Collaborative Management on the Eastern Slopes: The Waldron Ranch Grazing Cooperative and Conservation Easement Motivations

Abstract

Biodiversity conservation is at an inflection point. With the crises of biodiversity loss and climate change, novel strategies are needed to conserve ecosystems under a variety of property regimes. In southwestern Alberta, the Waldron Ranch Grazing Cooperative and the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) have collaborated to use conservation easements (CEs) to place over 30,000 acres (12,140 hectares) of endangered grassland under perpetual protection. Waldron Ranch provides a unique case study, not only due to the size of the total CE, but also the cooperative structure that requires 72 Albertan ranchers to agree on restricting their productivity for conservation protections. We interviewed four individuals from the Cooperative and NCC to understand the motivations, values, and impacts that influenced the CE placement. Key themes include historic sustainable management and minimal impacts to livelihoods, with economic benefits being crucial for CE enrollment, which contrasts with findings from existing literature. Considering these, we expand on the critical role of landowner values and fears when using CEs as a tool for private land conservation. We argue that environmental nongovernmental organizations (eNGOs) need to deeply understand the social complexities that exist on private landscapes if voluntary collaborations are pursued for conservation benefits.