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Photo: Keston Prince
The County of Warner is a very diverse area, with the main AESA program priorities focusing on range and riparian management and manure management. There are also programs addressing integrated crop and pest management, and water quality. The County includes several large ranchers and producers, and Hutterite colonies.
“One of the groups I work on a lot of projects with is the Milk River Ranchers Group,” says Keston Prince, Municipal Conservation Technician for the County of Warner. “I’ve helped them get their projects established, and assisted with accessing funding and paperwork.” The Group now includes producers all along the Milk River, from Cardston County through the Counties of Warner and Forty Mile, where it goes back down to the U.S. “Any of the ranchers along the river can access funds to do projects.”
One of the big priorities is water quality and riparian management. “Most of the ranchers are trying to manage timing of grazing and riparian areas separate from uplands through fencing and offsite watering,” explains Prince. “ Prince partnered with the Cardston County last summer to hold a Remote Watering Systems and Riparian Management Tour in the Del Bonita area, profiling some existing innovative watering systems and new technologies, and riparian management. Other partners included the McIntyre Ranch, Nature Conservancy of Canada and AAFRD. Another Group project included several Riparian Health Assessments with the Cows and Fish Program.
“We’re also trying to address some of the salinity issues in the County, and have established salinity grass demonstrations,” says Prince. Several different types of grasses have been seeded to help producers determine which ones might be best suited to this drier climate area. “This year we added another component and are looking at showing the grazing response. We mowed down strips of the grasses to imitate grazing and the positive effects of late season grazing so producers could determine the impacts.” Prince is also working with two other producers on salinity reclamation projects, turning cropland back into permanent pasture to address salinity problems.
The Group is also assisting with the formation of the Milk River Watershed Council of Canada, which includes other partners such as the towns of Milk River, Warner and Coutts, the Counties of Warner, Forty Mile and Cardston, Alberta Conservation Association, Parks and Protected Places, Public Lands, Alberta Environment and others. The biggest priority for the group is to address water quality issues and species at risk in the watershed. “One of the Watershed Group’s upcoming projects is a Stockmans Grazing School planned for June, with the focus on grazing and riparian management,” says Prince. “We will also update producers on species at risk issues, which are important in this area.”
Prince sees working one-on-one with producers as a very important component of his program. “One of the projects we started last year to try and get producers more involved was a range cage project,” says Prince. Producers were provided with range cages so they would have tools to assess their own land. “This gives producers their own project on their own land, and gets them started on more management focused strategies for their operation. The project also gave us a tool to meet new people and expand our reach of working one-on-one.”
Another program underway is the Farmer Pesticide Course. “We’re trying to become a trainer for those courses, as a lot of producers in this area use restricted chemicals, for example for rusty grain beetle, and require the Pesticide Course.” Prince is also involved in promoting the AEFP to local producers and Hutterite Colonies, and sees the program attracting a lot more interest and involvement now, particularly with funding becoming accessible to producers. Prince also worked with a local Hutterite colony to hold a manure management meeting, where they invited members from other colonies to participate.
“The county seems to have a natural split between the north and south parts, so we tend to hold similar programs in both areas,” says Prince. He feels one of the most successful tools for extending information is through two newsletters, the Milk River Ranchers Group Newsletter and the County’s ASB Newsletter. “This is a great way to get information right to their house, and we often package it with other information we think they might keep around.”
For more information, contact:
Keston Prince at (403) 642-2256 or email: conservation@countyofwarner5.ab.ca |
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