Ecologically valuable land on the Wineglass Ranch is among the projects receiving support through the Alberta Land Trust Grant Program, it was announced today (Sept. 19).

Environment and Parks minister Shannon Phillips joined a representative of the Southern Alberta Land Trust Society (SALTS) and Edith Wearmouth, Travis and Kara Eklund, of the historic ranch, to view the land being protected.

The Wineglass conservation easement will cover 1,247 acres (5 km2), including grasslands, forests and riparian areas. It’s one of 24 projects being supported through the grant program in the government’s 2017-18 fiscal year and one of five approved for SALTS.

With the conservation easement, lands continue to be owned and managed by the landowner, but restrictions are placed on future development. That includes restricting housing development while allowing ranching and other activities to continue that will maintain the health of the landscape.

The Wineglass Ranch has been in the same family for 131 years and in recent decades has faced further pressure from encroaching residential development. It also surrounds the Jumpingpound Creek, a major tributary to the Bow River upstream of Calgary’s Bearspaw Water Treatment plant and is a source of drinking water for Calgary.

The Jumpingpound watershed contains sensitive wildlife habitat and the ranch itself is home to over 20 wildlife species, including hawks, eagles, elk, bear, moose and cougars among other mammals and birds. It is also an important trout habitat and is the only tributary of the Bow River where trout spawn between the Ghost and Bearspaw dams.

SALTS executive director Justin Thompson says the Wineglass conversation easement is a huge step forward in protecting sensitive areas along the Jumpingpound Creek and he praises the ranch’s involvement.

“They’ve been doing various things for years to manage the property in a really ecologically good way,” says Thompson. “So this step to move down the road to a conservation easement is providing that extra level of protection that the land will stay as grasslands and ranching land for the long-term.”

He hopes it will be the anchor for future conservation easements along the Jumpingpound.

“We definitely would like to work with other folks. That’s why the Wineglass property is sort of an anchor piece. It’s a really big piece on Jumpingpound Creek and we would love to start to work with other landowners to expand on that so over the long-term we have a really significant block.”

SALTS has previously been involved in an easement project just west of Wineglass Ranch. In August 2014, Harvey and Margaret Buckley placed 800 acres of their ranch under a conservation easement.

“I think people are starting to really understand the value of making sure that some of these really key pieces of the landscape near Cochrane and west of Calgary should stay as ranchland in the long-term rather than for other uses.”

The funds utilized don’t come out of the province’s general revenue, explains Thompson. A trust fund established by the province utilizes some of the proceeds of Crown Land sales. That insurance of steady funding has made more of these projects possible. This year, through 24 projects 13,000 acres are being conserved by SALTS and five other organizations at a cost of over $7 million.

“What we’re finding is the more projects we do and the more we communicate with people in communities, the more and more interest we’re getting. So we have seen the number of projects the number of acres that we’re doing go up consistently over the last several years.”

SALTS was established in 1998 by ranchers in the Pincher Creek-Longview area after the federal government legislated ecological gifts as charitable. It has continued to grow over the last 20 years and the majority of the members of its board of directors are active in the ranching community.

Some people approach SALTS, but they also reach out to others.

“The areas that we tend to focus on the most are those that have high ecological values. So, areas with intact native grasslands, areas with rivers and creeks, areas that might be part of a critical wildlife corridor.”

“There’s so much land out there, so we’re really trying to be strategic and focus on the landowners where if we can keep the land from being developed it’s going to have the biggest value from a wildlife and ecological standpoint.”

Those who express interest in the program are motivated by the need to ensure the land will be conserved but to also ensure they continue to be used for agricultural activities.

“We have people who approach us who are interested in the ecological side but also say they want to see it stay as agricultural land.”

“SALTS is there essentially as a partner with the landowner to make sure we keep the wishes of the initial landowner to keep the easement in place over time.”