ALUS returns to Manitoba
- Details
- Published on Saturday, March 21, 2015
By Cindy Murray
The program Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS) had its beginnings in Manitoba in the RM of Blanshard. ALUS was a conception of Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) and Delta Waterfowl Foundation.
These two organizations proposed farmers get paid to provide ecological goods and services from their land, and that those incentives be delivered through community-based organizations. This particular program was a pilot project that ran from 2006 until 2008 with a fairly high enrolment of 70 per cent from the landowners in that municipality!
The main objective of ALUS is to create a healthy landscape that sustains agriculture, wildlife and natural spaces for all Canadians. It does this by providing support to farmers and ranchers who want to enhance and maintain the benefits of nature. This includes re-establishing wetlands, preserving wetlands and rivers, tree planting and the sowing down of marginal lands with domestic or native prairie grasses. The RM of Blanshard ALUS project was the first of its kind in Canada, and has now spread to Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Prince Edward Island.
In 2007 ALUS was established in Norfolk County, Ont., which is in the heart of tobacco country. It began its start with 16 private sector funding partners, and now has grown to include more than 50 sponsorship partners and more than 100 participating farm families. In 2008 Prince Edward Island adopted ALUS as an official province-wide program and is the first province to endorse ALUS as a major tool in protecting its fragile ecosystems. Alberta was next to join the ALUS family in 2010, where in the county of Vermilion River, more than 1,000 acres were put into the program after the first year. Since then, the counties of Red Deer and Parkland have commenced their own ALUS projects.
In December 2011 four key founding partners in Saskatchewan announced funding for ALUS projects to be initiated in the RMs of South Qu’Appelle, Indian Head and Francis. Now ALUS has come back to Manitoba with the announcement last summer that a new project has been launched in Little Saskatchewan River Conservation District (LSRCD). The main funding partners are The Community Challenge Grant from The W. Garfield Weston Foundation that has been matched through Environment Canada's Lake Winnipeg Basin Stewardship Fund, and Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation.
LSRCD’s board established a Partnership Advisory Committee (PAC) this past winter, whose job it was to set up the parameters of the ALUS project. Some of the work PAC has been doing is reviewing funding sources and setting goals related to the spending of the funding, identifying projects within the district and establishing acreage payments. A landowner agreement has been established that will be the contract between LSRCD and the farmer/rancher families that want to participate in the agreement, which could last up to 10 years and has an annual payout. Depending on the type of project, the participant may be required to contribute to the project either financially or with in-kind works such as use of equipment, etc.
There are several deadlines that have to be met in regards to signing agreements. One is for March 31, and the other for April 30. Those deadlines will ensure that projects will go ahead in the summer months. More dollars are on the horizon which will provide funding for future projects. Farmers/ranchers who believe an ALUS project would work well within their operations should contact one of the PAC members or call LSRCD manager Colleen Cuvelier at 204-566-2270.
