The Province is granting $9-million to the Nature Conservancy of Canada and other land trust groups for the protection of ranchlands, watersheds and river habitats in Southern Alberta.

Alberta Environment Minister Shannon Phillips says all of them are right in our backyard.

"The land protected by this investment will protect land along the Castle and Crowsnest River's which flow into the Oldman River. It will protect land near Pekisko Creek and Fish Creek which both flow into the Bow River.

The Executive Director of the Southern Alberta Land Trust, Justin Thompson, points to Calgary's unrestrained growth as a cautionary tale.

"If you show the footprint of Calgary and surrounding areas as they've grown over the last hundred years, a lot of our most ecologically valuable private land is getting eaten up. So, keeping those remaining areas intact will provide the bio-diversity, the habitat and the watershed values, is going to be really important for Alberta down the road."

In all, the money will go to six projects including some on private land which Phillips says are often the likeliest to be developed.

She says this money will keep the land in these areas as it is which will not only preserve it for future generations, but as an insurance policy to help prevent flooding, drought resiliency and protect bio-diversity.

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