Riparian Specialist with Cows and Fish Kelsey Spicer-Rawe discusses results of eight-year long project with Red Deer County at Crossroads Church on Wednesday. (rdnewsNOW/Alessia Proietti)

By Alessia Proietti

Farmer impacts

Eight-year project in Red Deer County shows slow but positive results in riparian areas

Apr 27, 2023 | 2:20 PM

Following an eight-year project with Red Deer County and Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS), results confirmed that farmers can have a slow but significant beneficial impact to the environment’s riparian areas.

Gathering for a presentation at Crossroads Church (38105 Range Rd 275) on Wednesday, ALUS Coordinator for the County Ken Lewis and Riparian Specialist with Cows and Fish Kelsey Spicer-Rawe, shared the data to participating farmers and guests.

Riparian areas are the ecological zones immediately beside lakes, rivers, streams and wetlands. Although they only total two per cent of land in Alberta, they can provide important ecosystem services like fish and wildlife habitat, improving water quality and maintain water quantity on landscapes.

In 2015, the County contracted the non-profit society Cows and Fish to do Riparian Health Assessments (RHAs) on 51 farms and ranches that adopted environmentally beneficial agriculture practices, including riparian management livestock fencing, alternative livestock watering systems, rotational grazing practices, planting native trees and shrubs, improving livestock crossings and increasing buffer zones between crop and riparian areas.

READ: Red Deer County shares results of eight-year project: how farmers benefit the environment

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A team of 20 measured the sites from 2015-2018, totalling roughly 148 hectares of riparian habitat and 32 km of stream, river or shore length, and then measured them again on various parameters from 2019-2022.

According to Spicer-Rawe, sites that scored under 60 per cent were deemed unhealthy, between 60-80 per cent were deemed healthy with problems, and over 80 per cent were considered healthy.

During the first assessment (2015-2018), ALUS project sites earned an average score of 66 per cent, or healthy with problems. Specifically, 18 sites (35 per cent) were unhealthy, 19 sites (37 per cent) were healthy with problems, and 14 (28 per cent) were healthy.

During the second assessment (2019-2022), ALUS sites scored an average of 71 per cent, a five per cent improvement. While still deemed in the category of healthy with problems, now 12 sites (24 per cent) were deemed unhealthy, 24 sites (47 per cent) were healthy with problems, and 15 sites (29 per cent) were healthy.

Spicer-Rawe says that a five per cent change is statistically considered a significant impact.

“What we see is that yes, the landscape is responding to management changes that have been implemented, people are a really big part of the equation, change takes time and landscape response takes time too,” she said.

Multiple farmers, ranchers and guests attend a presentation by Red Deer County and Cows and Fish on Wednesday at Crossroads Church. (rdnewsNOW/Alessia Proietti)

Overall, she says 18 sites showed an improving health trend, 27 were static and six showed a declining health trend. She says environmental changes take time, requiring frequent measurements over a longer span, and declines can be caused by external factors like weather.

She says improvements were shown on a more individual scale. In vegetation health, scores increased by two percent per cent and eight per cent for soil and hydrology health.

While a two per cent increase in disturbance plants, like white clovers and dandelions, rendered both assessments as unhealthy, the group says they did find a reduction in invasive plants. Although still unhealthy in both assessments, she says results showed a slow decline in poisonous weed species.

Of the agriculture practices tested, she says both grazed and rested sites showed improving health trends in:

• 15 out of 44 sites with alternative water (34 per cent)
• Nine out of 24 sites with exclusion fencing (37 per cent)
• Three out of 14 sites with riparian pasture fencing (21 per cent)
• Five out of 12 sites with no fencing but sustainable grazing (41 per cent)

“When you work with nature, you see right away how she helps you be more profitable,” said one participating farmer. Spicer-Rawe says other farmers stated feedback of improved water retention, increased bird population, improved livestock health and more.

She said that next steps include maintaining and promoting native plant communities, controlling invasive weeds and allowing for continued recovery of structurally altered areas.