The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) and the Waldron Grazing Co-operative (WGC) have now completed the first phase of the Bob Creek Ranch Conservation Project in Alberta. The project was designed in two phases, and they are currently seeking funding for the second phase.The site is located just off of Hwy. 22, also known as "Cowboy Trail." Covering more than 1,000 hectares (over 2,400 acres), it lies between Bob Creek Wildland Park and Black Creek Heritage Rangeland, and privately owned ranches like the Waldron and King ranches. .The project aims to create a contiguous block of 43,000 hectares (over 100,000 acres) of conserved and protected lands within the headwaters of the South Saskatchewan River watershed. It will secure connectivity between the Livingstone Range of the Rocky Mountains to the west and the Porcupine Hills to the east — forming a corridor for species such as elk, deer, and threatened species like grizzly bears. The project began in 2013, with the conservation of the 13,000-hectare Waldron Ranch, and in 2015, the neighboring King Ranch. The land is managed by the WGC, which owns and operates it as part of a sustainable ranching operation..Sean Feagan, Communications Manager for the NCC, describes NCC's role: "We provide a little extra cash. The way it works is, we have an independent third party appraiser, who assesses the value of the property — its current value — and then compares that to its potential value if it were developed. The difference between those amounts is the easement value. We pay up to 50% of that easement value, and the remainder provided as a tax credit.""We also monitor the area to ensure that the easement is being upheld, and we help give them access to stewardship grant funding," he adds. The grants typically cover costs for offset watering systems or portable electric fences.Feagan notes the watering systems benefit the cattle, as studies show cows with access to clean water put on weight faster..The grassland in the area is also significant — Feagan points out, "It's really important grass. It's Alberta's provincial grass and has a high winter forage value. It retains a lot of protein and carbohydrates in its leaves, which makes it especially important in the winter, when a many other grasses kind of die back. These grasses, however, cure on the stem. That's why this area is so important for ranching and very central to Alberta's ranching history."Grassland is not just great for grazing cattle, it also helps conserve the population of grassland birds, which are, "the fastest declining groups of birds in Canada, like songbirds called the Sprague's Pipit."Other creeks on the conserved land also include Oldman River, where lots of fishing takes place containing cutthroat and bull trout, Alberta's provincial fish.
