Foothills peak out from behind and above the trees in the Jumpingpound watershed area of Alberta. The Southern Alberta Land Trust Society says it completed three new projects in 2022 that protect 27 square kilometres of land in Jumpingpound. (Photo 219878546 © David Butler | Dreamstime.com

By Canadian Press

Southern Alberta ranchers conserving land to help protect drinking water for cities

Feb 14, 2023 | 10:45 AM

ROCKY VIEW COUNTY, AB – A rancher-led conservation group says it’s helping to protect drinking water in cities such as Calgary by safeguarding some of southern Alberta’s most valuable private land.

The Southern Alberta Land Trust Society protects land through conservation easements that restrict uses that would degrade its ecological health.

It says it completed three new projects in 2022 that protect 27 square kilometres of land in the Jumpingpound watershed.

That’s similar in size to two-and-a-half Nose Hill Parks in Calgary or 17 High Parks in Toronto.

The non-profit’s executive director, Justin Thompson, says the land trust has protected more than 162 square kilometres in Alberta’s foothills and grasslands in the past 25 years.

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Those protected lands include areas along beloved fishing rivers, open spaces along the scenic Cowboy Trail and land in the headwaters of the Bow and Oldman rivers.

Thompson says the protected lands support recreation, tourism and water quality and storage, as well as flood and drought mitigation, in Calgary and Lethbridge.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 14, 2023.

The Canadian Press