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Public Grazing Leases in Alberta
* Information  provided mostly by WildWolfPress.org


In Alberta, over five million acres of public land is leased out to approximately 6500 livestock producers for grazing.
This public land is also habitat for wildlife and home to carnivores.

Wolves are vulnerable as scapegoats particularly in the case of public grazing leases as there is no incentive or requirement for stock men to employ non lethal predator control measures, meet husbandry standards or preventative management, when full compensation is available for depredation losses.

Regular timely checks on livestock are less likely on public grazing leases. Livestock animals may be checked once a week as compared to daily or every two days. Even when checked on daily, problems can still arise due to the sheer size of the leased land. The scattering of animals over large areas for an entire season with little supervision can create a precarious situation as predators may come to view livestock as fair game. Studies within Alberta have found that triple the numbers of cattle are killed on less managed forested grazing leases, as compared to more open areas with more intensive management. For this reason, Fish and Wildlife Services have suggested public grazing leases be fazed out, or be kept withing a few kilometers of settlements.

Despite the fact that livestock producers are compensated for the full market value of livestock lost to predators, wolves are poisoned, trapped, snared and shot on public lands. Ironically, the financial incentive is to blame predators and convince government agents to sign off on probable or confirmed wolf kills, leading, then, to the random killing of wolves. The last provincial management plan for wolves is dated from 1991 (no updates have been made since) and it mentions strychnine as being the usual method of killing wolves on public grazing leased lands.
While the wider public has a say over public lands and a voice in the treatment of wildlife, there is nothing in the Public Lands Act that points to the protection of wildlife.

There is public support for livestock compensation in general as a good-will gesture to increase predator tolerance among ranchers, however some believe livestock compensation should not apply to to public grazing leases (given the minimum effort at preventing depredation and lack of supervision and care). It is argued that the livestock producers who make the choice of using public grazing leases (cheap pasture), do so being fully aware that overlapping wild land increases pressures on predators. The point is made that in taking the risk and knowingly contributing to the conditions that may tempt predators, producers should be prepared to absorb losses, rather than having the wildlife suffer lethal and inhumane consequences. There is also increasing concerns that is it too easy to have predators killed on public land and not enough effort put into co-existing. A complaint from a rancher can mean death for wolves. Poison baits are set by Fish and Wildlife, requiring little effort and continue to be used in cases that do not warrant it. Additionally, snares and traps are also usually set, and wolves baited and killed by hunters for bounty money.
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A radio collared wolf in Jasper. Note that he is also likely blind in one eye. Photo courtesy of photographer Dieter Kepper.
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A radio collared wolf in Jasper. Note that he is also likely blind in one eye. Photo courtesy of photographer Dieter Kepper.
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A radio collared wolf in Jasper. Note that he is also likely blind in one eye. Photo courtesy of photographer Dieter Kepper.
Current Grazing Lease Rates:

Since 1994, livestock producers have paid the government $2.79 per animal per month for the best quality pastures and as little as $1.39 for the lesser quality pastures.

Despite many reasons for weight loss in cattle, some producers are pushing to be compensated, also, for weight loss in cattle which they attribute to being pursued by wolves.




Proposed Plan:

There is a potential plan, as proposed by grazing land lease holders, that would phase in rent increases of public land over a five year period (starting in 2015). The Alberta Grazing Leaseholders Association (AGLA) is also advocating that 40% of the rent revenue be funneled back into a "range sustainability fund". This fund would help the AGLA develop education and research projects with similar organizations such as  the Western Stock Growers Association and The Alberta Riparian Habitat Management Society, more commonly known as Cows and Fish, and efforts would be supported by the government.

Surface Disturbance Compensation on Public Lands:

PicturePhoto by Carol Patterson
In December of 2014, there was a report that 130 million dollar had been pocketed by a small number of public grazing lease managers, paid to them by oil and gas companies to compensate for loss of area on the public land. Despite outcry, no change to this longstanding contentious matter came under Premier Prentice. The situation stands: oil and gas companies are negotiating compensation directly with individual grazing land leaseholder and not with the government, on behalf of the public to whom the land belongs. Of course not all livestock producers approve of this arrangement and it angers many, yet past attempts to rectify the situation have faced angry leaseholders and rural ministers which blocked any change from occurring.

Ideally, any money given should be reinvested into the conservation and maintenance of public land, but that has not been the case. The government Code of Practices for Leaseholders is under demanding and straight forward and states that managers must maintain fences, protect water sources and ensure they are available for contact.

Most recently, in July of 2015, the Auditor General of Alberta released it's report regarding the surface disturbance compensation monies paid to individual grazing lease managers. The reports states compensation from oil and gas companies paid to the leaseholders has amounted to many times the amount that the leaseholders paid the government in rent. Auditors don't have a final number of the amount paid out to leaseholders as the governmental department failed to keep records. However, from a sampling of 54 grazing leases that paid $326,000 in rent, 2.7 million dollars in compensation for disturbance on public lands has been received. If this sampling gives a measure of what is likely to be found province wide with 5700 leases, it would amount to over $25 million lost to Albertans and into the personal pockets of ranching leaseholders for damage to public lands with no accountability. The auditor general report states that changes to legislation are needed to rectify the current situation and that no Albertan should derive personal gain from Alberta's public assets. Furthermore, the report suggests that the Environment and Parks Department should clearly define it's environmental, social and economic goals for public grazing leases in addition to protecting plant and animal species.

For more information:

Alberta Environment and Parks Range Land Stewardship
Alberta Surface Rights Board
Alberta Land Institute
The Western Producer
Western Stock Growers Association
Report of the Auditor General (July 2015)
Alberta Riparian Habitat Management Society
Alberta Grazing Leaseholders Association
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