ALTGP FAQ

Any registered Alberta Land Trust organization. The Land Trust organization must have stated in their mission statement that their purpose is for land conservation.

To provide grants to Land Trust organizations to purchase conservation easements and administer and manage new conservation projects on private land. Grants will not be awarded to enable purchase of private land.

Interested Land Trusts should send an email to Landtrust.grantprogram@gov.ab.ca to request an application package. From the time of announcement of the program, Land Trusts have a 45 day window to submit an application package. Closing day for applications received this year will be Monday, September 26, 2011. Once the application window has closed, there will be a 30 day review window to determine the eligibility of applicants.

1. Ability to Leverage Funds For each grant proposal, a Land Trust must be able to provide 2x the funding. This means that if a land trust is applying for $100,000 grant, they must be able to provide $200,000 for the project. Applications with lesser amounts of leveraging may be submitted for consideration.
2. Alignment with SRD conservation priorities, which are centered around:
   1. Maintaining large areas of native landscape
   2. Conserving connecting corridors
   3. Sustaining disconnected pockets of native habitat within fragmented landscapes

Once SRD receives the application package, the package is reviewed to determine completion and that no errors or omissions exist. An internal review committee will then determine eligibility of the applicant by verifying that the proposed project aligns with SRD’s conservation priorities and that the appropriate amount of leveraging is available.

Recommendations from the review committee will then be submitted to the Assistant Deputy Ministers of Lands and Corporate Services, and ultimately to the Deputy Minister for final approval.

The internal review committee will be comprised of representation from the Rangeland Management Branch, Fish & Wildlife, Land Use Framework and Finance. The internal review committee will also consult with field staff who are located near the project area.

Yes, there are no limits on the number of projects or locations a Land Trust can apply for. However, each project will be evaluated independently.

Yes, project funding must be utilized within 3 years of the funding allocation date. Funding is considered expended if it is allocated to a stewardship endowment fund tagged specifically for the project.

A budget of $5 million has been approved for the 2011/12 fiscal year.

Funding for the program is generated from the proceeds of public land sales, which typically occur in or around urban areas.

Yes, at the end of each fiscal year (for 3 years), the Land Trust must submit financial statements to SRD outlining the amount of funding used to date and rationale for any un-used funding to date.

Yes, but the funds must be earmarked for that project.

The funding of this program is intended to enable “new” conservation projects (i.e. new lands placed under conservation easements), therefore funding requests for existing management programs may not be seen as priority.