Alpine bluegrass [Poa alpina L.] and slender wheatgrass [Elymus trachycaulus (Link.) Gould ex Shinners] accessions from alpine and subalpine regions of the Canadian Rocky Mountains and eastern foothills were tested for tolerance to salinity stress. Accessions with higher emergence (%) than salt tolerant Orbit tall wheatgrass [ Thinopyrum elongatum (Host) D. R. Dewey, comb. nov.] , after 21 d in vermiculite saturated with a NaCl-salinized half-Hoagland solution (electrical conductivity 15 dS m- I) and nurtured in growth cabinets set to repeat 20/15°C day (16-h)/night temperatures, were con sidered tolerant of salt-stress. This test identified 72 alpine bluegrass and 11 slender wheatgrass salt tolerant accessions. Most of these accessions originated from two specific sites near the Alberta-British Columbia border. Slender wheatgrass accessions tolerant to NaCl were also tolerant to the other salts commonly found in Alberta soils. In slender wheatgrass, the ability to emerge in a salinized nutrient solution had moderate heritability (61-68 %), suggesting the possibility of genetic improvement through selection.