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07-01-2008, 06:20 AM
Nature Conservancy of Canada to preserve 1,700 acres in Milk River area
By GERALD GAUTHIER
Lethbridge Herald
A 1,700-hectare tract of threatened wildlife habitat south of Lethbridge will be preserved for animals and humans alike under a federally and privately funded conservation initiative announced Wednesday.
Home to more than 400 species of wildlife, including 68 considered provincially rare, the Sandstone Ranch, located roughly 75 kilometres south of Lethbridge near the Alberta-Montana border, has been acquired by the Nature Conservancy of Canada. The non-profit conservancy group purchased the land with $2 million in federal money along with additional private funding. The project's $2.5-million total price tag includes an endowment to fund ongoing land stewardship costs.
The aim of the nature conservancy is to see that the land and habitat is preserved in its current state and is accessible for people to use for activities such as hiking, bird watching, horseback riding and hunting, says Bob Demulder, the nature conservancy's regional vice-president.
"Our long-term strategy is to provide for biodiversity first but not necessarily to exclude human use," he says.
Located in the most extensive area of native foothills fescue grassland in Canada, the region is one of the most threatened in the country. Foothills fescue grasslands once occupied 1.5 million hectares of southwest Alberta, but now only 17 per cent of those grasslands remain. The most viable of those are along the Milk River Ridge where Sandstone Ranch is located.
"Basically, we want to find the best of what's left" of endangered fescue grassland in Alberta, he says. "The Sandstone Ranch is our first venture into this area, and I don't think it's necessarily our last."
The nature conservancy is a non-profit organization working with partners to acquire ecologically sensitive lands through donation, purchase or stewardships agreements with landowners. The Sandstone Ranch project is one of the nature conservancy's 10 annual gifts to Canadians across the country.
In addition to native grasslands, the Sandstone Ranch features unique cliffs and hoodoo rock formations bordering the north fork of the Milk River.
The ranch provides native habitat for various wildlife including endangered ferruginous hawks, prairie falcons, golden eagles, Sprague's pipits, black and grizzly bears, elk, mule deer and pronghorn antelope.
The conservation project has positive agricultural implications, too, according to rancher Roger Thomson, whose family has been ranching in the Sandstone area for seven generations.
"Any time we can get more grazing land, it helps the bottom line for the ranching industry," says Thomson, who is president of the Sandstone Ranch Grazing Co-op.
Other partners in the Sandstone Ranch project include the Alberta Conservation Association, the Alberta Fish and Game Association, EnCana Corporation, the David and Leslie Bissett Fund through the Calgary Foundation, and an anonymous private donor.
The Sandstone Ranch initiative is the first conservation project in Alberta to include funding from the $225-million federal Natural Areas Conservation Program, announced in March 2007.
The program helps non-profit, private organizations secure ecologically sensitive lands to ensure that diverse ecosystems, wildlife and habitat are protected.
"It's important for us to preserve sensitive, special areas for Canadians to enjoy and protect them from development or anything that could harm them," says Lethbridge MP Rick Casson.
The nature conservancy's largest private land initiative in the country is the 12,000-hectare Waterton Park Front project which borders Waterton Lakes National Park.
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PUBLICATION: The Lethbridge Herald
DATE: 2008.06.26
SECTION: Thursday A
PAGE: a3
BYLINE: O'Brien, Stacy
WORD COUNT: 524
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By GERALD GAUTHIER
Lethbridge Herald
A 1,700-hectare tract of threatened wildlife habitat south of Lethbridge will be preserved for animals and humans alike under a federally and privately funded conservation initiative announced Wednesday.
Home to more than 400 species of wildlife, including 68 considered provincially rare, the Sandstone Ranch, located roughly 75 kilometres south of Lethbridge near the Alberta-Montana border, has been acquired by the Nature Conservancy of Canada. The non-profit conservancy group purchased the land with $2 million in federal money along with additional private funding. The project's $2.5-million total price tag includes an endowment to fund ongoing land stewardship costs.
The aim of the nature conservancy is to see that the land and habitat is preserved in its current state and is accessible for people to use for activities such as hiking, bird watching, horseback riding and hunting, says Bob Demulder, the nature conservancy's regional vice-president.
"Our long-term strategy is to provide for biodiversity first but not necessarily to exclude human use," he says.
Located in the most extensive area of native foothills fescue grassland in Canada, the region is one of the most threatened in the country. Foothills fescue grasslands once occupied 1.5 million hectares of southwest Alberta, but now only 17 per cent of those grasslands remain. The most viable of those are along the Milk River Ridge where Sandstone Ranch is located.
"Basically, we want to find the best of what's left" of endangered fescue grassland in Alberta, he says. "The Sandstone Ranch is our first venture into this area, and I don't think it's necessarily our last."
The nature conservancy is a non-profit organization working with partners to acquire ecologically sensitive lands through donation, purchase or stewardships agreements with landowners. The Sandstone Ranch project is one of the nature conservancy's 10 annual gifts to Canadians across the country.
In addition to native grasslands, the Sandstone Ranch features unique cliffs and hoodoo rock formations bordering the north fork of the Milk River.
The ranch provides native habitat for various wildlife including endangered ferruginous hawks, prairie falcons, golden eagles, Sprague's pipits, black and grizzly bears, elk, mule deer and pronghorn antelope.
The conservation project has positive agricultural implications, too, according to rancher Roger Thomson, whose family has been ranching in the Sandstone area for seven generations.
"Any time we can get more grazing land, it helps the bottom line for the ranching industry," says Thomson, who is president of the Sandstone Ranch Grazing Co-op.
Other partners in the Sandstone Ranch project include the Alberta Conservation Association, the Alberta Fish and Game Association, EnCana Corporation, the David and Leslie Bissett Fund through the Calgary Foundation, and an anonymous private donor.
The Sandstone Ranch initiative is the first conservation project in Alberta to include funding from the $225-million federal Natural Areas Conservation Program, announced in March 2007.
The program helps non-profit, private organizations secure ecologically sensitive lands to ensure that diverse ecosystems, wildlife and habitat are protected.
"It's important for us to preserve sensitive, special areas for Canadians to enjoy and protect them from development or anything that could harm them," says Lethbridge MP Rick Casson.
The nature conservancy's largest private land initiative in the country is the 12,000-hectare Waterton Park Front project which borders Waterton Lakes National Park.
--------------------------------------------------
PUBLICATION: The Lethbridge Herald
DATE: 2008.06.26
SECTION: Thursday A
PAGE: a3
BYLINE: O'Brien, Stacy
WORD COUNT: 524
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