Launched in September 2018 as a partnership between ALUS Canada and Wheatland County, ALUS Wheatland is the 11th ALUS community in Alberta and the 24th in Canada.
Wheatland County lies in the mixed grassland and dark brown soil region of southern Alberta. It is a diverse agricultural community of more than 8,000 residents, including portions of 19 Hutterian Brethren Colonies, all living on a 4,539 square-kilometre territory divided by the Red Deer River and the Bow River, fed by the Serviceberry Creek, Rosebud River and Crowfoot Creek watersheds.
In all ALUS communities, ALUS works closely with landowners to develop and support projects that are best suited to local needs and priorities. The ALUS Wheatland program aims to help address important environmental issues in this part of Alberta, namely riparian health and the loss of wetlands and native grasslands. The region’s most sensitive ecological features also include hard alkaline and saline soils, the Wintering Hills, native grasslands and numerous pothole prairie wetlands.
ALUS Wheatland’s Program Coordinators work with farmers and ranchers to help establish these projects, while participants receive annual, per-acre payments for the management and maintenance of these projects on their land.
Through their ALUS projects, ALUS Wheatland participants will help to produce cleaner water, cleaner air and more biodiversity, including pollinator habitat, for the benefit of everyone in the community.
Community Links
News & Events
Meet Doug and Susan Clark, ALUS Trailblazers
Wheatland County has been home to JC Ranch for over 125 years. Doug and Susan Clark, with their son, Wes, run a cow-calf operation over 2000 acres in the Crowfoot Creek Watershed and became ALUS participants in 2020.
The Vergouwen Family: Five Generations of Ranching
With a family legacy of over 110 years, the Vergouwens continue to steward the land and water just as those who came before them did. For over 110 years, the Scheer-Vergouwen family has stewarded their land and the animals they raise on it outside of Strathmore,...
ALUS Canada announces new funding from the Canadian Agricultural Partnership in Alberta
ALUS Canada’s Western Hub to benefit from nearly $450,000 in new funding from the Canadian Agricultural Partnership in Alberta (Environmental Stewardship and Climate Change program). PRESS RELEASE | Calgary, Alberta, March 25, 2020 | ALUS Canada announces nearly...
ALUS Wheatland Coordinator
Jason Wilson
PAC Chair, Council Representative
Scott Klassen
PAC member, Council Representative
Barry Van Laar
PAC member, Agricultural Service Board Member at Large
Brittany Walker
PAC member, Agricultural Service Board Member at Large
Derek Hallgrimson
PAC member, DU Conservation Programs Specialist
Jason Wilson
PAC Chair, Council Representative
Scott Klassen
PAC member, Council Representative
Barry Van Laar
PAC member, Agricultural Service Board Member at Large
Brittany Walker
PAC member, Agricultural Service Board Member at Large
Derek Hallgrimson
PAC member, DU Conservation Programs Specialist
Sonja Bloom
PAC member, Environmental & Communications Coordinator, Foothills Forage & Grazing Association