Fescue Across Borders: Conservation of fescue grasslands in the Waterton region

Grassland ecosystems are among the most threatened in the world. Alberta's Foothills Fescue and Foothills Parkland grasslands have undergone substantial, ongoing declines, with less than 35% remaining intact. Waterton is the only Canadian national park that protects the Foothills Parkland ecoregion and has improved its condition through past projects by achieving gains on invasive species control, active restoration of disturbed areas, species reintroductions (leopard frogs), visitor engagement and volunteer activities, among other initiatives. The successes achieved through past programs can now be enhanced by improving partnerships with neighbours to achieve greater results within and beyond park boundaries. Approach: — Develop a joint prescribed fire plan with Kainai Nation. — Collect native seeds from priority high-quality sources. — Return missing or degraded processes (fire, grazing) and biodiversity components onto the landscape to restore lands with diminished structure, function and biodiversity. — Apply prescribed fire on the landscape to reduce aspen and shrub encroachment and for non-native plant control. — Focus on cooperative programs across regional boundaries to improve actions such as invasive plant control, ecological restoration and focused research. — Apply human wellbeing and climate smart Conservation Standards along with Indigenous–lead programs (e.g. Kainai Eco-cultural restoration initiative). — Support Kainai eco-cultural restoration plan.