A three way partnership among the University of Alberta, the Alberta government and ranchers will oversee the historic Onefour and Stavely research stations.
Agriculture Canada announced the closure of the sites in 2013, so the three new partners will now mind the land in southern Alberta.
A memorandum of understanding has been signed with the university so that long-term studies on grazing, land stewardship, plant life and wildlife can be maintained through the Rangeland Institute, which already runs the Kinsella and Matthies ranches.
The Onefour site, which was established in 1927, is considered the birthplace of rangeland science in Canada.
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The addition of these properties means long-term studies can continue on arid grasslands in southeastern Alberta and the foothills fescue region, said Edward Bork, who is the Mattheis Chair in Rangeland Ecology and Management and director of the Rangeland Research Institute at the U of A.
“We see these four stations as important ‘living laboratories’ in which we can test a broad range of production and sustainability questions at a wide range of scales, including the landscape level,” he wrote in an email.
A draft management plan is coming and will maintain the operation of the landscape, said Graham Statt of Alberta Environment.
A grazing stewardship plan has been in place for both sites for the last year.
The Onefour Grazing Association has eight members.
“This is a generational piece of land, particularly Onefour. That is the birthplace of range science in Alberta and probably a lot of western North America,” said Statt.
Onefour is 17 quarters of federally deeded land. The province is taking over 15 quarters of undeveloped land, and an old town site on two quarters will remain in federal hands.
The town site includes old buildings and three garbage sites, which must be cleaned up. The province considers them a liability that it does not want to acquire, said Statt.
The province’s South Saskatchewan Regional Land Use Plan provides for conservation of heritage range lands, and the province considers Stavely and Onefour to be of high conservation value.
Grazing leases and terms of tenure can be lengthened, while conservation goals are highlighted under legislation. Grazing is considered to be important to the long-term sustainability of the landscape.
Alberta has two heritage rangelands in Alberta — the Black Creek Heritage Rangeland and the OH Ranch Heritage Rangeland — while a third will be established in the Pekisko area under direction of the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan.
