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Saving lands Saving lands Originally appeared on "cochranetimes.com" By Brad Herron March 11, 2010 Preston Manning, former leader of the Reform Party, told a Cochrane RancheHouse crowd that real action needs to be taken to preserve land in Alberta and encourage sound land use throughout the province. While he has not yet thought out a system to accomplish this that does not resemble a European-style subsidy system that drains the public coffers, Manning said producers need to be paid for good stewardship. "If we are to adequately conserve the soil, watersheds and land base of our country, agricultural people should end up with two sources of revenue . . . one from the sale of agricultural products and the other from the sale of ecological goods and services," Manning said. Manning, who served as guest speaker for the conference, said those concerned with land-use, like farmers and ranchers in the province need to align with non-traditional groups like urban environmentalists to promote the conservation and stewardship of agricultural and ecologically-significant lands in the province. If farmers and ranchers can team with urban dwellers, who outnumber rural residents by a large margin in Alberta, the issue of land stewardship will become an issue on the radar screen of the provincial government, with action likely to take place soon after. While this may seem like a stretch to some who view urban residents as outsiders, Manning said burgeoning environmental-consciousness allows for an easy "common ground." "The more agricultural activists present themselves to the media and the public and politicians as environmental stewards . . . there will be an interest and receptivity among urban residents," Manning said. If the issue can be raised on a political level — and to do this Manning recommended the funding and execution of a focused issue campaign — then fresh ideas will need to be raised about conservation, especially the requirement to better manage Alberta's water. To conserve water, and encourage better use of the resource, Manning said Albertans don't need expensive layers of beaucracy, but to instead rely on the market. The former leader of the Official Opposition was echoed by a panel which followed his address. Morris Seiferling, the commissionaire, of the Provincial Land-Use Secretariat, was joined by Leah Lawrence of the regional advisory committee for the South Saskatchewan Region of Alberta and John Cross, a rancher. Seiferling said the land-use framework became necessary as Alberta gets close to its "tipping point" of water usage. Regional plans are currently being developed to guide the land-use for two regions in Alberta. There will be challenges to the land-use framework though. One will be conservation easements, and their application in Alberta, as it may impact property rights of Albertans. "An alternative way to conserve and protect water resources is to legislate all water use in the province. It must be metred . . . and to attach a price to the resource for its use. So every time one of us turns on a tap, no matter what time of the day it is, or any time a business sticks a pipe into an aquifer or reservoir or a river there is a signal, a pricing signal. And this signal says this resource is not unlimited, this is not a free good and there is a cost associated with its use," Manning said.
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