If you have been following the work of the OWC, you may have noticed that we invest significant time and effort in restoring Alberta’s landscapes with our many partners—planting willows on streambanks to reduce erosion, building beaver dam analogues, installing wattle fencing, removing invasive plants so native species can thrive, and more. But why does this work matter?
Alvin First Rider is the Environmental Manager with Blood Tribe Land Management. In this blog, he shares his experience working in land stewardship, and his knowledge of the role that fire plays, and has played, on the prairie.
Watershed Stewardship Assistant Chantel Youmans reflects on the experience of learning from Api’soomaahka, and the prairie itself, on ecology and the deep significance of prairie plants in Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) culture as food and medicine.
It’s a beautiful, windy day on the range, where I’m about to receive a thorough sermon on beaver ecology and coexistence from southern Alberta’s resident ‘beaver guy,’ Kirby England.
Here in Alberta, our grasslands are the result of many thousands of years of shaping and influence, from both geologic processes and the animals that came before us. Today, every field I pass is a reminder of the constant effort involved in keeping grasslands thriving through sustainable grazing management.
This is blog #1 in a series about the current drought in Alberta. Stay tuned to ABWater.ca for blogs, videos, and up to date information.
