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It
is pretty easy to see why conserving rangelands would be important to the
people that make their livelihoods and their lives directly on those landscapes.
However, a misconception that SALTS often comes across is
that conserving rangelands should only concern ranchers, because they
are
the only ones
who benefit from healthy, intact rangelands.
That is simply not the case. And it is the reason that SALTS talks
about "Far ranging values." Southern Alberta rangelands contribute in
a large way to virtually everything Albertans value in their lives.
Clean Air and Water
Biological Diversity
Culture and Heritage
Scenic Beauty
Economy Vitality
Sustainable Land Use
Clean Air and Water
Alberta's expansive rangelands play a critical role in cleaning
our air and our water.
When we think of landscapes that help remove the carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere and create the oxygen we breathe, we usually think of distant
rain forests. However, grasslands can hold an incredible amount of the
carbon that we put into the air, and are one of our country's primary
'carbon sinks'.
Up to a 1m depth of native rangelands can
contain as much as 200 tonnes of carbon per hectare.
Healthy riparian areas (where the land meets the water) naturally filter
the water that passes through them into the province's waterways. Because
of history and operational needs, many ranches have stewarded the natural
waterways for over 100 years. It would take millions of dollars worth
of
water treatment to simulate what the streams, creeks and wetlands of the
province's rangelands do naturally. These narrow riparian landscapes also
provide
a
disproportionately large amount of wildlife habitat needs, including cover,
nesting sites, movement corridors and nourishment.
Biological Diversity
Grazing and stewardship are keys to maintaining southwestern
Alberta's globally significant biodiversity.
The native grasslands of southern Alberta have evolved over thousands of
years in response to grazing. As the bison once did, cattle
now
maintain the grazing regime critical to the grasslands ecosystem.
Over the last hundred years or more, as wildlife habitat has disappeared
throughout southern Alberta, a diverse concentration of native species
has stuck
to
the strip of land along the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains -- land
that is primarily ranchlands.
Decades of stewardship have maintained what is today one of the province's
most biologically diverse areas. These landscapes provide a home for a variety
of aquatic, avian and terrestrial animals, maintain intact entire watershed
systems, and function as buffer zones around protected areas.
Culture
and Heritage
Land and people are inseparable.
Over the last century, the ranches and grasslands of southern Alberta
have
defined our culture to a large degree. The landscapes and business of ranching
give substance to these aspects of our heritage -- likewise, their loss
diminishes it.
Many of the communities throughout the southern part of Alberta were established
because of the ranching industry. The loss and conversion of rangelands
inevitably
means the loss and conversion of these communities.
Scenic
Beauty
Alberta's tourism industry markets the province around the globe
using images of wide open spaces, grasslands extending to the mountain
forests and dusty ranch hands. These are stunning, beautiful images, and
they ring
with credibility because those things still exist here - a natural and
cultural heritage still maintained.
They are images that every Albertan identifies with, and the preservation
of that beauty should be a priority to our citizens.
Economy Vitality
Since the 1800's, cattle ranching has been a pillar of Alberta's
economy. Alberta's extensive rangelands, and the cattle they feed, are
the
backbone of Canada's cattle industry -- an industry which contributes over
$30 billion to the country's economy each year.
The economic contribution of the cattle industry has become even more important
in recent years, as Alberta has looked to its non-petrochemical industries
to help develop a diversity that is critical to the province's economic
health.
Sustainable
Land Use
As Alberta's government and people search for direction in achieving
truly sustainable resource use, ranching can be looked to as a long-standing,
proven model.
Sustainability comes from working within the natural
capabilities of the landscape. Ranching is a land use and industry that
focuses on minimal
landscape modification, and depends on the natural functioning of
native ecosystems, offering an ideal model of sustainability. Perhaps
the key to this model is the traditional
ecological knowledge. Passed down through three or four generations of
landowners, it is an invaluable management resource.
Conserving
rangelands should be a concern for every Albertan, because loss of
the
province's ranchlands will affect everyone.
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