This article is over 5 years old and may contain outdated information.

Wildlife

New funding to help Saskatchewan ranchers protect species at risk

Environment and Climate Change Canada has given $2.58 million to the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association to lead a conservation project designed to help species at risk

  • Jan 12, 2016
  • 274 words
  • 2 minutes
Saskatchewan's burrowing owls are endangered, and could be among the species to benefit from the new government funding. (Photo: Dwane Morvik/CanGeo Photo Club)
Expand Image
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Saskatchewan’s agriculture and cattle industry is about to boost its conservation efforts, thanks to an influx of funding from the federal government.

Environment and Climate Change Canada has given $2.58 million to the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association to lead a conservation project designed to help species at risk while also benefitting the people who use the land for ranching and agriculture.

The project is voluntary and includes a host of initiatives designed to fit landowners’ unique circumstances through a variety of strategies new to Saskatchewan. Possible pilot projects include grass banking, habitat restoration and ecologically-friendly product branding.

“Most of Saskatchewan’s remaining native grass prairie is on privately-managed ranchland,” says SSGA president Doug Gillespie. “Stewardship is a core value of the SSGA and our members are in the best position to protect habitat for species at risk.”

The work will take place over the next five years in areas covered by the South of the Divide Conservation Action Program (SODCAP Inc.), which will also handle the on-the-ground delivery of the pilots.

“Ranchers, livestock and species at risk can co-exist, and they have been for generations,” says Tom Harrison, Executive Director of SODCAP Inc.

There are 13 endangered species in the southwest region of the province, including sage grouse, burrowing owls, piping plovers and swift foxes. The funding will help ranchers and other agricultural producers to continue fostering biodiversity, says Chad MacPherson, general manager of the SSGA.

“We want to demonstrate that the species are there because of good management and not in spite of it.”

Advertisement

Help us tell Canada’s story

You can support Canadian Geographic in 3 ways:

Grizzly Haven

This story is from the April 2016 Issue

Related Content

Environment

Canadian ranchers protect native grasslands and species at risk

Cattle grazing helps to conserve endangered grasslands as well as the habitat for many species at risk

  • 1348 words
  • 6 minutes
The North American grasslands at sunset

Environment

How cattle ranching can help preserve species at risk in Canada’s grasslands

Agriculture can play an important role in protecting and restoring critical habitat on the Prairies

  • 1167 words
  • 5 minutes

Places

The land holds memories

“All the mischiefs humans and the universe are capable of inflicting on an ecosystem have conspired to attack the prairies.” 

  • 6274 words
  • 26 minutes

Environment

The sixth extinction

The planet is in the midst of drastic biodiversity loss that some experts think may be the next great species die-off. How did we get here and what can be done about it?

  • 4895 words
  • 20 minutes
Advertisement
Advertisement