Alberta’s New Licence Plate Features a Famous Canmore Ram

A familiar piece of Bow Valley wildlife history is about to start appearing on vehicles across Alberta.

The province launched its first conservation-focused specialty licence plate Monday (Aug. 31), featuring two bighorn sheep against Mount Lougheed in Kananaskis Country. One of those animals is the Canmore Ram, a massive bighorn that became a local fixture in the 1980s before being struck and killed on a highway near Canmore.

The plate costs $75, plus a $15 registry agent fee and standard vehicle registration costs. Of that, $55 from every plate sold will go to the Alberta Conservation Association, a non-profit organization that funds wildlife, fisheries and habitat conservation projects across the province.

The plates became available Sept. 1 through Alberta registries and the provincial website.

But behind the relatively small piece of metal is a painting that Alberta wildlife artist Des McCaffery says has been almost three years in the making.

“This is home,” McCaffery said about the artwork. “These rams are part of Alberta’s history. The mountains behind them are part of our landscape.”

Two Rams With Alberta History

McCaffery, a Grande Prairie-based artist, was commissioned by the province to create the original painting, titled Alberta Monarchs.

He told Bow Valley Insider he was given considerable creative freedom, with one major requirement: the painting needed to feature two famous Alberta rams and Mount Lougheed while working both as a piece of fine art and within the unusual dimensions of a licence plate.

The ram standing on the left is the Blind Canyon Ram, harvested in southwest Alberta by hunter Fred Weiller in 1911.

More than half a century later, in 1966, it was recognized as a world record at the American Big Game Awards in Pittsburgh. The mount was destroyed in a house fire in 1971, leaving McCaffery to reconstruct the animal from a small collection of surviving photographs.

“Using those scarce references, I pushed every fibre of my knowledge of bighorns, and my artistic ability, to bring that legendary ram back to life,” McCaffery said. “It was one of the most challenging reconstructions I’ve ever done.”

The second animal has a much closer connection to the Bow Valley.

The Canmore Ram lived in the area during the 1980s and became known for his enormous horns before being killed on a highway near Canmore.

For that animal, McCaffery had something considerably better than old photographs. He was able to bring the original mount into his studio for several weeks.

“That gave me the opportunity to study every curve and every detail of those magnificent horns, up close and personal,” he said.

Behind both animals is Mount Lougheed, overlooking the Spray Lakes Reservoir in Kananaskis Country.

The original Alberta Monarchs painting is expected to be displayed at the Alberta Legislature.

Where The Money Goes

The province is pitching the plate as more than a celebration of Alberta wildlife.

The Alberta Conservation Association will receive $55 from each plate sold, with the money going toward work that can include habitat restoration, wildlife monitoring, research and community conservation projects.

“Every plate sold helps protect habitats and keeps our fish and wildlife populations healthy for future generations,” Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen said in announcing the program.

The Alberta Conservation Association has operated since 1997 and works independently while partnering with government, industry and community organizations on fish, wildlife and habitat projects.

Sarah Elmeligi, the MLA for Banff-Kananaskis, was unavailable to comment on what she would like to see the new revenue support locally because she was on vacation at the time of publication.

There is, however, an example next door of just how substantial a conservation licence plate program can become.

British Columbia's program has surpassed 500,000 plates sold. In the 2024-25 fiscal year alone, BC Parks received about $12.5 million from its licence plate program, with 87,456 plates sold that year.

The money supported more than 220 projects and programs across more than 165 parks and protected areas, including wildlife conservation, recreation improvements, education and wildfire-related ecosystem work.

Alberta's program is just beginning, and how much money it ultimately generates will depend on how many drivers decide the extra cost is worth it.

For McCaffery, however, the rollout means something more personal: a painting inspired by the province where he built his career will now be travelling through the landscape that inspired it.

“I’ve been fortunate to have my artwork used in some pretty special ways over the course of my career, but there’s something different about this one,” he said.

“Soon, I’ll get to see this artwork travelling down Alberta highways on the vehicles of people who share that same connection to this province and its wild places.”