Species Habitat Assessments and Ranching Partnerships (SHARP)

SHARP is a voluntary, collaborative stewardship initiative that aims to enhance wildlife habitat quality and quantity across the landscape. The project offers farmers and ranchers baseline assessments of their properties, covering range health, wildlife biodiversity, soil organic matter, and riparian health. These assessments, known as Habitat Conservation Strategies, serve as a foundation to measure changes over time resulting from management adjustments or enhancement efforts and can also document successful maintenance of the land.

Currently, SHARP is collaborating with 12 producers in the Edmonton/Red Deer, Alberta area. The project operates primarily in the North Saskatchewan Watershed and extends to parts of the Athabasca, Peace, and Red Deer Watersheds. Producers who are CRSB Certified and who participate in the VBP+ Program have also found these reports beneficial for meeting certain program requirements.

Through SHARP, producers work together with experts to generate ideas for maintaining and enhancing natural resources on their land. This collaborative effort involves partnerships with the Alberta Conservation Association (ACA), the Government of Alberta, and ALUS in counties where ALUS is active.

Landowners receive detailed strategies that have been useful in achieving goals set out under the Environment section of the National Beef Sustainability Strategy, particularly in areas related to Climate, Land Use and Biodiversity, and Water Actions. For example:

1. Climate Actions:
• Collaborate on initiatives that safeguard carbon storage and increase carbon sequestration.
• Support programs, policies, partnerships, and communication strategies to maintain and restore native grasslands, pastures, and rangelands.
• Facilitate knowledge transfer through workshops and tools to share beneficial management practices with producers.

2. Land Use and Biodiversity Actions:
• Promote ecosystem service payments, markets, and producer incentives.
• Develop tools to monitor and measure environmental outcomes from beef production.
• Foster collaboration among stakeholders to address biodiversity challenges and solutions.
• Raise awareness and adoption of range health assessments by producers.

3. Water Actions:
• Increase producer understanding and use of riparian health assessments through partnerships and support for awareness initiatives.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to study the relationship between beef production and wetland conservation, highlighting associated ecosystem services.
• Partner with organizations that provide producer extension to encourage practices for wetland preservation.