Videos

Is Your Riparian Area Healthy? (Stream and Small Rivers)

– By Cows and Fish

An introductory look at Cows and Fish’s riparian health assessment tool for streams and small rivers, this video will help you to ‘tune your eyes’ to riparian vegetation, soil and hydrological characteristics and familiarize yourself with how to measure riparian health on streams and small rivers. Agriculture producers, other landowners and resource managers will find it useful to better understand what makes riparian areas healthy and general management considerations to improve or maintain riparian health.

Is Your Riparian Area Healthy? (Lakes and Wetlands)

– By Cows and Fish

An introductory look at Cows and Fish’s riparian health assessment tool for lakes and wetlands, this video will help you to ‘tune your eyes’ to riparian vegetation, soil and hydrological characteristics and familiarize yourself with how to measure riparian health on lakes and wetlands. Agriculture producers, other landowners and resource managers will find it useful to better understand what makes riparian areas healthy and general management considerations to improve or maintain riparian health.

Where the Wild Things Thrive

– By Cows and Fish

Learn more about the importance of riparian areas for biodiversity. Riparian areas, especially those in prairie environments, support high levels of natural biodiversity. The combination of water, lush vegetation and connections to other landscapes provides opportunities for many species.

Introduction to Rangeland Health in Native Grasslands – Principles of Range Health

– By Cows and Fish

You may know the importance of healthy native rangelands, but do you know how to assess the health of a rangeland? The five indicators of rangeland health; plant community, structure, litter, erosion and weeds, are used to measure health and monitor changes in rangeland health over time. Understanding how to measure rangeland health with these indicators is key to applying range health assessments to ecological regions throughout Alberta. The Rangeland Health Assessment for Grassland, Forest and Tame Pasture can be found here: https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/51cad…

Rangeland Health Assessment – Parkland and Northern Fescue

– By Cows and Fish

A healthy rangeland may look different in each region of Alberta due to soils, precipitation and historical use of the region. Range Plant Community guides are based on historical data and extensive region-specific research on plant community types and succession. These guides are a useful reference to evaluate the range health of sites in specific regions and calculate appropriate stocking rates. In central Alberta ecological regions, the Alberta Environment and Parks Central Parkland and Northern Fescue Plant Community Guides are used. These plant community guides can be found here: https://www.alberta.ca/range-classifi…

Rangeland Health Assessment – Mixedgrass and Dry Mixedgrass

– By Cows and Fish

A healthy rangeland may look different in each region of Alberta due to soils, precipitation and historical use of the region. Range Plant Community guides are based on historical data and extensive region-specific research on plant community types and succession. These guides are a useful reference to evaluate the range health of sites in specific regions and calculate appropriate stocking rates. In south eastern Alberta ecological regions, the Alberta Environment and Parks Mixedgrass and Dry Mixedgrass Plant Community Guides are used. These plant community guides can be found here: https://www.alberta.ca/range-classifi…

Rangeland Health Assessment – Foothills Fescue

– By Cows and Fish

A healthy rangeland may look different in each region of Alberta due to soils, precipitation and historical use of the region. Range Plant Community guides are based on historical data and extensive region-specific research on plant community types and succession. These guides are a useful reference to evaluate the range health of sites in specific regions and calculate appropriate stocking rates. Along the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and into the grasslands of Alberta, the Alberta Environment and Parks Foothills Fescue Plant Community Guide is used. These plant community guides can be found here: https://www.alberta.ca/range-classifi…

Streambank Naturalization – Protecting Streambanks Naturally

– By Cows and Fish

In an urban center like Calgary the riparian boundary can often be obscured by land use and development but is still important for things like habitat, water filtration and groundwater recharge. However, if the riparian area isn’t functioning then it cannot provide those benefits. As part of the Street to Stream initiative led by Cows and Fish and the Alberta Low Impact Development Partnership in collaboration with the City of Calgary, we aimed to restore some function to a heavily used green space along the Elbow River. This video will discuss some of the aspects and challenges involved with the planning and execution of an urban riverbank naturalization project.

Planting for Riparian Restoration – Protecting Shorelines Naturally

– By Cows and Fish

In Alberta, our lakes and lakeshores are becoming increasingly busy places. More and more of our lake shorelines are being impacted by recreational use, cottage developments and other land use activities. Some of this extra use is putting a strain on the ecological value of these special places, creating problems for water quality and wildlife. The Street to Stream initiative led by Cows and Fish and the Alberta Low Impact Development Partnership aims to demonstrate simple restoration techniques that landowners can implement. This video showcases a recent project completed in collaboration with the Pigeon Lake Watershed Association and a local landowner along a lakeshore property. The video discusses some of the key steps for planning and executing a simple shoreline restoration project to help you get started with your own.

[/vc_section]