Prairie Conservation Forum Update

November 17, 2025

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• Grasslands
• Parkland
• WLA Archive

This year’s meeting was especially important because we were approaching the end of the 2020-2025 PCAP, and members had already started drafting the 2026-2030 PCAP.

By Ruiping Luo

Read the PDF version here.

 

On a beautiful June day, the members of the Prairie Conservation Forum (PCF) gathered in Magrath, a small town in southern Alberta, about 32 kilometres south of Lethbridge with a population under 3,00 people. The PCF represents people from conservation, agriculture, industry, municipalities, and other sectors concerned with protecting our grassland and parkland. The group works to implement Alberta’s five-year Prairie Conservation Action Plans (PCAP).

This year’s meeting was especially important because we were approaching the end of the 2020-2025 PCAP, and members had already started drafting the 2026-2030 PCAP. The content of this plan would direct the PCF’s work for the next five years.

In addition to the exciting update on the PCAP — mostly complete and awaiting approval for a few sections — this meeting addressed the need to update the Grassland Vegetation Inventory (GVI). The GVI contains detailed information about the types of land found across the prairie region, important to have when making land use decisions and prioritizing the protection of native prairie. Alberta is one of the few provinces to have such detailed data available.

However, this inventory was completed in 2019, and with the fast-paced changes, is already considered outdated. The provincial government, which was largely responsible for producing the GVI, no longer had the capacity to maintain it. With the amount of information contained in this inventory, updating it would not be easy and was expected to cost upwards of $4 million. Yet, the members of the PCF agreed the GVI was useful. This, it was argued, could be an opportunity for the PCF to take leadership, and for the members to cooperate on updating and improving the GVI.

As part of these meetings, the PCF arranges a tour, showcasing some of the work happening in different areas. So, after the meeting, we set out for McIntyre Ranch, which manages over 22,000 acres of critical grassland habitat. It also holds the largest conservation easement to date, considered a historic agreement to protect irreplaceable grassland and prevent the fragmentation and loss of the ranch. The ranch continues as a cattle operation and maintains the legacy of sustainable ranching left by two families, as Ralph Thrall III, the current owner, explained to us.

The area was full of life. Although the ground was dry, we stood over rolling fields of green, dotted with the occasional flower or bush. Distinct rock formations, left from long ago, rose like ancient ruins. We passed a badger, ambling away from the group, and from the ridge we watched falcons and hawks soar past. In the distance, a herd of elk wandered past. Beyond them were the bright yellow fields of canola and the dusty brown of roads, a constant reminder of the pressures that threaten this little oasis.

Alberta’s prairies remain under intense pressures from development, agriculture, invasive species and other causes of loss and degradation. The PCF and its members are working to slow this loss, to protect and recover native prairie, and to share knowledge about the prairie and its importance. Under the 2026-2030 PCAP, the PCF will continue towards its goals of revitalizing Alberta’s prairie region.