Fish Creek Provincial Park is one of the largest urban parks in North America with more than 1,300 hectares of natural habitat, rich biodiversity, and loads of hiking, walking, and biking trails to explore.
The forested areas on lands are often overlooked for their values by many, but these forests and other treed areas often extremely valuable, holding values both in their ability to be sold as a product and through natural functions that trees can provide while living. This document seeks to introduce you to major values and to help realize the potential that is in these areas.
Agricultural lands support numerous social, economic, and environmental benefits. In addition to making up an invaluable aspect of Alberta’s heritage and culture, the social benefits of agricultural lands include food security and valued viewscapes. In terms of economic benefits, agricultural lands enable significant contributions to employment and GDP.
This report is the first of two reports which aim to answer how to move from conversion to conservation of Alberta’s agricultural lands.
As a landowner you want to do the right thing for your property. The Green Acreages Guide Primer, an introduction to rural living, can help you better understand what it means to be a rural property owner and identify stewardship practices that will help you conserve and protect the valuable natural assets associated with your property.
New content! The Green Acreages Guide Primer has been updated with new and updated links in “Further Resources” as well as new information for acreages owners on “Resource Development and Extraction” and “Easements and Rights-of-Way”.
Farmers and ranchers can play a pivotal role in building the low-carbon economy of the future. Especially in Alberta, home to one-third of Canada’s agricultural land and two important carbon sinks—grasslands and the boreal forest. The wildrose province also has some of the best solar and wind power resources in Canada.
Climate solutions are often viewed as being an inconvenience to our everyday lives. But farm solutions are climate solutions and many of them have multiple concrete benefits that go beyond stopping climate change: improving soil fertility; creating new economic opportunities; protecting biodiversity; energy independence and building resiliency against droughts and floods. It is a win-win strategy.
The forested areas on lands are often overlooked for their values by many, but these forests and other treed areas often extremely valuable, holding values both in their ability to be sold as a product, and through natural functions that trees can provide while living. This document seeks to introduce you to major values and to help realise the potential that is in these areas.
This report examines the important contribution that municipalities can make to biodiversity conservation in Alberta where amendments to the Municipal Government Act empower, and indeed require, Alberta’s municipalities to enhance their environmental protection efforts. An examination of these changes, assessed using the principles of subsidiarity, environmental governance, and biocultural diversity, reveals that municipalities, both large and small, urban and rural, can innovate with novel legal initiatives to improve their biodiversity related conservation actions. Concurrently, while municipal innovation is possible, improving local biodiversity conservation action also requires innovations in funding, citizen engagement, and regional environmental governance. Municipalities are already recognized contributors to biodiversity conservation and great strides have been made at the municipal level to increase habitat connectivity. Current municipal conservation efforts need to be augmented to harness new statutory powers, capitalize on local knowledge and initiative, and enhance citizen education and engagement.
The final report of a study investigating the adoption of technological advancements in irrigation agriculture found irrigators are actively adopting these technologies, generating benefits for irrigators, the broader communities that depend on irrigation, and the environment. Often referred to as “precision agriculture”, the technologies improve crop yield and quality, as well as reduce farm inputs. Examples of such technologies are GPS systems, satellite imagery, auto-steer technology, and weather monitoring sensors.
The study, entitled “Advancements in Irrigation Agriculture with Implications for Economic and Community Development and Environmental Stewardship in Southern Alberta”, surveyed Taber Irrigation District irrigators. The findings were recently released by researchers Drs. Lorraine and Chris Nicol of the University of Lethbridge.
The study found:
– 81% of irrigators have adopted some form of precision agriculture;
– yearly crop yields have increased an average 20% and yearly crop quality has increased an average 16%;
– yearly reductions in irrigation water, fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides have ranged from 14% to 24%;
– precision agriculture technologies are being applied largely to specialty crops;
– for 85% of adopters, precision agriculture has affected their overall farm management approach;
– 89% of adopters are highly satisfied with the technology;
– 92% of adopters plan to adopt additional precision agriculture technologies in the future;
– non-adopters indicate small operations, high investment costs, and incompatibility of machines are the main reasons for their non-adoption of precision agriculture technologies.
This project was catalyzed by Operation Grassland Community, with a focus on building a dynamic simulator that could track cattle dynamics and explore alternative cattle production strategies in Alberta against a range of economic, social, and environmental factors. This report is a written summary that accompanies the Alberta Livestock Alces Online (ALAO) simulator (www.online.alces).
Green Acreages Guide primer was developed to coincide with the Green Acreages guide. The primer contains introductory information from the guide that acreage owners can use to begin thinking about best management practices.
This resource was updated in 2016.
The Southern Foothills Community Land Stewardship Initiative is a citizen-based process to develop recommendations that will provide direction to provincial, municipal and non-profit land use planning and stewardship efforts, in order to protect and enhance the integrity of the Southern Foothills landscape of SW Alberta.
Phase I of the project will collect information regarding the resource needs and assess the demand for conservation planning among municipalities and land trusts in Alberta as well as the need to address public concerns within communities.
The project incorporated the Settlement Growth Simulator into Alberta Tomorrow, enabling students in the Alberta Education System understand the effects of land use. Online delivery to the classroom enabled students to explore alternative land-use scenarios and human settlement growth strategies. The system is publicly available and free of charge.
Educational and outreach presentation materials developed by Cows and Fish to reach a diverse audience of Albertans, including realtors.
Manual designed to address the needs of Alberta’s land trusts and to provide information for new land trusts. It supports the Canadian Land Trust Alliance’s standards and practises and has built in CLTA standards and practices. Modules include (1) Baseline Documentation Report (2) Stewardship Monitoring (3) Dedicated Stewardship Funding (4) Best Stewardship Practises (5) Beneficial Management Practises (6) Funding Development Guide.
A comprehensive analysis of how land use impacts the health of watersheds, Making the Connection points out the best – and often cheapest – way to maintain clean drinking water, healthy aquatic ecosystems, and abundant fisheries is not to allow them to be compromised in the first place.
The Alberta Land Trust Alliance (ALTA) is a not-for-profit organization that strives to ensure Alberta’s future landscapes are rich in biodiversity and have strong ecological integrity. The Foundation funded a series of factsheets on private land conservation in Alberta and the services offered by land trusts. Hard copy available in the AREF office.
Real Estate Professionals and buyers looking for property in the Crowsnest Pass have a booklet to inform them about development in this beautiful part of Alberta known for its recreational opportunities.
These latest publications offer creative methods to help municipalities, businesses and organizations find the balance between planning futures and protecting the environment. The Sustainability Primer offers strategies to difficult planning challenges, while Planning for Sustainability: A Planners Guide details the framework to develop strategic and sustainable goals.
This is a customized and interactive powerpoint presentation focused on the real estate industry in Alberta, with emphasis on residential growth.
o Comparison of growing out (sprawl) vs growing up. o Indicators on land footprint, infrastructural construction and maintenance costs, commuting time, fuel requirements, etc. o Projected population growth in urban, rural residential, and agricultural residential settings.
o Changes to family metrics (size, age, other demographics) and how they will influence demand side for different growth forms.
Grant #: 2008-14
Author: Alberta Real Estate Foundation
Year: 2008
Format: Alberta Land Use Presentation
As one of the fastest growing municipalities in Canada, Rocky View embarked on a Growth Management Strategy in order to facilitate sound land use and development decisions regarding community sustainability, resource management and the environment.
The Green Communities Guide will be an essential tool to help elected officials, municipal planners, developers, real estate associations, stewardship groups and citizens develop strategies to conserve water, protect water quality, conserve valuable agricultural land, and protect critical open space and wildlife habitat. Through the guide, municipalities, stewardship groups, and developers will be informed about the innovative approaches other communities are taking to avoid, mitigate, or reduce the impacts of growth and development, to maintain the flow of ecological goods and services from their landscapes.
Grant #: 2007-17
Author: Land Stewardship Centre
Year: 2009
Format: full hard copy available at AREF’s office
The guide is a resource to inform prospective home buyers about the area’s environmental and lifestyle assets. It encourages environmentally responsible choices and stewardship actions relating to living in close proximity to wildlife and habitat corridors.
‘Conservation easements’ have been gaining popularity since their introduction in the province in 1996. This publication can help property owners understand more about one of the land conservation possibilities available to them.
A booklet created for private landowners by the Alberta Region of the Nature Conservancy of Canada outlining the various tools that are available for private land conservation; ways for individuals to protect their rural communities and the stunning landscapes that surround them. This resource is available in hard copy format in the AREF office.
A research document maintaining ecological integrity in a multi-jurisdictional area. This resource is available in hard copy format in the AREF office.
