The Glenbow Ranch Park Foundation (GRPF)has entered into an inaugural $230,000 partnership with Shell that will launch advanced research on land reclamation practices using native grasses, including fescue.

Creation of the Shell Foothills Fescue Research Institute will allow the foundation to build a greenhouse and research facility while expanding both existing research and education programs at the provincial park, located just east of Cochrane.

The provincial park features one of the largest remaining groupings of native grasslands in the province including an abundance of rough fescue, which is designated as part of an endangered ecosystem. The Nature Conservancy of Canada estimates only 17 per cent of original Alberta Foothills fescue grassland remains.

Read more: http://tinyurl.com/bonotlv