Publications

Community-based watershed and stewardship groups are growing in number in Alberta. Cows and Fish works with these groups to create a better understanding of riparian areas, their value, function and health.

A reality for many living in Alberta and across the Prairie Provinces is that for most their water comes from a local prairie-fed source.  This differentiates these watersheds from headwater systems, whose flows come from our glaciers and mountains.  This article provides some insight into these unique prairie systems.

Have you ever wondered what a healthy riparian area looks like?  Or how you might know if your riparian area is healthy or not?  A tool, called Riparian Health Assessment, has helped many individuals and communities understand the health of their riparian areas.

Spring rain used to fill our prairie souls with joy; now the same rain, especially when it persists for days, fills us with a sense of angst.  Is there a reason for concern this spring, or are we over these ‘floods of the century’?  Why do we have these large floods and is there anything we can do about them?

Wetlands are not wastelands.   Wetlands link groundwater and surface water, influence climate and soil moisture, and buffer the impacts of floods.  Careful management of wetlands will lead to benefits realized in both the short and long term.

We’d all like to deliver popular messages, the ones people want to hear, the positive and uncontroversial ones and those that evoke emotional responses like gratitude and warmth.  Wouldn’t it be lovely if those that listen to messages would be well informed, rational, interested, motivated, knowledgeable and broad-minded. In a perfect world, the above would be true.  Is there a better path to delivering unpopular messages and promoting social change?  A thinking pathway to allow message deliverers the opportunity to anticipate and recognize responses, prepare messages and focus on message delivery, might just do the trick.

Cows and Fish is a cooperative effort of agencies and organizations concerned about the health and management of riparian areas.  The success of the Cows and Fish program has been based on putting common sense to common practice.

We all rely on the tremendous variety of species, genes and ecosystems in our world.  Riparian areas, in particular, support high levels of natural biodiversity, and thus, provide substantial benefits to society.