Reading Time: 3 minutes After years of planning and fundraising, the Nature Conservancy of Canada has completed a successful campaign to conserve the McIntyre Ranch. Located near the Milk River Ridge 40 miles south of Lethbridge, the 22,500-hectare ranch is the largest conservation easement in Alberta. “It’s the largest piece of fescue grasslands remaining on the planet. It’s a […] Read more
Largest fescue ranch on Earth preserved
Record-setting conservation easement protects McIntyre Ranch in perpetuity
Alberta ranch to be largest Canadian conservation project ever
Going big: McIntyre Ranch south of Lethbridge is one of the biggest tracts of privately owned grassland in North America
Reading Time: 4 minutes A historic southern Alberta ranch is set to become the largest-ever conservation project in Canada. The McIntyre Ranch, south of Lethbridge, is a 54,000-acre (22,000-hectare) ranch started in 1894 and is one of the largest private landholdings in Canada. It’s owned by the Thrall family, who are partnering up with Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) and […] Read more
Yarrow Project extends grassland preservation
Area will rely on cattle to replace the ecosystem services of bison, Nature Conservancy of Canada says
Reading Time: 3 minutes Alberta has a new area of preserved natural grassland right outside Waterton Lakes National Park. Dubbed the Yarrow project, it comprises 150,000 acres. “It really is one of the most unique and incredible properties I’ve ever personally been to,” said Jeremy Hogan, director of prairie grassland with the Nature Conservancy of Canada. He said the […] Read more
Threatened rangelands will be in the global spotlight in 2026
The UN’s international year will highlight both the threat and ways to preserve this critical habitat
Reading Time: 3 minutes Peas, lentils and beans got a big boost in their public profile thanks to the UN’s International Year of Pulses in 2016 and soon rangelands will get their turn in the spotlight. While “it’s tough to get people excited” about an event that’s still three years away, the UN International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists […] Read more
Sparing grassland from the plow — and from housing developments
A landowner-led group has more than 60 conservation easements covering about 40,000 acres of prime native grassland, foothills and riparian areas
Reading Time: 4 minutes A southern Alberta organization is having success with conservation agreements to keep the environment and cattle ranching intact. “The easement is very pro-grazing and ranching,” said Justin Thompson, executive director of the Southern Alberta Land Trust Society (SALTS). “There’s not a lot of restrictions around the actual operation. What we want to avoid is those […] Read more
Foothills ranchers share rules for water resiliency
Keep it simple: Riparian areas play an outsized role in vital watersheds, and caring for them isn’t complicated
Reading Time: 5 minutes The Eastern Slopes are what many people picture when they think of Alberta — a sweeping landscape of grass and rolling hills giving way to forests and ridges framed by the majesty of the Rocky Mountains. But all that beauty masks serious issues, including the considerable strain on riparian areas. Key to the effort to […] Read more
Cowboys and conservation: The battle for the Eastern Slopes
The fight to stop new coal mines in this iconic Alberta landscape is far from over
Reading Time: 5 minutes Nearly three years after the province tried, and failed, to open the Eastern Slopes to coal mining, this iconic piece of Alberta is still under threat, say those who live and work there. “We have to make sure that this land is going to continue for generations,” said Laura Laing, a Nanton-area rancher and part […] Read more
Restoring marginal lands can be a long-term money-maker
New conservation program offers $125 per acre to seed unproductive annually cropped lands to forages
Reading Time: 4 minutes Alberta producers are finding a way to make their marginal lands pay, with a little help from Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC). “Not all parts of a field are created equal,” said Darwin Chambers, head of DUC’s conservation programs in Alberta. “There can be certain areas of a field — often low-lying areas — that just […] Read more
New calculator estimates the dollar value of Prairie wetlands
The USask tool aims to show that wetlands are worth far more to society than usually thought
Reading Time: 3 minutes A new online tool developed at the University of Saskatchewan will help both policy-makers and producers estimate the value of wetlands across the Prairies. “When we push for wetland conservation, sometimes the language that our leaders and policy-makers understand best is the dollar value,” said researcher Eric Asare, who led the project for the USask […] Read more
Rancher goes from ‘naive’ novice to Alberta’s Outstanding Young Farmer
Reading Time: 4 minutes Ten years ago, Alberta’s newest Outstanding Young Farmer wasn’t even a farmer. He was a lot of other things — an engineer; an environmentalist; a former vegetarian — but although he had family who ranched, Ben Campbell was never a farm kid, and never really thought he would be. But when he learned about the […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
