
New conservation site announced west of Claresholm
LETHBRIDGE, AB – A new conservation site has been announced by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). It’s nestled in the rolling Porcupine Hills area of southwestern Alberta.
The NCC says along with an adjacent pre-existing conservation site, the project will form a single protected block of almost 1,900 hectares. Its conservation will add close to 7,700 hectares of protected areas along the eastern edge of the Porcupine Hills, of which 87% was conserved in a partnership between the NCC, local ranchers and other landowners.
The new conservation site is west of Claresholm in the Municipal District of Willow Creek. It is a 643-hectare property that the NCC says “supports a rich diversity of ecosystems, from riparian habitats surrounding Trout Creek, to rolling fescue grasslands and montane forests, as well as at-risk bird species and imperilled limber pine.”
The NCC noted that grasslands are one of the most at-risk ecosystems on Earth. The new project is situated in the Foothills Fescue Natural Subregion, where grassland ecosystems are dominated by rough fescue, which is the provincial grass of Alberta. More than 80% of this project’s area features high-quality fescue grasslands. The NCC says protecting this ecosystem will maintain habitat for grassland wildlife, including Sprague’s pipit, a songbird that is listed as threatened under the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA), as well as nutritious winter forage for deer, elk and cattle.