Foothills Land Trust

The Foothills Land Trust (FLT) was established in 2003 as an Alberta Non-Profit Public Company and as a Federally Registered Charitable Organization. The FLT’s mission is to conserve and connect natural landscapes within the Municipal District of Foothills (MD) mainly through the use of Conservation Easements. The FLT currently holds and manages over 110 hectares of land in the MD. The FLT is unique amongst Albertan land trusts in that we are community focused and often protect small, yet ecologically significant, land parcels, thereby creating natural wildlife and riparian corridors (http://foothillslandtrust.org/).

For the past two years, FLT has worked to establish CEs on 24 Government of Alberta land titles bought out in the Highwood River Floodway after the severe flooding of 2013. In July 2016, we were successful, the Alberta Government announced that the titles, totalling 53 hectares, would be transferred to the MD of Foothills on the condition that FLT hold CEs on the properties, thereby protecting these properties in perpetuity. The establishment of CEs on the titles, as managed by the FLT, would create a monitored corridor along this stretch of the Highwood River.

A fundraising music concert with a well-known artist was identified as the best way of raising the organization’s profile and generating funds. Cindy Church is ideally suited since she is a Canadian Country Music Award Winner, has been nominated for several Canadian Music Association Awards and is well-known in the area having lived in the MD of Foothills and performed with Ian Tyson.