Leaseholders upset over M.D. land proposals

Posted on August 1, 2025 by Taber Times

By Jared Vas
Taber Times
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A public meeting held on July 7 by the Municipal District of Taber revealed contention among residents over suggested changes to local land lease policies.

The Municipal District of Taber owns approximately 75,000 acres of deeded grazing land.

The session, part of the municipality’s consultation process, brought together leaseholders, ratepayers, and council representatives for a candid and often emotional exchange.

The proposed policy would move cultivated land leases to a five-year competitive bidding process and eliminate the ability to assign leases to family members.

Legacy grazing leases would have a ten-year lease and an additional 10-year term, after which has not been decided at this time.

Many long-term leaseholders voiced concern about fairness, financial pressure, and the potential loss of lands their families have managed for generations.

“This is nothing but a cash grab,” said one participant.

Many raised concerns about the fate of the land if it were put to open tender, arguing that current leaseholders have demonstrated responsible, long-term stewardship.

Kim Davis, who recently received her grazing lease through a legacy assignment, was strongly opposed to the tender process.

“I understand your point that it has to benefit taxpayers and taxpayers’ land, and I understand you feel that way. This is a living organism. Right. This is a living thing that we’re talking about. It’s not money. It is a legacy.”

She warned that transferring the leases through a tender process would threaten the land.

“What’s going to happen is that we’re going to have people overgraze it. It’s not going to be the same land ever again,” she explained. “The people who have been on the land for 100 years, what we’ve done is we care for it. We rotationally graze it. We take care of it. We watch it carefully. We make sure it recovers. We know we’re not to overgraze it. And that’s not something that everybody has knowledge of, because we’ve watched that land for a hundred years grow.”

Reeve Tamara Miyananga addressed concerns about the future stewardship of the land, pushing back against fears of mismanagement.

“There has never been once that we felt that the current leaseholders aren’t good stewards of the land. But if you talk to private landowners or look at private landowners, they are also exceptional stewards of the land. Agricultural families care about the land. They care about what they eat. They care about how much water they put on the land and any other inputs. So there’s no doubt in my mind, whatever the MD of Taber does with the land, it will be well managed and well looked after. I do not believe it will be decimated.”

Chris Siemens, president of the Hays Stock Grazing Association, was a vocal opponent of some of the proposed changes.

“We’ll sign our 10-year, 20-year lease and they’ll give us our 30-day notice the next day.”

Miyananga confirmed that this 30-day notice period is a fact.

“…For a gravel pit or some way to generate money,” she said.

She was dissatisfied with the lack of non-leaseholders present at the meeting, saying that their voice was missed.

In response to the feedback from this meeting, Miyananga stated that they brought up strong points that will be brought into consideration.

“I’m personally going to review the leases to ensure that we haven’t made them more complex than they need to be,” she said.

Council representatives reiterated that no decisions have been finalized and these policies are not in place..

Feedback from this meeting will be incorporated into a report that informs the council’s decision-making.

A public hearing is scheduled for August 19, 2025.

Draft policies and related materials are available on the M.D. of Taber website.