Photo looking out at Shoderee Ranch. (Photo: Bob Hawkesworth, via Nature Conservancy of Canada)

By Justin Goulet

Nature Conservancy announces new conservation project in Southern Alberta

Mar 31, 2022 | 11:12 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) has announced a new project that will benefit wildlife in Southern Alberta.

At close to 700 hectares, the NCC’s latest conservation project will help fill what it notes is the biggest remaining gap in protected land in the Waterton Park Front.

In a partnership with the Shoderee Ranch, the NCC has created a new conservation agreement that protects more than four kilometres of the Waterton River’s western riverbank, 120 hectares of wetlands and riparian areas, 55 hectares of foothills parkland forest and an additional 340 hectares of native grasslands of a working cattle ranch. Together, the landscapes provide habitat to animals listed under Canada’s Species at Risk Act.

In a release, the NCC stated, “animals benefit from vast conservation lands because they can roam unencumbered by fragmentation and converted landscapes, while the impacts of protected lands and water filter downstream to Lethbridge and Medicine Hat.”

The project also ensures that the land will remain a working ranch and the native grassland will never be developed or converted.

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The intact riparian zones and wetlands on the Shoderee Ranch and other conservation lands in the Waterton Park Front act as sponges on the landscape, slowing the flow of water downstream. The NCC said that in times of drought, they store water. During spring melts and heavy rains, they help soak up much of the excess, which maintains a steady release of water and keeps it from rushing downstream.

Regional Vice-President of the NCC, Tom Lynch-Staunton said, “Waterton Lakes National Park and NCC’s Waterton Park front project is a very special place in Canada where NCC, ranchers, Parks Canada, the local community, NGOs and other groups have worked together to conserve this precious landscape, while providing for sustainable ranching and the well-being of all of us.”

“This is truly a remarkable conservation partnership.”

This latest project from the NCC was made possible by the federal government through the Natural Heritage Conservation Program, part of Canada’s Nature Fund. The NCC also thanked the Flundra family, who owns the Shoderee Ranch.