Private Land Conservation Program

The Private Land Conservation Program allows private landowners to work with eligible organizations and partner with the Alberta government to achieve long term land stewardship goals by conserving ecologically significant private land.

Program objectives, in support of the long-term landscape conservation goals and alignment with existing Alberta government priorities and land-use planning are:

• maintain large patches of native landscapes with high ecological and biodiversity value, with emphasis on maintaining a working landscape
• conserve connectivity on the landscape by sustaining important habitat corridors and pockets within a fragmented landscape
• conserve regional and local riparian/wetland systems that support watershed functions for healthy aquatic ecosystems and water quality

The program also contributes to additional environmental and economic benefits which include supporting ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration.

The Private Land Conservation Program provides funding to:

• establish, administer and steward term conservation easements on private land
• administer and steward conservation land acquired by eligible organizations

The program uses funds from the Land Stewardship Fund, under the Land Stewardship Fund Regulation, to provide grants to eligible organizations. The Land Stewardship Fund is a regulated fund, the revenue for which comes from the proceeds of public land sales.

The 2:1 leveraging ratio is not required for term conservation easement projects but is highly encouraged. The 2:1 leveraging ratio requirement remains in effect for fee simple projects.

A term conservation easement has a term length negotiated between the landowner and eligible organization and is registered on the land title for the term length of the easement.

For ecologically significant land that is vulnerable to conversion and/or loss, term conservation easements offer conservation benefits for biodiversity and ecological function of the land for a set time, while offering flexibility for the landowner to still make changes after the term if needed.

Term conservation easements are legally binding voluntary agreements between a landowner and a land trust. When placed on the land title, an easement may restrict some future surface development but maintains an agricultural working landscape and allows current activities, such as farming and ranching, to continue for the easement term. The landowner retains title of the property.

A fee simple project has ownership transferring (donated title, purchase of land) in full to an eligible organization. The purchaser becomes the land manager (sole or in partnership with another eligible organization) and is responsible for the stewardship and maintenance of the project. In the program:

• eligible expenses for fee simple projects are related to the administration and stewardship of the project
• projects must be recently acquired
• no funds are disbursed for the purchase of land