A $5 million grant program has been established to help Alberta land trusts protect ecologically important lands in the province.
The Alberta land trust grant program will make funds available to land trust organizations to buy conser vation easements on private property and manage land administered under trusts. The money is made available through Alberta’s Land Stewardship Act, which includes provisions for land conservation programs.
“We have got a lot more opportunity and a lot better tools that we are working with now under the ALSA legislation, and also the new public land administration regulation gives us some better tools to deal with public land and the opportunities for conservation on public lands,” said provincial sustainable resource development minister Mel Knight.
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The fund will be available annually so that the province’s 12 land trusts can continue to work with landowners to protect valuable environmental spaces.
Applicants for the grant must have additional money for the project, which means the organization needs to find a matching $20,000 either in cash or in kind if it applies for $10,000.
“That little kick start and the addition of having a government program involved gives some credibility to the whole system and I believe it will expand our opportunity to set aside sensitive real estate,” Knight said.
In addition, tax recovery land that reverted to the government in the 1930s is also protected in perpetuity. The province has identified 35,000 acres in southern Alberta as being environmentally sensitive or having strong ecological value for the province.
“This is a very good program. It is well thought out and it achieves the kind of things that need to be done in terms of supporting the land trusts,” said Alan Gardner, manager of the Southern Alberta Land Trust Society.
“It creates a level playing field between the different land trusts and provides support not only for new conservation easements but for the stewardship of them as well, which is an ongoing cost for the land trusts.”
SALTS is the largest Alberta-based land trust group. It administers 11,370 acres with 23 easements involving 16 landowners south of Red Deer.
Conservation easements are voluntary but legally binding agreements between a landowner and a land trust. An easement placed on the land title restricts future surface development, but current activities such as grazing may continue. The landowner retains title.
A land trust is a not-for-profit, non-government organization established to promote biodiversity conservation on private land. The grant and matching funds must go toward a specific project.
The application deadline is Sept. 26. For more information, contact landtrust.grantprogam@gov.ab.ca.
ALBERTA LAND TRUSTS
•Alberta Conservation Association
•Alberta Fish and Game Association
•Crooked Creek Conservancy Society of Athabasca
•Ducks Unlimited Canada
•Edmonton and Area Land Trust
•Foothills Land Trust
•Land Stewardship Centre of Canada
•Nature Conservancy of Canada
•Southern Alberta Land Trust Society
•Western Sky Land Trust
•Wild Elk Federation
•Alberta Sport, Recreation, Parks and Wildlife Foundation
