The Canadian Forage and Grassland Association (CFGA) is in the process of launching province-specific online Habitat and Biodiversity Assessment Tools (HBAT) in provinces across the country. Working with national and provincial stakeholder committees, governments, Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) delivery agents and agricultural associations, the CFGA is in the sixth, and final, year of the $1.2-million project, which began in 2020 with financial support from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) as part of the Canada Nature Fund. 
 
About the tool 
Designed as an extension and awareness tool, the HBAT is an online tool meant to help land managers gain an understanding of important habitats and biodiversity on their land and the stewardship opportunities they could implement to sustain them. It will be standardized in nine provinces, providing increased consistency of messaging across Canada. 
 
Tools are now available for Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan. The CFGA will launch tools for British Columbia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Québec in the winter of 2025. 
 
Fall webinar series 
As the CFGA launches into this final phase of the HBAT project, it is hosting a fall webinar series featuring provincial HBATs that have already launched or will launch this winter. These webinars feature HBATs across different provinces and include discussion and a demonstration of the tool, outcomes and impacts or potential for impact across each region. 
 
The first session took place Oct. 16 and featured the Alberta HBAT. Lisa Nadeau, Alberta EFP director, provided a walkthrough of the Alberta HBAT, including how it’s utilized as part of the Alberta Environmental Farm Plan program, and highlighted the results of implementation. The next sessions take place Oct. 30 and Nov. 6 and 13, 2024, at 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. MT. Register here. 
 
More info 
For more information about the HBAT project and tools, visit the CFGA website and check out this information sheet.