Alberta Prairie For more information please contact:

Conservation Forum Cheryl Dash, Secretary Telephone: 403-381-5562 The PCF began in 1988 and is a large voluntary Fax: 403-382-4428 coalition of stakeholder groups. Members are E-mail: [email protected] interested in the conservation of native prairie and parkland environments in . Prairie Conservation Forum Alberta Prairie 2nd Floor, Provincial Building Our Vision 200—5th Ave. South

Lethbridge, Alberta T1J 4L1 Conservation Forum To conserve the biological diversity of Alberta’s na- tive prairie ecosystems for the benefit of current and Or check out our home page: future generations. www.albertapcf.org Our Goals

Research

Research helps us determine the state of biodiversity in prai- Pronghorn antelope. C. Wallis rie and parkland Alberta and provides direction for future Current Membership conservation efforts. Agriculture and Agri-Food ; Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural C. Lockerbie Development; Alberta Conservation Association; Alberta Conservation Stewardship Tillage Society; Alberta Fish and Game Association; Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation; Alberta Native Plant Council; Alberta Sustainable Stewardship is the responsibility Resource Development; Alberta Wilderness Association; Canadian Forces to take care of our natural re- Base Suffield; Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (/Banff); of Calgary; City of ; Community Development (Alberta); Cows sources to ensure that they are and Fish; Dryland Salinity Control Association; Ducks Unlimited Canada; sustainably managed for cur- Eastern Irrigation ; Economic Development (Alberta); EnCana rent and future generations. It is C. Wallis Corporation; Energy (Alberta); of Alberta Naturalists; Fish and Wildlife Division (ASRD); Grasslands Naturalists; Lands Division (ASRD); an ethic that embodies cooperative planning and L. Cronkhite Lethbridge Naturalists Society; National Energy Board (Canada); Natural management of environmental resources. Resources Conservation Board (ASRD); Nature Conservancy of Canada; Education Oldman Watershed Council; Parks Canada; Pekisko Group; Petro Canada, Red Deer River Watershed Alliance; Regional Services (Alberta Is not our sense of who we are defined Education is essential to teaching Environment); Resource Information Management Branch (ASRD); Sandy Cross Conservation Foundation; Secretariat (Alberta Environment); Society by what we experience in the places people about the prairies so that for Range Management; Land Trust Society; Special Areas we live our lives? they understand what is being done Advisory Council; Special Areas Board; Tourism, Parks, Recreation and on the landscape around them, and Culture — Parks and Protected Areas (Alberta); University of Alberta; what we can potentially lose with University of Calgary; University of Lethbridge; Western Sky Land Trust Society; Wildlife Society. unsustainable management prac- tices. The printing of this brochure was generously sponsored by Alberta Website: www.albertapcf.org K. Pearson Sustainable Resource Development. The Prairies — Our Home

The North American prairie is a vast A changing landscape... The Alberta Prairie Conservation Action landscape dominated by grass- When the first settlers came to the prairies, they thought Plans (or PCAPs) are five-year blueprints aimed at lands. In Canada, the prairie of it as an inhospitable land where it would be difficult to prairie-wide efforts to conserve and manage native extends from eastern Manitoba, survive. Since then, the prairie landscape has under- prairie species, communities, and through southern Saskatchewan, to gone many changes as people realized they could not habitats. The Forum exists to the foothills of Alberta. The prairies only survive here, but thrive. Resource extraction, agri- promote the Alberta PCAP and to are dominated by deep-rooted cultural conversions and intensification, urban develop- provide an ongoing profile for grasses, a variety of forbs and small ment, introduced species, climate change uncertainty, prairie and parkland conservation shrubs, as well as taller shrubs and Foothills Rough Fescue and the development of energy resources have all con- initiatives. The first Alberta PCAP, Grassland. H. Eijgel trees (such as cottonwoods) that tributed to the uncertain future of the prairies. Ranching, developed in 1996-2000, broad- can be found in moist draws and an industry long important ened the base of support for prai- river valleys. Along its fringe, grasslands intermingle to prairie people and a rie conservation and acknowl- with aspen woodlands to produce the aspen parkland. system to which prairie edged community empowerment, Many processes are at work plants have adapted over the emergence of ecosystem on the prairies, including fire, time, can also lead to habi- management, information tech- flood, drought, grazing, de- tat degradation unless it is nology, the importance of micro- composition, erosion, deposi- sustainably managed. In fauna, and changes in the role of fact, many of the largest government. Today’s PCAP, Burrowing Owls, Swift tion, and soil disturbance. Cows. K. Taylor tracts of native prairie in 2006—2010, remains true to Fox. G. Court. Prairie These processes, along with Rattlesnake. C. Wallis low annual precipitation, tem- Prairie Riparian Area. I. Dyson Alberta can be found on ranchlands, making ranching these enduring characteristics by perature extremes, and a drying wind continue to one of the most important industries in maintaining and focusing on the conservation of native species, com- shape the prairies of today and add to the diversity of conserving native prairie. munities and habitats, a commitment to a prairie-wide vision, and the adoption of multi-party partnerships. life that can be found here. Where do we go from here? From a global perspective, the prairie is a relatively The Prairie Conservation Forum is made up of many Alberta’s PCAP is linked to a larger prairie conserva- young ecosystem, with less variety than many others. member organizations that are committed to the conser- tion strategy, with similar documents in Manitoba and Still, immense populations of vation of Alberta’s prairies. Saskatchewan. Together, these plans promote prairie grazing animals, including bi- Part of this process involves -wide conservation practices. son and pronghorn antelope, working together and shar- roamed it for millennia. Prairie ing knowledge of what work vegetation reflects this long has been done on the prai- history of grazing, although ries, and what work is cur- cattle are now the dominant rently being done on the Blue grama grass. C. Wallis grazer in many areas. Integrated land use. D. Boyd prairies.

“Nature is an open book for those who care to read. Each grass-covered hillside is a page on which is written the history of the past, conditions of the present, and predictions of the future. Some see without understanding; but let You can request a copy of Alberta’s Action Plan by us look closely and understandingly, and act wisely, and in time bring our methods of land use and conservation contacting the address provided on the back of this activities into close harmony with the dictates of nature.” From J.E. Weaver, North American Prairie, Johansen Publishing, Lin- pamphlet. Alternatively, a copy of the plan can be coln, NE 1954. downloaded from our website at www.albertapcf.org.