Grazing assurances | The Alberta Land Stewardship Commission says the plan will protect native grasslands and preserve grazing areas
Alberta Beef Producers say it supports a proposed land use plan for the South Saskatchewan region, but wants more public consultation and assurances that grazing leases are honoured.
Public meetings are underway to review and comment on a land use plan for Alberta’s South Saskatchewan river basin region in southern Alberta. Deadline for public submissions is Dec. 21.
The priority is to protect air, surface and ground water as well as biodiversity in the arid southern part of the province.
“Agriculture has to be represented when we talk about water in the South Saskatchewan,” said Glen Tjostheim of the Alberta Land Stewardship Commission.
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He spoke at ABP’s Dec. 3-5 annual meeting in Calgary and assured producers that grazing would still be allowed.
However, ABP wants further talks on how the government envisions conservation management areas, parks and protected areas, as well as the amount of land that will be required. The organization said the government must also address how producers holding grazing agreements in potential recreation areas will be affected.
“It depends on the nature of the particular area, but for the most part we are looking at preserving what exists today, so if you are in there grazing, we would expect tourism and recreational opportunities would make it workable,” Tjostheim said.
The draft plan promises to protect native grasslands and find extra agricultural land, but producers asked how that might work.
“We are trying to take a look at how we use the agriculture land,” Tjostheim said. “It is more about the productivity, and we are looking at lands under pressure in the urban areas.”
Rick Friesen of Vauxhall was skeptical.
“Everything looks good on paper, but in reality it sometimes doesn’t work,” he said.
A plan for the Lower Athabasca region in northeastern Alberta went into effect Sept. 1, but local producers complained it ignored agriculture and watershed groups.
“We know that there are certain aspects where we probably would do things differently,” said Tjostheim.
Other producers said a seasonal study that looked at the landscape over several years should have been done before the planning meetings to better understand how an area changes.
“Unless you have that baseline or profile, the changes that you assume are taking place are a matter of opinion rather than a matter of fact,” said Larry Delver of Calgary.
For more information, visit www.landuse.alberta.ca.
