Foundation joined forces with Shell for grassland research

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.

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Research institute to be constructed in 2013

The NAIT Boreal Research Institute (nBRI), based in Peace River, announced to Town Council on Monday (Dec. 3) that the institute has approved funding for a new research facility to be constructed in Peace River.

Institute Director Hugh Seaton told council the project would cost $4.6 million, of which half of the funding would come from NAIT ($2.6 million) and the other funds coming from federal and provincial research grants.

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U of A a top player on world stage, president insists

EDMONTON – The University of Alberta competes with the best on the global stage thanks to its world-class research capacity, and the departure of one high-profile academic is not a setback, says president Indira Samarasekera.

The fact that U of A won four of the first 19 Canada Excellence Research Chairs in 2010 is confirmation that it is among the best in the world in some areas of research and “that’s a good news story,” said Samarasekera.

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