Land Stewardship
Land stewardship involves responsibly managing and conserving natural resources, ecosystems, and landscapes to sustain their ecological health and diversity for current and future generations.
ResourceDynamics of Alberta’s Cattle Sector: Implications, Opportunities and Constraints of a Systems View
This project was catalyzed by Operation Grassland Community, with a focus on building a dynamic simulator that could track cattle dynamics and explore alternative cattle production strategies in Alberta against a range of economic, social, and environmental factors. This report is a written summary that accompanies the Alberta Livestock Alces Online (ALAO) simulator (http://www.online.alces).
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The Bow & Beyond Initiative- Moving Upstream
Western Sky’s Bow & Beyond – Moving Upstream Is a focused landowner outreach and conservation program designed to engage all landowners along the Bow & Elbow Rivers upstream from Calgary to the national and provincial parks. The ultimate goal of this outreach Is that It wlll lead to the conservation of 3000 acres of riverfront land In perpetuity, which contributes to the sustainability and integrity of the Bow watershed, provides intrinsic environmental and economic benefits as well as community resiliency.
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Lac la Biche Shoreline Stewardship Project
The project integrates and implements the recommendations identified in the 2009 Lac la Biche Watershed Management Plan. Through better understanding Lac la Biche’s ecology and how people relate to it socially and economically, we can improve lake and land use decision-making through a collaborative lake management planning strategy. Healthy watersheds are important to healthy communities.
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Engaging Stakeholders in Alberta’s Grassland Region to collaborate, innovate, and apply sustainable land-use solutions, and to link urban, rural, and ecological communities
Alberta’s Grasslands, home to more than half our province’s residents, is a place rich in culture, heritage, and natural beauty; however, multiple human demands on this landscape also make grasslands home to more than 75% of the province’s endangered wildlife species. For over 20 years, Operation Grassland Community has sought win-win solutions to balance these multi-stakeholder demands. This year, Operation Grassland Community will bridge urban-rural disconnect through an innovative video-documentary outreach initiative called the “Conservation Caravan”, and we will work directly with a “Steering Forum” of rural stakeholders to implement innovative sustainable land management projects as an active demonstration of steps we can take to achieve balance in the region’s economic and ecological needs.
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Building Constituency for Conservation and Sustainability in Waterton Biosphere Reserve
Residents of Waterton Biosphere Reserve (WBR) have been working together for more than 30 years to balance biodiversity conservation with sustainable use of the land in southwestern Alberta. A strong local constituency, with shared ideas and motivation for collaborative action is what makes biosphere reserves unique and will ensure the long term success and survival of WBR and the benefits that it brings to the citizens of southwestern Alberta. This project will work to build that constituency for conservation and sustainability.
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Advancing a Groundwater Policy for Alberta
Advancing a Groundwater Policy for Alberta will build upon our previous organizational successes and experience, and offers an opportunity to commence an open, high-level conversation on groundwater policy and management in Alberta. Results of these discussions will be presented in a comprehensive research report, to promote and inform development of a provincial groundwater policy and assist future governmental planning. To enhance this project’s impact, we will maximize communication of the options and solutions we develop by pursuing a communications plan that directs audience-specific materials to government policy-writers and decision-makers, the public, and major real estate associations in Alberta.
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Implementing a Wed-Enabled Home Energy Efficiency Dashboard (HEED) to Support Green Real-Estate
The goal of this grant is to work with decision support specialists and CREB® to (i) create a web-enabled home energy-efficiency dashboard (HEED) that provides long-term evidence of a home’s energy performance and energy investment information – based on unique HEAT Scores™ and HEAT Maps™ (derived from airborne thermal images of Calgary homes), and monthly energy consumption data – that is easy to use, secure and transferable (between seller and buyer); and (ii) evaluate HEED’s ability to support green real-estate sales in Calgary.
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Launch and Inaugural Session of the SCI Energy Lab (SCIEL)
The purpose of the SCI Energy Lab is to accelerate the transformation towards sustainable energy development by supporting the “next wave” of cities that have an interest in learning from leading cities and sufficient capacity to act on what they learn.
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Collaboration for Watershed Health: Transferring Knowledge on Riparian and Upland Development.
Targeted workshops to real estate professionals, developers and planners, combined with broader outreach to the community, will educate and help maintain and support environmental stewardship of both riparian and uplands. Sharing stewardship success stories and low impact development techniques will give these audiences both motivation and practical knowledge that they can apply.
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Protecting our Home: Supporting land use planning in southern Alberta
Without proper planning, Southern Alberta could lose the values that attract people from all over the world to live and work here. The Alberta government is currently preparing a new land use plan for Southern Alberta. Y2Y will work to ensure plan provides protection from floods and drought while preserving the scenery and recreational opportunities that contribute to real estate values.
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Community Watershed Stewardship Project
Fish Creek Provincial Park provides a valuable recreational and natural resource that, with appropriate stewardship, will continue to serve Calgary families and support local real estate values far into the future. By leveraging skilled staff and volunteers to provide outreach activities, hands on stewardship and social enterprise a core of informed park users will be supported by a stable nonprofit society. Supportive actions and attitudes of our neighbours and sustainable use will ensure a vibrant healthy park to be enjoyed by future generations whilst adding value to surrounding properties.
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Community Gardens Resource Network- Growing Communities
The Community Gardens Resource Network builds and strengthens community gardening through education, community connections and creating a network of resources.