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Legumes are an important component of northern temperate pastures, improving forage productivity and quality at low cost by inputting biologically fixed nitrogen into the agro-ecosystem. Management actions such as long-term or high intensity grazing, and broadleaf herbicide application for noxious weed control —which is mandatory in Alberta, can eliminate standing legume biomass. After legume removal, repopulating the plant community with legumes often occurs from volunteer seedling establishment from the existing seed bank. Success of this establishment depends on a number of factors including micro-site availability, competition for light, and the ongoing grazing pressure of herbivores. Our objective was to determine the presence and abundance of legume seeds, as well as the diversity and abundance of other competing species (i.e. grasses, forbs, and weeds), in a standardized volume of soil sampled from 44 pastures. At each pasture 53 soil cores, 3.2 cm in diameter and 6 cm deep, were extracted 5 m apart in a W-shaped configuration. Management was determined retrospectively by interviewing landowners to gather information on pasture age, planting history, fertilization regime, and disturbance history, including grazing and herbicide use, etc. Interview results were accompanied by a range health assessment. Cores from each pasture were bulked, placed in a greenhouse for 12 months, and emergent seedlings counted after positive identification. Significant management factors were identified using multivariate techniques (perMANOVA and NMDS), and will be presented from our 2012 data. Our goal is to link seed bank composition of pastures to particular management regimes, and thereby identify those management practices that may produce seed banks capable of facilitating beneficial legume re-establishment.