More than $37 million has been raised to complete one of the largest conservation easements in Canada.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada put together the money to protect the more than 30,500 acre Waldron Ranch in southwestern Alberta. The deal was announced last year but the funds were not in place, said Larry Simpson, associate regional vice-president in Alberta for the Nature Conservancy of Canada.
“When we announced last year, we didn’t have any of the money and they didn’t know for sure if we could get it done,” he said.
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The bare land value of the privately held ranch was $75 million, and the conservation agreement provides 20 percent of that value. A 72 member grazing co-operative operates the ranch.
The money is used to create an endowment for continued conservation and riparian projects.
The shareholders agreed there will be no subdivisions or cultivation and the watershed will not be altered.
The agreement involves one of the continent’s largest spreads of native fescue grassland. It is also home to numerous endangered species.
“We want these easements to last as long as our civil society remains intact,” Simpson said.
The ranch will continue to operate as a grazing co-operative. Oil and gas activity may be allowed in some cases.
“A conservation easement does not give a landowner any rights that they don’t already have,” he said.
Funds came from the provincial and federal governments, the Calgary Foundation and other private donors.
Duncan McNab McEarchran of Montreal established the ranch in 1883 by with financial backing from Sir John Waldrond of England. At the time it covered 260,000 acres of land between the Oldman River and Porcupine Hills. The ranch changed hands over the years and was sold to the Waldron Grazing Co-operative in 1962.
