Oki, Welcome
Blood Tribe Land Management is a department of the Blood Tribe Administration and operates under the authority of Blood Tribe Chief and Council and the Government of Canada to administer and manage land use and occupancy of the Blood Reserve (#148 & 148 A – Blood Tribe Timber Limit) in conjunction with Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) to ensure compliance with applicable legislation governing the use and disposition of Blood Reserve land.
CONTACT US
Office Hours: Monday to Friday – 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM – Closed (12:00 PM to 1:00 PM)
Phone: 403-737-8151
Livestock Control: 24/7: 403-634-9419
Email: [email protected]
Address: P.O. Box 470 Standoff, AB T0L 1Y0
Staff
Director, CloAnn Wells
Phone: 403-634-9898
Email: [email protected]
Office Manager, Lisa Rose No Runner
Phone: 403-331-9549
Email: [email protected]
Receptionist, Mary Jo Russell
Phone: 403-737-8151
Email: [email protected]
Service Delivery
The Department Administrates The Following Service Delivery Areas
Administration and management of Lands Department office including staffing, day-to-day functions and communications with various government (tribal, federal, provincial and municipal), public and private agencies and individuals.
General Land Management accounting services for the Blood Tribe (administration and members) and communications with various (tribal, federal, provincial and municipal) government, public and private agencies and individuals. Assisting registered Blood Tribe land occupants in ensuring obligations on land occupant proceeds are met with various agencies (Blood Tribe Housing, banks, etc.)
The primary responsibility of this function of the department is generally to administer in conjunction with INAC, all relevant permits governing land use activities on the Blood Reserve in compliance with applicable Federal, Tribal and Provincial statutes and regulations.
The function of the Environmental Division is to co mitigate adverse environmental impacts of development and land use. This process involves research, monitoring and reporting with continual engagement with community and agencies to create a better understanding and awareness of environmental issues and contribute to the sustainability of Kainai. Monitoring programs currently include: bird surveys, range health assessments, illegal dumping, poaching, and invasive plant control.
Invasive Plants: The responsibility of the Invasive Plants Control Program is to monitor and control the infestation of Invasive Plants throughout the Reserve using a variety of control methods. These control methods include Biological Control (Beetles), Chemical Control (Herbicides), and Mechanical Control (Hand Pulling/Mowing). Establishing a proper Integrated Pest Management Plan is a key factor in controlling problematic plants on the reserve and ensures the sustainability of native plants within the Blood Reserve.
G.I.S. Mapping and survey related services for the Blood Tribe (administration and members) including the preparation of land use area plans, land descriptions, field investigations on survey activities and communicating and providing mapping and survey information as requested for various government (tribal, federal, provincial and municipal), public and private agencies and individuals.
Land Registry related services for the Blood Tribe (administration and members) and communications with appropriate government (tribal, federal, provincial and municipal), public and private agencies and individuals relating to verification of the Blood Tribe Land Registry and the occupancy of Blood Reserve land. Also assists Chief and Council and the Land Management Committee by providing and verifying available land registry information.
- Land Management Operational Policies in effect
- July 2020, Phase 1 approved by Committee & Council
- April 2023, Phase 2 approved by Committee & Council
- Blood Tribe Community Comprehensive Plan (Completed)
- Assisting in the process and providing information on land lots
- Forestry Management Plan (1998) – Currently reviewing and updating
- Hunting/Wildlife Management Plan – Drafted and awaiting approval
- Blood Tribe Environmental Sustainability Plan Currently at community review process
- Stray Livestock Bylaw – Currently being reviewed to be updated.
- Land Use & Occupation Dispute Resolution Policies <–Click for pdf.
Documents & Notices
Stories
First Annual Iinnii Days
First Annual Iinnii Days
By Amber Sugai, Blood Tribe Communications
Blood Tribe Land Management held their first annual Iinnii Days, this event took place over the course of three days from September 9 – 11, 2025. Iinnii Days were held on the Northside of the Blood Reserve near the Medicine Wheel.
Director of Blood Tribe Land Management, Clo-Ann Wells (Miisamikakato’ saakii) wanted to have the Iinnii Days to honour the Iinnii (buffalo) and to teach all Blood Tribe Members what the buffalo truly mean to the tribe, to understand why we want them here, and how we are almost full circle with them.
“It’s like a healing for being Niitsitapii, for being Blackfoot,” said Wells.
Wells wanted Iinnii Days to give back to the community and to teach the significance of the Iinnii and how it provides food sovereignty, information on the cultural aspect, and what it means to Akoka’tssini. On Thursday September 11, 2025, Blood Tribe Land Management hosted an Iinnii harvest to give a chance to members to learn more about it. The meat that the Iinnii provided is getting the meat processed, Blood Tribe Lands Management has plans to do a community giveaway.
The significance of the buffalo being back on the reserve is to help us learn and adapt on how to live with them, and to get them recategorized as wildlife. Wells would like the tribe to know the buffalo do not belong to the Blood Tribe Land Management, but that they belong to the tribe. She intends to look at different processes in how to utilize the Iinnii for educational harvest.
“This is a cultural herd, we’re not here to make money. If you want to do a cultural harvest and teach our own members, this is what we need to do,” said Wells.
Having a harvest is to educate our members, to have them understand that the Iinnii is a part of us, historically and that they were always here.
“They never became extinct, and we never became extinct, regardless of all obstacles that were thrown at us through life’s history. So, hoof to ground, they’re making us stronger as Niitsitapii,” said Wells.
Blood Tribe Land Management Department Wins Prairie Conservation Award
Blood Tribe Land Management Department wins Prairie Conservation Award
By Amber Sugai, Blood Tribe Communications Officer
On May 6, 2026, the 14th Prairie Conservation Award and Endangered Species Conference was held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The Blood Tribe Land Management received the Prairie Conservation 2026 Award, making the Blood Tribe the only First Nation to receive this award.
Every three years the Prairie Conservation Award is awarded to those who have shown a long-lasting impact on protecting prairie habitats and species at risk. The Blood Tribe Land Management Department (BTLMD) received this year’s recognition based on their Environment Protection Division.
Blood Tribe Land Management Environmental technicians have been working on several initiatives, one of them being Kainai skahkoyii Land Initiative. This initiative documents grassland health and documenting the species that depend on the cultural resources in those habitats.
This aligns with the BTLMD vision as the department envisions a future where land is respected as a living entity, ecosystems are resilient and abundant, and Blood Tribe members are connected and empowered to care for their land as well as each other.
“The significance of receiving the award is that we are in a way leading as a first nation and prairie conservation, getting the recognition for all the projects and all the work has not gone unnoticed,” said Alvin First Rider, Land Management Environmental Technician Manager.
Elliot Fox, Blood Tribe Councillor, Alvin First Rider, and Truman Big Swallow attended the conference and accepted the award. Truman Big Swallow, Land Management Environmental Technician, is proud to see First Nations environmental knowledge receive this much deserved recognition.
Our knowledge is not just background noise, that it has a deeper meaning and that it is on par with western science. Big Swallow says the award is giving the recognition of all the efforts they have done in terms of protecting endangered species and native grasslands in Treaty 7 territory.
“It helps with ecological protection but our cultural protection too, a lot of our stories are really tied into the plants and animals we have,” said Big Swallow.
First Rider and his team have been researching and working with different partners to develop a guidebook that reflects the Blood Tribe and all the plant communities on the reserve. With all this research that they have done the environmental technicians have been able to find rare lichens and rare species that depend on the grassland’s ecosystem, showing the importance of having large grasslands that remain mostly undeveloped without any human influence.
“It goes to show as a first nation community what we could do and how we could continue to support our ecological communities,” said First Rider.
The Prairie Conservation Award carries international recognition that is being recognized by the global conservation community that highlights how important grasslands are to the people.
First Rider says being able to accumulate all the work and preserve the grassland is because of all the predecessors, environmental technicians, the elders, the Iinnii (buffalo) rematriation, and fire introduction for grassland health.
All these projects go hand in hand in restoring ecological communities and ways to enhance them to ensure our future generations can enjoy our land.
CloAnn Wells Blood Tribe Land Management Director is very proud of the staff and the achievements that are being recognized for all the hard work that they are doing.
“This is a positive step forward to show our members that we are being sustainable to the land and we are trying to conserve what grasslands we do have, by applying for these grants, by teaching, educating, and bringing awareness to our members of what land we have and how we can sustain it in a positive manner,” said Wells.
Land Management staff all pose for a photo with their Prairie Conservation Award at the Shot Both Sides Building in Standoff, AB, on June 5, 2026. Photo by Amber Sugai, Blood Tribe Communications Officer.
