Voluntary Stewardship

Operation Grassland Community (OGC) has hundreds of members who are land stewards throughout the grassland region of Alberta. These ranchers are making huge individual efforts as stewards of their land and their livestock, and are committed to working with OGC to discover win-win solutions to the conservation of species at risk & other wildlife, and the maintenance of economically viable ranching/farming operations.

To date, OGC has developed voluntary stewardship agreements with more than 300 ranching families, protecting more than 900,000 acres of native prairie habitat and supporting at least one, but often many species at risk. Memberships are free and are renewed every 5 years.

In addition, OGC (in collaboration with MULTISAR) works with landowners and lessees to develop ranch-wide Conservation Plans. These plans provide landowners with clear and practical recommendations to maintain habitat for species at risk coexisting with cattle.
The species at risk we currently focus on are Burrowing Owl, Ferruginous Hawk, Sprague’s Pipit, and Loggerhead Shrike. Click here for a sample Species-at-Risk Conservation (SARC) Plan.

We feel that if you have species at risk on your lands, then you are doing something right!

Please contact us if you would like to become an OGC land steward.