Nature Conservancy of Canada speaks about deal to protect southern Alberta ranch from development [Video]

An agreement to protect a sprawling ranch in southern Alberta from development is the largest of its kind in the country, the Nature Conservancy of Canada says, and will allow the family that owns it to continue raising cattle there.

The 22,000-hectare McIntyre Ranch was founded south of Lethbridge, Alta., in 1894 by William McIntyre and it remained in his family until his son, Billy, died in 1947.

A longtime family friend and employee, Ralph Thrall, bought the property after Billy’s death and the Thrall family continues to own and operate it today.

“We’ve just maintained the legacy of sustainable ranching that the McIntyres began when they came up from Texas and saw the overgrazing that had occurred through the Midwest, and so they learned through others’ mistakes and left the grass rather than taking it all,” Ralph Thrall III said Sunday in a phone interview from Lethbridge.

The agreement, formally announced …