Conference Posters Abstracts
Category 4 — Changing Socio-economic Pressures
Why do landowners practice biodiversity-friendly farming in the Central Parkland region of Alberta?
Presenter: Shawn Banack and Glen Hvenegaard
Authors: Shawn Banack;
Glen Hvenegaard
The reasons why landowners engage in biodiversity-friendly practices in Alberta are either not well known or region-specific. This study sought to understand landowner motivations, triggers, and barriers associated with biodiversity-friendly farming practices, using a case study from the Central Parkland Region of Alberta. Using snowball sampling, we conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews (13-35 minutes each) in March, 2009, with nine landowners engaging in biodiversity-friendly farming practices. Landowners mentioned 15 practices, the most of which were reduced tillage, direct seeding, rotational grazing, nesting projects, reduced use of pesticides and fertilizers, and crop rotation. All landowners wanted to do more for biodiversity, such as fencing wetlands and delaying hay harvests.
The interviews revealed that the landowners were motivated by moral obligation, self-fulfillment, wildlife, economics, future generations, and positive reinforcement. By comparison, in other regions which offer financial incentives, landowners are more often motivated by economics. Key triggers to action included personal concern, relevant courses, mentors, and economic opportunities. However, landowners faced several barriers in practicing biodiversity-friendly farming, such as financial constraints, social isolation, lack of time. To overcome such barriers, landowners maintained self-confidence, sought positive reinforcement, gathered more information, and ignored societal judgments.
If governments and societies want to protect more biodiversity in the Central Parkland Region of Alberta, they should address these motivations and barriers in current and future programs that target landowners. While economic gain is not a central motivator for landowners, time and money are key barriers. Thus, economic incentives (e.g., cost-sharing or tax relief) would help overcome significant barriers. Education and demonstration programs would appeal to landowners’ major motivations and allow the public to see the benefits that arise from such practices. Recognition programs can also help create positive reinforcement and self-fulfillment for landowners and overcome social barriers.
Sandstone Ranch Stewardship Credit Program Pilot Project
Presenter: Dana Blouin
Author: Dana Blouin
The Stewardship Credit Program Pilot Project is being developed by the Nature Conservancy of Canada to maintain and enhance natural capital on the Foothills Fescue grasslands of the Milk River Ridge of southern Alberta. This program, modelled on similar Grassbanking initiatives from the United States, is being developed to create a new conservation tool for use on the agricultural landscapes of Alberta and Canada.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) together with the Alberta Conservation Association (ACA), the Alberta Fish and Game Association (AFGA) and the Sandstone Ranch Grazing Co-operative currently own and manage the 4,200 acre Sandstone Ranch on the North Fork of the Milk River, approximately 75 km south of Lethbridge, Alberta This property provides an ideal opportunity to implement a pilot project for the Stewardship Credit Program. The Sandstone Ranch Grazing Co-op members will have the opportunity to access grazing on the portion of the ranch owned by NCC, ACA and AFGA at a decreased cost by implementing beneficial management practices that will maintain and increase natural capital on their personal ranches in the vicinity.
The project will enable participating ranchers to reduce their production costs and increase the quality of their beef by providing their cattle with healthy forage and allowing the opportunity to rest their private land to increase forage production in the long-term. The pilot began in 2008 and will continue until 2011.
Deliverables for this pilot project include detailed participating ranch assessments and the development of methodology to assign value (credits) to overall ranch land and waterway health and tools to further enhance the natural capital. A yearly monitoring program will also be developed and all information gathered from the pilot project will be incorporated into a handbook that can be shared with other conservation and agricultural agencies across Alberta and Canada.
The Value of Sustainably Managed Grasslands
Presenter: Kathy Murray
Authors: Kathy Murray; Peggy Westhorpe
Manitoba’s Critical Wildlife Habitat Program (CWHP) has a goal to identify, preserve, and manage the remaining critical habitats in Manitoba, with a particular interest in native grasslands and the species they support. The Mixed-grass Prairie Grazing Project focuses on improving privately owned mixed-grass prairie grasslands used as pasture for cattle. Landowners participating in this program sign a voluntary five-year grazing agreement, which outlines an agreed-upon stocking rate and requires implementation of a twice-over grazing rotation on the native prairie pasture. The CWHP cost-shares the infrastructure required to create paddocks for the rotation, and offers ongoing technical support. The value of sustainable grazing on native pasture is most clearly illustrated for producers who participate in having their cattle weighed before and after the grazing season (June 1 to October 15). Weight gains are a meaningful unit of measure for cattle producers; in many cases measuring weight gains on grazing project pastures has prompted changes in management on other properties, as more pounds of beef equals more dollars. CWHP staff conduct vegetation inventories throughout the five-year agreement to monitor changes in habitat quality, and find that value as wildlife habitat typically improves by at least one grade level, based on the Manitoba Conservation Data Centre’s mixed-grass prairie grading guidelines.
Social components of a changing conservation ethic and its consequences for conservation science in Canada's National Parks
Presenter: Krista Scott
Authors: Rafael Otfinowski; Tracy Bowman; Krista Scott
Conservation of natural areas requires scientific expertise as well as social and political support. In fact, local support for conservation remains weak in areas where it is regarded as detached from people's daily needs. As an organization mandated to conserve the integrity of ecosystems, Parks Canada depends on both social and political support for the continuation of its conservation programs. Here, we explore what kind of social conservation ethic may emerge in response to changes in the Canadian population and how this might influence support for conservation science programs in the national parks.
Principal changes in the Canadian population can be captured based on three emerging trends: growing urban centres; an ageing population; and increasing immigration. Using published reports, we review the urbanization of Canadian cities and discuss the projected demographic shifts in the Canadian population. We ask specifically whether increasing urbanization could result in a loss of ecological literacy among Canada's youth and explore changing perceptions of wilderness travel among the growing older cohort of our population. These trends are further discussed in the context of an increasing number of new Canadians, whose socio-cultural norms contribute new perspectives to our collective conservation ethic.
In order to fulfill its mandate to preserve and restore the integrity of protected areas, Parks Canada must find social and political support for its conservation programs. Our discussion explores links between changing social and demographic trends and an emergent conservation ethic, an ethic that we argue is key in continued support for conservation science programs in the national parks.
