Legacy Land Trust Society has announced the formal conservation of Owl Ridge adjacent to Winchell Lake Environmentally Significant Area (ESA) in the southwest corner of Mountain View County.
Owl Ridge is a 114-acre parcel of Lower Foothills habitat owned by Douglas and Barbara Collister.
They purchased the property in 1987 with the intention of preserving it. The Collisters have worked with Legacy over the past three years to put a conservation easement in place and thereby ensure that it will always be a refuge for biodiversity.
As the name suggests, multiple owl species including great gray, barred, northern saw-whet, boreal and northern pygmy call Owl Ridge home. In addition, other species like northern hawk owl and great horned owl visit from time to time.
The property also hosts a variety of songbirds including Connecticut warbler, ovenbird and Townsend’s solitaire.
Doug and Barb and their two sons have a long history with this land.
Doug became acquainted with the area during weekend birding trips in the 1970s. He met the owners of Owl Ridge through an adjacent landowner while out looking for owls.
When the property came up for sale in 1987, Doug showed it to Barb and the rest, as they say, is history. Over the years, they spent many weekends and holidays with their sons who grew to love the property as much as their parents did.
Barb’s strong connection with Owl Ridge comes from the role it played while raising their family, its lush undisturbed forest, and its biodiversity and wildlife. She appreciates the land for its ecological integrity and likes being able to protect it from development and other disturbance.
“Although we recognize the obvious importance of agriculture,” said Doug, a professional biologist, "we feel strongly that there needs to be a range of habitat quality on Alberta landscapes.
"A supply of undisturbed habitat helps to balance out the biodiversity-reducing effects of other more intensive land-use activities.”
Conserving Owl Ridge and its biodiversity and wildlife habitat means there is a refuge to support the surrounding landscape and offset other more intensively used properties in the area.
A variety of land use, including conservation land, is important to the ecology of the Water Valley-Winchell Lake area.
Historically there have been incentives for intensive land-use. In 1996 Alberta passed legislation for landowners to be able to conserve their land with a conservation easement in exchange for a tax receipt. Then when the Alberta Land Stewardship Act was created in 2009, it introduced a greater incentive to conserve ecologic integrity.
Under this legislation the Alberta Land Trust Grant Program allows organizations like Legacy Land Trust Society to establish and administer conservation easements on private land, while being able to offer landowners a modest payment as well as a tax receipt.
The Alberta Land Trust Grant Program is focused on conserving ecologically important areas to prevent habitat fragmentation, maintain biodiversity and preserve native landscapes.
Owl Ridge has been certified as an Ecological Gift by Environment and Climate Change Canada. The Eco-gift program recognizes properties that are of national or provincial significance and support species at risk.
Landowners who make gifts of land or agree to conservation easements that qualify as Eco-gift are eligible to receive enhanced tax benefits.
This land is important to Doug and Barb because of the stories and memories they created with their family. Placing a conservation easement on the property has given them peace of mind that the inherent natural beauty and value of this property will persist into the future.
Doug and Barb are contributing to conservation by thinking provincially and acting locally. This property is an important refuge for biodiversity and thanks to Douglas and Barbara Collister it will remain so forever.
Legacy Land Trust Society would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge their significant contribution and commend the Collisters for ensuring that healthy ecosystem services continue to be provided by Owl Ridge.
– Submitted by Legacy Land Trust
