New NCC site in Porcupine Hills connects protected lands

By Ry Clarke - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on August 24, 2022.

NCC photo by Brent Calver A new conservation site in the Porcupine Hills area will connect 643-hectares of land to protected areas in southwestern Alberta.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada is announcing a new conservation site in the Porcupine Hills area in southwestern Alberta.

Located west of Claresholm in the Municipal District of Willow Creek, the 643-hectare property supports a rich ecosystem of riparian habitats, fescue grasslands, limber pine, montane forests, and at-risk species like Sprague’s pipit, a songbird that is listed as a threatened species under the federal Species at Risk Act.

“Through conservation easements, this voluntary legal agreement between a landowner and Nature Conservancy of Canada establishes mutually agreed upon restrictions on the landscape that work to conserve the area’s natural value,” said Sean Feagan, communications coordinator for the NCC. “These agreements allow landowners to continue operating on their landscape. This will remain a working landscape, specifically, it will continue to serve as range land for cattle. Our number one goal of conservation is to maintain not only the natural value of the landscape, but also the economic value.”

With adjoining NCC conservation sites this project will form a protected block of around 1,900 hectares adding to the 7,700 hectares of protected areas along the eastern edge of the Porcupine Hills. With partnerships from local ranchers and other landowners the property will help further connect nearby conserved lands in the Livingstone Range through Bob Creek Wildland, and the Waldron and King Ranches across the Porcupine Hills.

“We will work with the landowners to develop a management plan for each property. NCC helps with weed control, stopping the establishment and spread of weeds on the property. This is a pristine high-quality grassland, because of how it’s been stewarded over the years,” said Feagan. “This is an area where the NCC as well as other land trusts, such as the Southern Alberta Land Trust, have been working and conserving properties. One of the main goals is to establish a robust network of conserved lands, and this area will help connect those existing areas.”

NCC notes grasslands are one of the most at-risk ecosystems on the planet and this project features montane forests with a population of limber pine, a species listed as Endangered in Alberta under the Wildlife Act.

“It’s a species that has exhibited dramatic declines in Alberta, due to a variety of factors, like an introduced pathogen called white pine blister rust, as well as mountain pine beetles,” said Feagan. “The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada is working on a recovery plan to maintain the genetic diversity of the species and to find strains that are resistant to the fungal pathogen. By maintaining that population in the montane forests, the NCC will be ensuring that limber pine will stay there on the landscape, and maintain genetic diversity.”

“The NCC is a national organization, but we are the regional chapter doing this work. There won’t be any negative consequences, this is something that benefits nature, Albertans, and the landowners. Each of these parties really benefits from this arrangement. Anytime we conserve native grasslands is a victory for both nature and Albertans. The amount that has been lost, as well as the rate that it continues to be lost is staggering. So conserving any amount, let alone hundreds of hectares such as in this property, will make a huge difference to conserving this highly imperiled ecosystem,” said Feagan.