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By Todd Curran
Land owners met at the High River Heritage Inn on March 1st, for a Southern Foothills Community Stewardship Initiative forum.
“This is a large-scale input process to get a sense of the public's needs and interest in maintaining the landscape,” says Initiative project manager Carole Stark. After gathering information on residents' priorities for land use and management, the Initiative aims to give the priorities a voice heard by the municipalities and provincial government.
“We want to achieve people's wants with broad strategies, recommendations and ecological benefits,” Carole says. Representatives from local conservation groups also attended the forum, particularly interested in the Initiative's goal of protecting the long-term health of southern Foothills watersheds and landscape.
To date, the forums have indicated a public interest in valuing water quality and quantity, connected landscapes and soil. Effective governance that involves and is accountable to local citizens ranked as the highest want among management values, just ahead of land and watershed planning that reflects local needs and priorities.
For more information visit www.pekisko.ca.
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