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A Word from CEO Bryan Gilvesy
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It has been a good winter for ALUS.
After finalizing the ALUS Canada strategic plan in the fall, we turned our team’s attention to executing the next phase of our development, anchored by the continuing support of The W. Garfield Weston Foundation.
By the end of the 2017/18 fiscal year, ALUS Canada had disbursed nearly $6.5 M in funding to ALUS communities across Canada, an investment that is multiplied by farmers, ranchers and communities on the ground. As a result, we have more than 18,500 acres enrolled in the ALUS program, thanks to 575 participants from 21 communities across five provinces.
Meanwhile, our corporate sponsorship program, New Acre™ Project, met with a very good reception by corporate Canada, highlighting the effectiveness of our concept for effectively producing ecosystem services such as cleaner air, cleaner water, and more biodiversity in Canadian communities.
ALUS Canada continues to develop value around the green infrastructure projects managed by our ALUS participants by exploring ways of measuring their impact on downstream communities, in terms of flood mitigation and water filtration, among many other benefits.
As always, I want to thank the organizations who have partnered with ALUS Canada to deliver the ALUS program across the nation, with an extra big shout-out to all our Program Coordinators and the PAC members who oversee our ALUS communities.
Thanks to their support, as well as that of our primary philanthropic partners, The W. Garfield Weston Foundation, and a large number of generous individuals, foundations and government bodies, ALUS continues to make strong progress for Canadians.
-Bryan Gilvesy
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ALUS Granted $720,000 in Alberta
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ALUS Canada is delighted to announce it has received $720,000 from Alberta Environment and Parks’ Watershed Resiliency and Restoration Program (WRRP) for critical flood-prevention work. “We are excited to start putting this funding to good use on the ground in the Modeste subwatershed,” said Lara Ellis, Director of Strategic Initiatives at ALUS Canada. “ALUS will quickly establish new natural infrastructure projects on agricultural land to mitigate flooding, increase drought resilience and improve water quality for Albertans.” Read more here.
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ALUS Wins 2018 Watershed Ambassador Award
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ALUS Canada is proud to announce that four ALUS communities in Alberta have jointly received the 2018 Watershed Ambassador Award from the Red Deer River Watershed Alliance. Ken Lewis, ALUS Red Deer County’s Program Coordinator, accepted the award on behalf of all the ALUS communities operating in the watershed: ALUS Red Deer County, ALUS Mountain View, ALUS Lacombe County, and ALUS Wetaskiwin. “There is so much good work being done by local farmers and ranchers, municipal staff and ALUS Partnership Advisory Committees in this watershed. It is wonderful to see them recognized as watershed ambassadors,” said Christine Campbell, ALUS Canada’s Western Hub Manager, adding that ALUS Canada is grateful to all ALUS supporters, including The W. Garfield Weston Foundation and the David Bissett Action Fund, who help make this important work possible in Alberta. Read more...
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There are 21 (and counting) ALUS communities across this nation, all operated by a local legal entity in close partnership with ALUS Canada. For this dispersed ALUS team, one of the best ways to optimize our methods for producing acres of ecosystem services is to bring the whole ALUS team together. That’s why, every year, ALUS Canada holds three regional Field Conferences, one in each ALUS Hub: Western, Eastern and Prairies. In anticipation of our upcoming 2018 Hub Conferences, here is a behind-the-scenes peek at what happened in 2017.
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This winter, ALUS Program Coordinators from across Alberta brought their passion and enthusiasm to Brazeau County for the annual ALUS Canada Western Hub Field Conference. They exchanged ideas, shared best practices, streamlined important processes, celebrated the highlights and found solutions to the challenges experienced over the past year. Click for more info...
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Our Prairie Hub met in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, to workshop ideas for optimizing the delivery of the ALUS program in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Thank you to ALUS Saskatchewan Assiniboine Project (ASAP) Program Coordinator Jesse Nielsen for organizing a visit to ALUS participants Randy Slager and Gary Richards, where the team saw perfect examples of how the ALUS program works with farmers to produce cleaner air, cleaner water, more biodiversity and other valuable ecosystem services in local communities. Read more...
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For the annual Eastern Hub Field Conference, eight ALUS communities from Ontario and Quebec assembled in Cornwall, Ontario, to plan for continued success. Thanks to ALUS Ontario East Program Coordinator Brendan Jacobs and to ALUS participants Lawrence St. Denis, Kurt MacSweyn, Stephen Burgess and Marc Bercier for demonstrating their projects on the ground. Read more here.
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Top 10 media articles on ALUS this past season, in reverse chronological order:
- “The ALUS Revolution: From its beginnings in Manitoba 12 years ago, ALUS has evolved into the next generation of Canadian conservation,” by Bryan Gilvesy, Manitoba Cooperator, April 10, 2018.
- “Environmental Returns: Alternative Land Use” by Lois Harris, Ontario Grain Farmer magazine, April 1, 2018.
- “Thriving in nature’s landscape: As they approach their retirement years, more farmers are reaping the benefits of working to enhance nature” by Helen Lammers-Helps, Country Guide, March 27, 2018.
- “ALUS Canada supports farmers in Saskatchewan,” Saskatchewan Farmers Voice magazine, winter 2018.
- “Go Ask ALUS: Conservation organization works with farmers for the benefit of all,” by Shirley Byers, Small Farm Canada magazine, Jan-Feb 2018 (paywall).
- “ALUS Montérégie Investi 54 700 $,” Télévision du Sud-Ouest (TVSO), Dec 12, 2017.
- « Près de 55 000 $ pour améliorer la qualité de vie en milieu agricole, » M105 (FM 104.9), Dec 12, 2017.
- “ALUS Montérégie Investi 54 700 $ dans 14 fermes de la région,” Le Courrier de Saint-Hyacinthe, Dec 28, 2017.
- “ALUS: Brazeau County landowners get on board with this innovative program and are already seeing benefits,” Brazeau County News, Nov-Dec 2017 (starts on page 20).
- “Cost of Living” by Jerome Dupras, Alternatives Journal, November 2017 (paywall)
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Cream of the crop: ALUS social media
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Have you seen these social media hashtags: #PEIFriday + #ALUSFamilyFridays?
This winter, we worked closely with ALUS coordinator Shawn Hill and the Government of PEI to create a series of profiles for seven amazing ALUS participants in that province, using the hashtag #PEIFriday.
And now, we are well into a new campaign called #ALUSFamilyFridays, where we highlight a new ALUS community each week. Coming soon: a new series of profiles on ALUS participants across Canada, which will run all year.
There's a lot more happening each week in the ALUS social media community: Visit us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.
As a teaser, check out this flashback to our most popular social media post this season, part of our annual pre-Xmas fundraising campaign:
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