SK Grasslands - A Vanishing Landscape?

SK Grasslands - A Vanishing Landscape?

Postby Oscar » Sat Mar 15, 2014 4:26 pm

EVENT: Saskatoon Event: “Saskatchewan Grasslands – a Vanishing Landscape?

[ http://pfrapastureposts.wordpress.com/2 ... landscape/ ]

by nbeingessner

Illustrated talk “Saskatchewan Grasslands - a Vanishing Landscape?”

Friday, January 24, 2014 at 2 pm

Frances Morrison Public Library in Saskatoon, 311 - 23rd Street East

Temperate grasslands are one of the most altered and modified landscapes in the world. Recent economic and social changes in the Prairie Provinces are driving a rapid shift in the type of land use, with industrial agriculture and development negatively impacting the remaining prairie habitat. Join Saskatoon photographer Dr. Branimir Gjetvaj on a journey of discovery of our diminishing prairie landscapes.

For more information visit:

[ http://branimirphoto.ca/public-presentations-and-shows ]

nbeingessner | January 15, 2014 at 3:35 pm |
Categories: Uncategorized |
URL: http://wp.me/p2YasE-81
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Protected grassland faces uncertain future

Postby Oscar » Sat Mar 15, 2014 4:27 pm

Protected grassland faces uncertain future

[ http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/ ... story.html ]

By Andrea Hill, Postmedia News January 29, 2014

OTTAWA — More than two million acres of protected Canadian grassland could be compromised as the federal government starts withdrawing from a decades-old prairie rehabilitation program this year, naturalists and academics say.

The Community Pastures Program — which saw federal dollars flow into the management of 85 fields in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta since the 1930s — was scrapped in the 2012 omnibus budget.

The federal government is now gradually turning management of the fields over to Manitoba and Saskatchewan, who already own 90 per cent of the land used for the program. But critics worry the provinces lack the resources to provide the same degree of environmental stewardship as the federal government.

Saskatchewan naturalist Trevor Herriot said the move indicates the government has “more or less abandoned its entire commitment to grassland conservation.”

“This is the oldest and largest, best pieces of native grassland we’ve got in Canada and some of the best chunks in North America,” he said. “(The Community Pastures Program) was really the gold standard in Canada for prairie conservation and that system’s being lost.”

Management of 10 fields was transferred to Manitoba and Saskatchewan in December 2013 and another 10 will be transferred this March. By 2018, all pastures will be under provincial management. One pasture in Alberta will close this year.

The Department of Agriculture did not respond to questions about how much the transfers would save the government.

Under the Community Pastures Program, which was started after the Great Depression to revive drought-ravaged land, about 2,500 farmers pay a small fee to deliver cows and calves to the fields each spring. Federally paid field managers — cowboys — take care of the animals and herd them to ensure optimum grazing.

“They would use the cows basically as engineers to re-engineer the range,” explained Joe Schmutz, professor of environment and sustainability at University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.

The field managers — some of whom may disappear without federal dollars — are also responsible for other conservation duties, including controlling invasive species.

In Saskatchewan, where the majority of community pastures are located, fields will be leased to the farmers who use them. The farmers, who will be facing higher fees to graze their cattle because of lost federal subsidies, must decide whether they can afford to hire mangers.

“Largely, it’s going to be very, very difficult under patron governance to replicate the environmental stewardship,” said Ian McCreary, chair of the Community Pasture Patrons Association of Saskatchewan, which represents the users of most of the province’s community pastures.

He said increased fees and management responsibility could cause some fields to fail altogether and that farmers in fields that survive may try to take on the manager’s role themselves to save money.

MORE:

[ http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/ ... story.html ]
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Re: SK Grasslands - A Vanishing Landscape?

Postby Oscar » Fri Nov 28, 2014 5:09 pm

Update on the Pastures and Grasslands: Threats, Current Status, What’s Next

http://pfrapastureposts.wordpress.com/2 ... hats-next/

by nbeingessner November 28, 2014

Thanks to everyone who came out to the sold-out Grasslands premiere last Wednesday! If you'd like to see another excellent short film on the topic, check out Megan Lacelle and Kaitlyn Van De Woestyne's video featuring a former PFRA cowboy. [ http://vimeo.com/112967530 ]

In the meantime, an update on Saskatchewan’s Crown Grasslands and the PFRA pastures from Trevor Herriot, who spoke at the Grasslands premiere:

The Priceless Value of our Crown Grasslands

• Saskatchewan has lost a lot of its native prairie, as we all know—we have less than 21% of the old-growth grassland that was here with the buffalo and plains people for thousands of years.

• But we still have roughly 5 M hectares left—the trouble is most of that is in small bits of ten to fifty hectares here or there in isolated parcels; and most is privately owned. The good news is that around 30% of our grassland receives some kind of conservation or public oversight—either because it is owned by government or private conservation agencies.

• The very best public management of our grassland was done by the federal PFRA community pastures system. 728,000 hectares in 62 parcels in Sask., representing a big piece of our remaining native prairie, and some of the largest contiguous blocks that are big enough to function ecologically as grassland.

• It is widely accepted that our forests in the north need to remain under the Crown so we can ensure that we have at least a chance to serve the public interest in maintaining healthy forests.

• It should be the same with our Crown-owned grasslands—they are not just pastures for cattle production any more than a forest is only standing lumber.

• PPPI believes that our publicly owned grasslands are much more than merely grazing lands, though they are vital to the wellbeing of Saskatchewan’s cattle industry and have helped farmers stay diversified and helped the next generation of cattle producers get started.

• These grasslands are our shared heritage, stewarded for millennia by Indigenous people who, along with our ranchers and the rest of the public, deserve to have a voice in how they will be managed and used into the future.

Threats

• But in recent years, there has been increasing economic pressure to privatize our grasslands and reduce public oversight and regulation of how they are managed.

• It started with the threat in 2010 to sell off Saskatchewan’s Wildlife Habitat Protection Act lands, which have for decades been protected as important grassland and wetland habitat.

• Saskatchewan’s Lands Branch is now selling 738,000 hectares that were protected under the Act, retaining another 688,000 that they have determined to be of the highest ecological value.

• After that, in 2012, the Harper government announced that the Federal PFRA pastures would be transferred back to Saskatchewan. At first the Province said they would sell them.

PPPI’s formation

• The conservation community and many of the grazing patrons using the pastures objected strongly. And out of that concern, Public Pastures—Public Interest was formed--in fact it was this week, Agribition Week, two years ago when we were founded at a forum we held with conservationists, First Nations people and cattle producers.

• Since then, 46 organizations in Canada and the United States have endorsed our guiding principles of keeping our public grasslands in the public domain and advocating for ecologically sound management that will protect their natural and human heritage into the future.

• Our membership and the thousands of people who support our endorsing organizations believe that protection under the Crown will be placed at risk if we allow the land to be privatized OR if we allow the land to be managed in ways that do not serve the interest Saskatchewan people share in maintaining healthy grassland places.

Current status of PFRA grasslands

• So where are things at right now for those 62 pastures being transferred to the province?

• The good news is that the Province has listened to people’s concerns and shifted from selling the lands to leasing them out to the groups of grazing patrons. But they say that the pastures are still available for the patron groups to purchase. So far no takers and not a single acre has been sold.

• So we must remain vigilant to ensure that these ecologically critical grasslands are not removed from the Crown.

• The first ten pastures were transferred to the province this year and the responsibility for management was handed over to the grazing patron groups who will lease each pasture. After the initial difficulties of adjusting, most groups did well this year we are hearing.

• With lots of grass in a wet year like this and record prices for cattle, though, one season is not enough to measure the success of the transition. Only time will tell.

• For now, each pasture is using a paid manager, but with the financial arrangements they are working under that may be difficult to maintain over time.

• Experienced range managers and grassland conservationists are worried that in the long run the organizations of grazing patrons may for convenience sake or to cut costs just decide to cross-fence their pasture into smaller paddocks to let each patron graze according to his own plan. You get this piece and I get this piece, we all manage our own cattle.

Ecological Benefits of management for the public interest

• There are ecological benefits and long term range management values served by keeping the whole pasture managed together in a coherent system where all the patrons’ animals are co-mingled. That was the strength of the PFRA system and it ensured that the conservation values were maintained over the long run.

• Grassland ecologists will tell you that a wider array of native grassland dependent birds, for example, tend to do better on larger pastures that are not over-stocked or cross-fenced. When fenced pastures are small and the stocking levels high, some bird species will decline and the few that like short, heavily grazed land will survive.

Public access issue

• As well, the whole issue of public access remains to be seen. The patrons are being told they only lease the land during the grazing months. In fall and winter their lease does not apply. That provides access for hunters, but not for other uses.

• But they feel this is unfair because they are paying the same lease rates that individual leaseholders pay for Crown grassland that they control access to year round. So, understandably, the former PFRA patrons are saying “if we don’t get to control year-round access like private leaseholders do then why should we have to pay the same lease rates?”

• But for now at least, as I said, these wonderful expanses of native grass will remain in the public domain.

• But that also means that the public interest in the wellbeing of these lands and in having access to them—for research, for indigenous peoples’ hunting and medicine gathering, for recreation, birding and hunting—is still there and if anything stronger than ever.

• Which is also good news—the conservation community, our First Nations and Metis organizations, and heritage groups remain committed to ensuring that these lands are managed as well as they have been for the past 75 years under the PFRA.

• Managing land for these interests—and all the others such as the hundreds of archaeological sites, the 31 species at risk that use these lands, the soil and water conservation—is a responsibility that must be shared.

Manitoba approach is better

• By contrast, in Manitoba, where they also are putting their PFRA pastures through a transition, an entirely different approach is being used.

• The pastures are being handled together as a unitary system and they must follow rangeland management prescriptions (for invasive species, species at risk, grass management, aspen encroachment, etc.).

• A “Range Management Implementation Group” has been established with representation from provincial govt Ag and water and conservation agencies, the new Manitoba Association of Community Pastures, as well as from Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC), the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), and Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation has been established.

• This Range Mgt Group is currently designing the criteria, monitoring and reporting procedures that will be used for pasture management prescriptions in the future. When complete, these protocols will be applied by Manitoba Agriculture to prepare and administer the rangeland prescriptions for each pasture to ensure the ecological integrity of lands in the system is sustained.

• This is the direction we believe Saskatchewan should go, with the addition of bringing Aboriginal people to the table as well.

Public investment

• The public—you and I and all Canadians—invested our tax dollars into the good public stewardship of these lands for 75 years, so that the soil would be protected, the creeks and wetlands managed well, and the rare prairie plants, birds and other animals would have some refuge in habitat where the grazing would be applied in a unitary system of range management for long term ecological values.

• Of course, as we are regularly reminded, private leaseholders and landowners are often just as good at stewarding grassland. True, and public ownership is no guarantee of good stewardship. But good stewards get old and die. The cattle industry is, like much of modern agriculture, struggling to maintain its traditional stewardship values and to help younger producers get started—and of course community pastures, if they are run right, could help with that generational hand off.

• Public ownership can be a buffer against market forces and changes in land use that can threaten our native grasslands and the stewardship traditions of cow-calf ranching culture.

What’s next for PPPI?

• We must continue to monitor what happens to our community pastures to prevent any sales from taking place.

• As well, PPPI is looking for ways to connect the public interest in healthy well-managed grasslands with the ranchers desire to steward the land well—and to work government, with agricultural organizations and conservation groups to make that happen without undue levels of regulation and oversight.

• The public interest in supporting good stewardship practices may ebb and flow over time but, as long as land remains in the public domain, we have recourse as citizens to participate in the public process of how that land and its ecological values and heritage will be sustained and accessed.

• With your support PPPI intends to continue participating in that process to work on your behalf and on the behalf of those who do not have any representation or way to voice their interest in the health of our remaining grasslands.

nbeingessner | November 28, 2014 at 9:28 pm | Categories: Ecology, patrons, Uncategorized | URL: [ http://wp.me/p2YasE-9o ]
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Re: SK Grasslands - A Vanishing Landscape?

Postby Oscar » Wed Feb 11, 2015 10:12 am

Joint PFRA Pasture Study Released - APAS Calls for New Approach to PFRA Pasture Transition

[ https://pfrapastureposts.wordpress.com/ ... -released/ ]

by nbeingessner February 10, 2015

Regina: Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS), Community Pasture Patrons Association of Saskatchewan (CPPAS), Public Pastures – Public Interest (PPPI) and Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation (SWF) examined Saskatchewan’s approach to pasture transition and found it would adversely affect the livestock industry in Saskatchewan.

“We are asking the Saskatchewan Government to take a hard look at its current approach to the transition of the 62 PFRA pastures which affects 1.8 million acres or 2,500 ranchers,” says Norm Hall, APAS President. “The current process is inefficient, short and long-term costs will rise substantially for patrons, and public expectations and regulations for pastures could prove to be unworkable.”

The study (executive summary here: [ https://pfrapastureposts.files.wordpres ... -final.pdf ] ) commissioned by the four partners is anchored in the following principles:

Conserving native grassland is critically important;
Land use should re-inforce the economic viability of our livestock sector;
Natural working ecosystems must be preserved over the long term;
Business and governance systems must be efficient and effective;
Producers should not be expected to pay for public benefits.

The full study can be found here: [ https://pfrapastureposts.files.wordpres ... -final.pdf ]

The approach taken by Saskatchewan is to increase revenues at the expense of producers and to offload responsibility for the environment from the public sector to pasture patrons. Pasture patrons are being asked to pay a full Crown land grazing rate. They are required to provide full public access and manage and report on the ecological, environmental and endangered species on native landscapes without required resources. “A level playing field is required,’ says Ian McCreary, CPPAS Chair.

“Preserving a working natural landscape where hunters and naturalists can share the pasture system into the future must be maintained,” says Darrell Crabbe, Executive Director, SWF. “Pasture patrons cannot be expected to shoulder the costs of sourcing the expertise required and providing ongoing public benefits.”

“APAS is concerned over the long term viability of the livestock industry in Saskatchewan,” says Hall. “We have a shrinking beef breeding herd and livestock producer numbers are falling. The current approach leads to a further acceleration of producers leaving the industry. Pasture patrons may fall by one-half. The current approach closes the opportunity for young producers to enter the industry. A different approach is needed if we are to build a strong, sustainable Saskatchewan livestock industry.”

Norm Hall
President, APAS

Ian McCreary
Chair, CPPAS

Darrell Crabbe
Executive Director, SWF

Trevor Herriot
Public Pastures-Public Interest
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Re: SK Grasslands - A Vanishing Landscape?

Postby Oscar » Thu Feb 19, 2015 5:55 pm

Lots of news coverage of PFRA Pastures Transition Study

[ https://pfrapastureposts.wordpress.com/ ... ion-study/ ]

nbeingessner | February 19, 2015 at 10:10 pm

= = = = =

“Grasslands” Film in Indian Head

[ https://www.facebook.com/events/863222827054315/ ]

nbeingessner | February 19, 2015 at 10:05 pm

"If you're in the Regina area and missed Ian Toews' film the first time around - or want to see it again! - it will be showing in Indian Head on March 1, Grand Theatre, 2:00 p.m.

More information can be found at the Facebook event. “I wanted to convey that prairie was an expansive flowing mass of grasslands. And then show people what it is today and what is being done to preserve it,” said filmmaker Toews. “I want people to know that visiting and filming these beautiful places, seeing these animals, was for the most part very easy. Our Grasslands, even as reduced as they are, are still quite accessible to all.” "
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Re: SK Grasslands - A Vanishing Landscape?

Postby Oscar » Tue Feb 16, 2016 11:18 am

Making a Difference for the Community Pastures and our Grasslands

[ https://pfrapastureposts.wordpress.com/ ... rasslands/ ]

by nbeingessner February 16, 2016

We have received word that there is a possibility that the new federal government may consider reviewing the Harper decision to dump the PFRA pastures system. However, we are told that for that to happen, our elected MPs, and the Minister of Agriculture Canada in particular, must hear about it from concerned citizens.

So we are asking everyone to send letters to the Minister of Agriculture, and the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, as well as the Hon. Ralph Goodale and the Prime Minister as soon as possible (see addresses below).

We have a brief window of opportunity to convey our deep concerns over the demise of the PFRA Pastures in Saskatchewan and to ask for the federal government to halt the transfer of the pasture lands and conduct a full review of the Harper government’s decision.

Your letters need not be long and detailed. A simple approach is to ask the federal government to halt the transfer of these pastures to the province of Saskatchewan which is not recognizing, managing or investing in the value of public goods on these vanishing grasslands.

We have heard from government sources that it important to emphasize the climate change benefits of native grassland but you should use your own words and choose any of the points listed below stating why these grasslands are important to you (e.g. climate change mitigation, conservation, Species at Risk, hunting, etc.) Tell them you want to live in a Canada that protects endangered landscapes and sustainable agriculture initiatives like the PFRA system always did.

We would also like people to request a full Strategic Environmental Assessment of the risks to the natural and human heritage in the PFRA Pastures, in accordance with The Cabinet Directive on the Environmental Assessment of Policy, Plan and Program Proposals.

It is very important that you include your full name and address, even if you are sending an email. Politicians always note the location where correspondence comes from. Be sure to request a reply to your letter.

Below are some points you may wish to reference in your letter. We suggest you select two or three and use your own words.

- The Community Pasture lands are not “just agricultural lands.”

- These pastures contain the largest and best managed grasslands in Saskatchewan.

- Some 80% of our natural landscape in southern Saskatchewan has been lost to development.

- These pastures are part of Canada's commitment to its 2020 Biodiversity Goals, in accordance with the Global Aichi Biodiversity Targets.

- Prairie grasslands are vital elements of the public trust every bit as precious as our northern forests and lakes

- The prairies have more Species at Risk than any other region of Canada.

- Over 30 Species At Risk are found on the pastures.

- Carbon sequestration is an important benefit of native grasslands.

- Soil and water conservation is provided by the pastures.

- Pastures contain many heritage sites from indigenous people and homesteaders.

- Pastures provide important hunting opportunities, generating $70 million annually.

- Keeping the pastures publicly owned is the best way to protect the many benefits they provide.

- Indigenous rights to access the land based on international declarations would be harmed by privatization of the land.

- Producers should not be expected to pay for managing the land for public benefits.

- The many public benefits should be maintained and enhanced with public dollars.

- The Canadian people’s 75 year investment in the Community Pastures could be lost by eliminating the federal support for Community Pastures.

Address your letters to:

The Hon. Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
[ lawrence.macaulay@parl.gc.ca ]

Send copies to the PM and Ministers listed:

The Hon. Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
[ Catherine.McKenna@parl.gc.ca ]

The Hon. Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, and MP for Regina-Wascana
[ ralph.goodale@parl.gc.ca ]

The Hon. Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs
[ carolyn.bennett@parl.gc.ca ]

The Right Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
[ justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca ]

If you send your letter by regular mail, all mailing addresses are:
House of Commons, Ottawa, Ont. K1A 0A6

No postage is required on any mail addressed to the House of Commons.

Many thanks, for your support. We believe we have a chance to make a difference with this letter campaign. Your letters are very important and could help turn the tide.

nbeingessner | February 16, 2016 at 3:03 pm | Tags: campaign, federal government, letters, pastures, PFRA | Categories: Ecology, Event | URL: [ http://wp.me/p2YasE-aG ]
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Re: SK Grasslands - A Vanishing Landscape?

Postby Oscar » Wed Mar 23, 2016 11:38 am

Facts About the Importance of Community Pastures and Grasslands - March 16, 2016

What’s been happening?


 In 2012, the Conservative Government in Ottawa decided, without any consultation, to abandon the Community Pasture Program managed by the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA). This included 1.8 million acres of grassland in 62 community pastures in Saskatchewan, among the largest and best managed prairie grasslands remaining in Canada.

 Twenty of the pastures have been transferred to the province with another 10 slated for transfer this spring. The Saskatchewan government has said they did not want to take over the management of the pastures and would sell the pastures with two caveats:

1. Only the patrons could purchase the pastures.

2. A Conservation Easement would be placed on a pasture prior to it being sold.

Selling the land would take this precious resource out of public oversight and most likely eliminate access entitled to Indigenous people on Crown lands. The Manitoba government has kept their Community Pastures and set up an organization to manage them.

 So far no Saskatchewan pastures have been sold. The land is being leased by pasture patrons, requiring a process for setting up management groups that has been difficult and frustrating. The resources for managing the grassland ecosystems are not adequate. Unlike private land owners, patrons leasing the land are required to allow public access, including hunting after the livestock are removed in the fall, as well as access by the oil and gas industry and other members of the public, without any extra resources for this oversight.

 The government is offering other publically owned lands for sale. The Ministry of Agriculture states that none of these lands are ecologically sensitive, yet investigation shows that at least some of the lands for sale contain environmentally important areas.

Why are the Community Pastures and Other Grasslands Important?

 Canada has its own threatened Amazonian forest - our native prairie. It is widely considered one of the most endangered ecosystems in Canada. Less than 20% of our native prairie remains in Saskatchewan. The rest has been turned into agricultural fields, cities and roads. Some types of native grassland, such as northern fescue, are even more diminished, to less than 10% of their original.

 Many of the federally-listed Species at Risk in Saskatchewan are found in our native grasslands. This is a direct result of the habitat loss. In Southern Saskatchewan, many of the native birds and animals require native prairie to survive - it is their only home. Over 30 Species at Risk are known to live on the Community Pastures.

 While a quarter section of agricultural land may contain a few agricultural crop species, a quarter section of native prairie will support over a hundred species of grasses and wildflowers and hundreds of animal species including birds, insects and myriad bacteria and fungi. Sadly our croplands are biological deserts bereft of almost all of their original native diversity.

 Grasslands help mitigate climate change through carbon sequestration by the grasses and other plants. They prevent soil erosion. They also contribute to water security as healthy plants and their root systems filter and purify our water.

 Most of the carbon held in the ecosphere is found in soils. Unbroken native prairie sequesters a vast deposit of soil carbon - one of Canada’s largest carbon sinks. Most of this carbon is lost when prairie is broken. This happens because soil bacteria quickly convert the stores of soil carbon into CO2, a greenhouse gas that directly contributes to global warming. Acre for acre, prairie soils hold more carbon than boreal forest soils.

 Grasslands are important to cattle ranchers and their communities as they provide land for grazing - for both domestic and wild species of animals. As publically owned lands, they can support smaller producers, and can demonstrate how economic, cultural and
environmental objectives can be integrated.

 Many archaeological sites are still to be found on these relatively undisturbed prairie grasslands. These sites have significant cultural and heritage values for all Saskatchewan people: indigenous, settler and other newcomers.

 Saskatchewan people use these publically owned lands for recreational and cultural purposes. They are important to the nearby rural communities and are very important elements of Indigenous traditional culture.

 Public lands are more than a commodity. While they have financial value for agriculture, they also provide important environmental, heritage, cultural, indigenous and recreational values.

 These grasslands - as threatened as the Amazon rainforest - are our children’s heritage and our responsibility. Our children’s prairie heritage is under threat: the beauty of a fresh prairie morning; birds singing; wildflowers dancing in the breeze. We must ensure that our children inherit a province rich in the possibilities of our grasslands.

- - - -

Public Pastures - Public Interest,
public4pastures@gmail.com
[ http://pfrapastureposts.wordpress.com ]
2517 Coronation St., Regina, SK, S4S 0L1
Phone (306) 515-0460
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Re: SK Grasslands - A Vanishing Landscape?

Postby Oscar » Wed Jun 01, 2016 4:25 pm

National heritage group adds pasture land to 'endangered places' list

[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatche ... -1.3602599 ]

Community pastures at risk due to potential sale of land to private sector, group says

CBC News Posted: May 26, 2016 9:06 PM CT| Last Updated: May 26, 2016 9:06 PM CT

- - - -

QUOTE: 'If we want any natural land, we need public programs to support it.' - Trevor Herriot

- - - -

Vast tracts of Saskatchewan land used primarily for cattle grazing have been added to a national heritage group's list of endangered places.

The National Trust for Canada, an organization that highlights the value of historic places and hopes to save them, added community pastures in Saskatchewan to its list, according to an announcement Thursday.

A provincial group that has been raising concerns about the future of pasture land welcomed the move.

"These are worth conserving and we need to take steps ... to provide conservation," Trevor Herriot, from the advocacy group Public Pastures - Public Interest, said.

Herriot explained how a 2012 move by the federal government to end its stewardship of pasture land, through the PFRA, put thousands of acres of Crown land into the hands of the provincial government which has invited users of the land (primarily cattle ranchers) to purchase the land.

According to Herriot, the ecological value of the largely undisturbed land has been overlooked or ignored.

"If we want any natural land, we need public programs to support it," Herriot said, expressing concern about a purely market-driven approach to the sale of the land.

In its announcement, the National Trust for Canada noted that 62 PFRA pastures in Saskatchewan comprise some of the largest intact blocks of original grasslands in the northern Great Plains.

Ecological value noted

In addition to their historic value, the group said the lands are important to the environment.

"They provide critical habitat for over 30 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects and plants at risk on the Saskatchewan prairies," the announcement said. "In addition to cattle ranchers, the pastures are used and enjoyed by hunters, photographers, First Nations, researchers and the general public on educational tours."

The national group has also noted that wooden grain elevators are vanishing from the prairie landscape and remaining examples need heritage protection.

"They're an awareness group," Herriot said, of the National Trust for Canada, noting that the addition of pasture land to the group's endangered places list provides an opportunity to share information about "Saskatchewan's grasslands and the importance of these heritage grasslands to this province and its people".

= = = = =

PFRA pastures part of endangered places in Canada list

[ http://leaderpost.com/news/local-news/p ... anada-list ]

Ashley Robinson, Regina Leader-Post

Published on: May 29, 2016 | Last Updated: May 29, 2016 3:27 PM CST

EXCERPT:

The Public Pastures – Public Interest group is quite pleased to see the pastures on the list. The group has been campaigning for years for the conservation of the pastures.

“We’re trying to end up with some form of assistance, some form of guarantee that the pastures will remain publicly owned and managed for livestock producing as well for species at risk, biodiversity and basically continue on the same track that the PFRA system had developed,” said Lorne Scott, co-chair of Public Pastures – Public Interest.

Wally Hoehn, executive director of use of agriculture lands branch at the Saskatchewan Government, said however that the pastures have been staying publicly owned.

“To date we have only sold one quarter of land in all of the land that we’ve transitioned, and that is a home quarter to one of the pasture transition committees. All the other acreages have gone under to lease to the patron transition groups,” Hoehn said.

Hoehn said that there has been confusion over the transitions, but the provincial government have been handing management over to patron groups of the pastures, giving them 15 year leases. To date there have been 33 pastures transitioned with another 29 to be transitioned over the next two years.

Hoehn said that it will continue to be business as usual with the pastures, even though they have been added to the National Trust endangered places list.

= = = = = =

■EXTERNAL LINK: National Trust for Canada - Prairies Grasslands

[ https://www.nationaltrustcanada.ca/issu ... grasslands ]

A storied landscape of natural and cultural value at risk.

Location - Saskatchewan

Why it matters

In the 1930s, overworked lands plagued by drought gave rise to the Dustbowl that threatened food production and caused farming families to flee the Prairies at the height of the Great Depression. In 1935, Parliament created the Prairies Farm Rehabilitation Association (PFRA) with the goal of reclaiming the fragile grasslands through its Community Pastures Program. Through careful land management, the program was a success, restoring native grasslands throughout the province. Today, the PRFA Pastures’ 1.8 million acres comprise some of the last remnants of Canada’s native grasslands, a diverse ecosystem home to many species at risk, Indigenous archaeological sites and homesteader heritage.

Why it’s endangered

In 2012, the federal government announced the end of the Community Pastures Program and the transfer of PFRA lands to the provinces. While in Manitoba, the provincial government announced that the lands would remain in the hands of the Province, the Saskatchewan government said that it would sell off the lands to private owners, throwing the future of these important cultural landscapes, until now well-managed public grasslands, into question.
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Re: SK Grasslands - A Vanishing Landscape?

Postby Oscar » Mon Jun 13, 2016 9:33 pm

SASKATCHEWAN PROCLAIMS 18TH ANNUAL NATIVE PRAIRIE APPRECIATION WEEK

[ http://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/n ... ation-week ]

Released on June 10, 2016

Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart and Environment Minister Herb Cox have jointly proclaimed June 12-18, as Native Prairie Appreciation Week in Saskatchewan.

Native Prairie Appreciation Week is unique to Saskatchewan and is celebrated each year in partnership with Saskatchewan Prairie Conservation Action Plan (SK PCAP). The week is dedicated to raising awareness and appreciation of our native prairie ecosystems.

“Saskatchewan agriculture producers recognize the role they play as stewards of the land,” Stewart said. “As stewards, they understand the importance of protecting our native prairie plant and wildlife for future generations by using sustainable land management practices.”

“Native grasslands are an important part of our province, and that is why their conservation is a priority,” Cox said. “Native prairie ecosystems sustain healthy fish and wildlife populations and contribute to the quality of life in Saskatchewan.”

“Ranchers, producers and land managers provide suitable habitat for many species at risk as a result of responsible land stewardship,” SK PCAP Manager Kayla Balderson Burak said. “They play an important role in the conservation and sustainable management of these diverse prairie landscapes.”

SK PCAP has a variety of activities planned across the province to celebrate, including urban awareness booths at the Regina, Saskatoon, Swift Current and Weyburn farmer’s markets, a rural tour and workshop near Maple Creek and a youth poster contest.

For a complete listing of events and workshops across Saskatchewan, or for more information regarding Native Prairie Appreciation Week, please visit http://www.pcap-sk.org or contact their office at 306-352-0472 or pcap@sasktel.net . -30-

For more information, contact:

Miranda Burski
Agriculture
Regina
Phone: 306-787-6969
Email: miranda.burski@gov.sk.ca

Ron Podbielski
Environment
Regina
Phone: 306-787-6595
Email: rod.podbielski@gov.sk.ca
Oscar
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