There are two parts to it. One is to respect their views, their traditions, on the land.
The other is government providing a box in which to play. If the provincial government hadn't said, “We want to create protected areas in the grasslands. You guys go out and tell us how to do that”.... It was hands-off for the government, but they said, “Here's what we want in the end.” It's very important to have that box to play in and for people to be told, “There's a reason we want to do this. This is government policy. Now tell us how to do it.”
I think that's what made it successful. We met our goal. We got a protected area. It wasn't necessarily protected in the way we'd originally envisaged, but it worked. It's been the longest-term partnership we've had.
As I said, it hasn't cost the Government of Alberta anything, because the revenues we generate from grazing contracts with the local ranchers go into the biodiversity research, the fencing, and everything else that supports the management of that site.