Joint letter from the Alberta Wilderness Association, Alberta Native Plant Council, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society Southern Alberta, and the Southern Alberta Group for the Environment to preserve native grasslands and biodiversity in the region.

From the letter sent to the Municipal District of Taber Council:

We are writing to express our concerns for the breaking of healthy rangelands on tax recovery lands. These native grasslands are essential for rancher livelihoods, and breaking these lands will result in degradation of soil productivity and loss of biodiversity.

These lands are unsuitable for extensive cultivation and should be maintained as grassland for future generations. We are asking for your support in registering legal protections on the remaining tax recovery lands in the Municipal District of Taber, to prevent the breaking and loss of these important grasslands.

In particular, we ask the Municipal Council to:

1. Review existing policies preventing the cultivation and breaking of tax recovery
   lands, identify gaps in policy, and extend protections to all development interests.
2. Explore the feasibility of registering caveats against the title on tax recovery lands to
   prevent breaking of these lands.
3. Extend the Prairie Conservation Bylaw to include cultivation or breaking of these
   lands by the MD of Taber and other interests.
4. Consider the application of conservation easements on tax recovery lands
   managed by the MD of Taber, in partnership with local land trusts.
5. Engage with stakeholders, including local grazing associations, local ranchers,
   environmental organizations, and residents, to determine other appropriate
   protection measures.

For the complete letter, click here.