For over 50 years, the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) has led private land conservation efforts in Alberta, securing and stewarding 468,000 hectares of ecologically significant land. As the country’s leading national land conservation organization, NCC partners with ranchers, Indigenous communities, landowners, and governments to protect and restore Alberta’s wildlife corridors, grasslands, forests, and wetlands—ensuring they remain intact for generations to come.
Through their collaborative work with ranchers, NCC has led the way for landmark and historic successes like the McIntyre Ranch and the Waldron Ranch:
- McIntyre Ranch, Spring Coulee, Alberta (22,000+ hectares) – The largest private grassland conservation agreement in Canadian history, protecting prairie grassland – one of the world’s most endangered ecosystems and important
- Waldron Ranch, Southern Foothills, Alberta (12,000+ hectares) – A conservation agreement was created in 2013 between the NCC and the Waldron Grazing Co-operative Ltd, conserving this landscape for all time, ensuring the protection of the headwaters consisting of critical streams and rivers for the entire Canadian Prairies
