ALTERNATIVE LAND USE SERVICES (ALUS)
PILOT PROJECT LAUNCH IN THE COUNTY OF VERMILION RIVER
Kitscoty, ALBERTA: On January 20, 2010, the ALUS Partner Advisory Committee (PAC), in cooperation with the County of Vermilion River (CVR) will officially launch the first Alternative Land Use Services Pilot Project in the Province of Alberta. Launch ceremonies will commence at the Cattlemen’s Corral in Lloydminster and at 10:00am the first ALUS agreements will be signed by participating producers. ALUS producers, the PAC, community leaders, conservationists, and others from CVR and across the Province will be attending. Producers, interest groups and the media are all cordially invited to attend this ground- breaking, grassroots event.
Alternative Land Use Services is a concept pioneered by grassroots farm organizations across Canada to help meet the growing demand for environmental products, such as clean air and greenhouse gas reductions, clean water, fish and wildlife habitat, conservation of species at risk and pastoral landscapes from agricultural landscapes. The Keystone Agricultural Producers and Delta Waterfowl originally started ALUS in Manitoba. “ALUS is a positive way of enlisting producer skills and rural communities to help satisfy the growing environmental demands of society,” says Daryl Watt, Chair of the ALUS Partner Advisory Committee, “these next generation farm ‘products’ are referred to as “ecological goods and services,” and farmers are uniquely positioned to provide these benefits to society.”
“The purpose of the ALUS pilot project in CVR is to demonstrate the feasibility of a community- led, producer- delivered model for providing Canadians with environmental benefits from farm and ranchlands in Alberta,” said Sean McGrath, whose ranch serves as an ALUS demonstration site. McGrath says ALUS builds on current producer and conservation programs, but adds the new dimension of paying farmers for providing ongoing environmental services and benefits. “ALUS uses incentives to turn environmental risks and liabilities on the farm into assets, reducing the need for more regulations.”
“Producers have always been good stewards of the land,” said Jim Fisher, Director of Conservation Policy for the Delta Waterfowl Foundation, “but ALUS allows producers to do much more to solve environmental problems like water supply, flood control and providing habitat for wildlife, by rewarding them for the ecological goods and services that deliver these benefits from their land.” Fisher says, “ALUS has grown in Prince Edward Island and Ontario, where it enjoys enthusiastic support from communities, producers, rural and urban Canadians. Once started, ALUS tends to gain rapid support in a community, because its such a common sense solution to environmental problems,” added Fisher, “We’re confident ALUS will meet the expectations of producers and the community here in the CVR and we look forward to expanding ALUS with a broad spectrum of partners interested in the environment and farming.”
For more information, and to confirm your participation in this ground- breaking event, please contact:
Joan Gabrielson County of Vermilion River
ALUS Project Coordinator 4912 – 50 Ave, Box 69
County of Vermilion River, AB Kitscoty, AB
(P) 780-871-3589 (P) 780-846-2244
To date partner organizations that support ALUS either with funding or direction includes the Alberta Conservation Association, Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, County of Vermilion River, Cows and Fish, Delta Waterfowl, and Wildlife Habitat Canada.
PILOT PROJECT LAUNCH IN THE COUNTY OF VERMILION RIVER
Kitscoty, ALBERTA: On January 20, 2010, the ALUS Partner Advisory Committee (PAC), in cooperation with the County of Vermilion River (CVR) will officially launch the first Alternative Land Use Services Pilot Project in the Province of Alberta. Launch ceremonies will commence at the Cattlemen’s Corral in Lloydminster and at 10:00am the first ALUS agreements will be signed by participating producers. ALUS producers, the PAC, community leaders, conservationists, and others from CVR and across the Province will be attending. Producers, interest groups and the media are all cordially invited to attend this ground- breaking, grassroots event.
Alternative Land Use Services is a concept pioneered by grassroots farm organizations across Canada to help meet the growing demand for environmental products, such as clean air and greenhouse gas reductions, clean water, fish and wildlife habitat, conservation of species at risk and pastoral landscapes from agricultural landscapes. The Keystone Agricultural Producers and Delta Waterfowl originally started ALUS in Manitoba. “ALUS is a positive way of enlisting producer skills and rural communities to help satisfy the growing environmental demands of society,” says Daryl Watt, Chair of the ALUS Partner Advisory Committee, “these next generation farm ‘products’ are referred to as “ecological goods and services,” and farmers are uniquely positioned to provide these benefits to society.”
“The purpose of the ALUS pilot project in CVR is to demonstrate the feasibility of a community- led, producer- delivered model for providing Canadians with environmental benefits from farm and ranchlands in Alberta,” said Sean McGrath, whose ranch serves as an ALUS demonstration site. McGrath says ALUS builds on current producer and conservation programs, but adds the new dimension of paying farmers for providing ongoing environmental services and benefits. “ALUS uses incentives to turn environmental risks and liabilities on the farm into assets, reducing the need for more regulations.”
“Producers have always been good stewards of the land,” said Jim Fisher, Director of Conservation Policy for the Delta Waterfowl Foundation, “but ALUS allows producers to do much more to solve environmental problems like water supply, flood control and providing habitat for wildlife, by rewarding them for the ecological goods and services that deliver these benefits from their land.” Fisher says, “ALUS has grown in Prince Edward Island and Ontario, where it enjoys enthusiastic support from communities, producers, rural and urban Canadians. Once started, ALUS tends to gain rapid support in a community, because its such a common sense solution to environmental problems,” added Fisher, “We’re confident ALUS will meet the expectations of producers and the community here in the CVR and we look forward to expanding ALUS with a broad spectrum of partners interested in the environment and farming.”
For more information, and to confirm your participation in this ground- breaking event, please contact:
Joan Gabrielson County of Vermilion River
ALUS Project Coordinator 4912 – 50 Ave, Box 69
County of Vermilion River, AB Kitscoty, AB
(P) 780-871-3589 (P) 780-846-2244
To date partner organizations that support ALUS either with funding or direction includes the Alberta Conservation Association, Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, County of Vermilion River, Cows and Fish, Delta Waterfowl, and Wildlife Habitat Canada.
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