IGA, Foodland, FreshCo, Price Chopper and Lawtons Drugs chains, for a total of over 1,500 stores across all 10 provinces. — AGCanada.com Network

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A group of Edson-area farmers has taken that model to a new level with the formation of a timber-based co-operative that provides them with what is often described as the holy grail of a supplemental farm income — a guaranteed wood supply.

What’s particularly intriguing about what the EDFOR Cooperative has accomplished is that the province of Alberta, which has control over the provincial Crown wood fibre supply, is often reluctant to make long-term commitments. But it has actually agreed to help the Edson farmers out.

A guaranteed wood supply is critical, said co-op president John Nyssen, who has been a member since its founding in 2005. He has been producing wood products on the family farm for as long as he can remember, but every year there was always the question of how much wood he could access.

“Right now, it’s my primary income,” says Nyssen, who also raises cattle north of Edson and notes his forest allocation and sawmill has gotten him through years of poor cattle prices.

The co-op has 45 harvesting and seven manufacturing members. Most were longtime subscribers to the province’s commercial timber permit program, which allowed them to bid on a wood allocation annually, but with no guarantee that they would earn one or where it would be located.

But together, they have been allowed to purchase a highly valued guaranteed wood supply from the province. The Alberta government agreed to sell EDFOR Cooperative a standing timber quota, which amounts to about 78,000 cubic metres annually in the Edson area — largely spruce and pine in the sawlog diameter range, with some deciduous wood mixed in.

Given its success, the EDFOR group is a model for other groups of Alberta farmers with Crown timber supplies in their midst facing the same challenge of acquiring a consistent wood supply. The co-op offers its members the services of a fully qualified forester, as well as administrative support.

“The co-operative’s function is largely to manage the harvest, to see to it that all silvicultural liabilities are taken care of and also to allocate, lay out, engineer, design and accommodate the harvest of 1,100 cubic metres per member per year of the primary cut,” says David Cobb, the co-op’s manager/forester.

It is held to the same standard as forestry companies in harvesting and reforestation of timber, and helping members meet their obligations is a big part of Cobb’s job.

• More from the Alberta Farmer Express: U.S. timber industry a cautionary tale for Canadian agriculture

Members, who pay a fee based on their allocation, can either harvest their wood allocation and sell it or use the wood to manufacture products like timbers, corral fencing, posts, flooring, and firewood. The level of experience ranges from very experienced forestry individuals to relative greenhorns, and from hand fallers to fully mechanized loggers.

The goal when allocating timber is to manage the entire area in a holistic manner so that the timber resource stays healthy and sustainable.

Sandra Plangger, co-owner of Logstream Ltd. describes the co-op as, “its own family of people with the same interests and outlooks.”

Plangger and husband Tony have been members for four years, and custom cut lumber up to 20 feet long, primarily bridge decking and timbers for the oilfield sector, as well as fence posts. Plangger says one of the benefits of membership is that they are usually allocated an area where the log profile matches their needs for custom cutting and fence posts.

Wood allocations are handled in the most equitable way possible — a draw from a hat each fall. Prior to the draw, Cobb will have an idea of how many ‘buddy’ working groups there are and how many individuals there are, and will make that many group and individual blocks available. The ‘Group’ and ‘Individual’ draws are handled separately. Members will pick a chip from a hat, and based on their priority number from the draw, they will choose a harvesting site from the map drafted by Cobb.

New members are carefully vetted to ensure that they understand their obligations in exchange for a wood supply and how to properly manage their area. The co-op’s board is responsible for ensuring members comply with their obligations.

“We have a five-step disciplinary process that is used from time to time to help members to understand the need to be environmentally conscious, to work in conjunction with the operating ground rules, and also to operate within EDFOR’s bylaws,” says Cobb.

Policies and disciplinary procedures have helped to keep the organization stable, he adds.

“We still make mistakes,” Cobb says, “but we try not to make them twice.”

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