The purpose of this guide is to support new and landless farmers to choose a path towards accessing land. In researching and writing this guide, the driving question has been: how have new farmers secured land? There are several different options to consider from leasing and purchasing to community farms and incubator plots – each with its own set of pros and cons.

This document was originally produced by Young Agrarians for new and young farmers in British Columbia. This guide has been adapted to the Alberta context by Organic Alberta with financial support from the Alberta Real Estate Foundation.

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. 

We rely on the headwaters of the Rocky Mountains for 90% of Alberta’s drinking water. Fed by rain, snow, and glacier ice, these landscapes absorb, clean, and release our water into streams and river systems — eventually reaching our homes in communities across the province.

The goal of Love Your Headwaters is to protect Alberta’s headwaters and the landscapes that provide them.

Learn about our work through our current project regions: The Castle, The Bighorn, Livingstone-Porcupine Hills and Kananaskis/Ghost, or read on to explore the importance of headwaters.

As a support agency to the social profit sector FuseSocial’s role is to aid other agencies to not only recover from the effects of the 2016 wildfire but improve the quality of life in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo. FuseSocial presents the results of this study and other survey series to key stakeholders and funders in order for them to understand the needs of the community and address them. We help other agencies to help the community.

The Sensitive Habitat Inventory Mapping (SHIM) project for Lac La Biche was initiated in 2016 to respond to community concerns expressed by the Stewards of the Lac La Biche Watershed, over the health of the lake. This project characterizes the physical and biological features of the lake’s foreshore so that sensitive areas can be identified and subsequently protected during shoreline development. The SHIM methodology was developed by Fisheries and Oceans Canada in British Columbia, and while it has been successfully incorporated into land use planning for several lakes there, the Lac La Biche SHIM project will be the first example of its use elsewhere in Canada.

Lac La Biche is a large lake situated in the Boreal Mixedwood Ecoregion of northeastern Alberta. It has numerous bays and rocky offshore islands, as well as wide areas of shallow littoral habitat characterized by extensive submerged and emergent vegetation. The lake provides important habitat for many fish species, as well as colonial and migratory waterbirds and aquatic mammals. It supports sport and domestic fisheries and is a popular recreational destination for swimming, boating, fishing, hiking, and nature appreciation.

In recent years, Lac La Biche has experienced declines in water quality and fish populations, leading to widespread blue-green algal blooms and fishery closures. The Sensitive Habitat Inventory Mapping (SHIM) project for Lac La Biche was initiated in 2016 to respond to community concerns over the health of the lake. This project characterizes the physical and biological features of the lake’s foreshore so that sensitive areas can be identified and subsequently protected during shoreline development. While this method has been applied to several lakes in British Columbia and successfully incorporated into land-use planning there, the Lac La Biche SHIM project, once completed, will be the first example of its use elsewhere in Canada.

Through the Climate Leadership Plan, the Government of Alberta is taking steps to address the challenge of climate change. Getting it Right: A More Energy Efficient Alberta deals with one aspect of the government’s plan: the creation of Energy Efficiency Alberta, a not-for-profit Crown Agency that will support energy-efficient programs and services for homes and businesses.

The Newtonian Shift is a facilitated role-playing simulation that allows players to experience decades of energy transition in one day. It features dynamic and fast-paced experiential learning that puts participants in a diverse set of roles: energy producer, private customer, large energy consumer, First Nations, suppliers, grid operator, investors, and government.

If Calgary is to meet its growing obligations in a more sustainable and financially responsible way, it is imperative for the municipality to critically examine its existing infrastructure funding model, and assess whether the best practices of other jurisdictions could be successfully applied in our own city for the benefit of existing and future residents.

This report provides an overview of the process and a summary of the Commission’s recommendations. and was written by the Commission’s project team.

Calgary’s population is getting older. Seniors currently comprise 10% of Calgary’s population. This will increase to 20% by 2026. Unfortunately, most houses are designed for healthy young families. As a result, they are often ill-suited for the specific needs of older people and can be difficult, isolating, and even dangerous places for seniors to live. Many of these people end up having to move into dependent living facilities before it is medically necessary. Research indicates that 20-50% of older individuals currently waiting for beds could continue to live in the community if an appropriate independent housing option were available.

To meet this challenge, an interdisciplinary research team at the University of Calgary led by Professor John Brown is developing an innovative aging-in-place laneway housing option.