Voluntary Stewardship - Our Prairie Landholder Membership

Membership - Voluntary Stewardship Agreements

Operation Grassland Community (OGC) has hundreds of members who steward land throughout the grassland region of Alberta. Each year, OGC seeks new members who have species at risk located on their lands, and/or have significant parcels of native prairie habitats. Each new member agrees to take part in a voluntary stewardship agreement to protect these species at risk and their habitats. Membership is voluntary and strictly confidential – OGC will only share information about the landholder or species residing on their lands with explicit permission from the landholder. Members also retain all rights for their lands as expressed prior to their membership in Operation Grassland Community. Membership is renewed every 5 years. This renewal process ensures members are kept abreast of needs for Species at Risk on their lands, and renews their commitment to protecting habitat for these species.

Operation Grassland Community works with its membership and on their behalf, to promote the stewardship needs of their communities.

Habitat Enhancement Projects
Often, OGC will act as a link to Prairie Stewardship and Assistance Programs of relevance, applying on behalf of members for financial resources to ensure continued beneficial relationships between agricultural resources and wildlife (e.g. off-site watering; native reseeding; wetland/riparian fencing). Beginning in 2005, Operation Grassland Community has worked with several members to implement Habitat Enhancement Projects that improve Burrowing Owl nesting and foraging habitats (more info).

Species At Risk Conservation (SARC) Plans
OGC is involved in an exciting partnership with MULTISAR*. MULTISAR works in partnership with ranchers and other organizations to assist landowners and lessees in managing land in a way that benefit provincial and federal species at risk, while maintaining an economically viable operation) to provide landholders with ranch-wide Species At Risk Conservation (SARC) Plans. By working together on our common goals, OGC and MULTISAR can greatly increase our efficiencies, and ensure that we and minimize duplication of efforts.

SARC Plans provide landholders with relevant and timely Beneficial Management Practices (BMP)s that can be implemented with our assistance. These Plans include:

• A brief description of the farm or ranch

• An outline of landholder interests/operational objectives

• Assessment results and pasture-specific management strategies

• Baseline Beneficial Management Practices (BMPs) for each OGC target species (i.e., Burrowing Owl, Loggerhead Shrike, Sprague’s Pipit, and Ferruginous Hawk).

• A custom map of landholder’s property and proposed BMP recommendations.

Information Exchange:
Members also receive annual Newsletters, and the OGC Conservation Toolkit Series. In return, OGC is privileged to gain first hand knowledge of the challenges landholders face to balance economy and ecology. This relationship of information exchange with our members allows us to deliver the most relevant materials and ensure that we invest in mutually beneficial habitat enhancement projects.

* MULTISAR stands for MULTIple Species At Risk, a program of Alberta Sustainable
Resource Development and the Alberta Conservation Association.

Alberta Fish and Game Association
6924-104 Street, Edmonton, Alberta
Tel: (780) 437-2342 | E-mail: office@afga.org