Grassland for species at risk receives protection in southwest Saskatchewan
There is a new conservation site in southwest Saskatchewan where species at risk can find a home in native grassland and wetland habitat.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) has cooperated with several partners to acquire the Zen-Ridge property near the village of Consul.
The property consists of 195 hectares (483 acres) of grasslands, rolling hills and seasonal wetlands. NCC Program Director of southwest Saskatchewan Michael Burak said this is an important acquisition.
“We've been working in the Milk River basin of the southwest part of the province since the early 1990s, and it's also where our Old Man on His Back ranch is located, which is our largest property,” he noted. “We've been working in the area for quite a while, but haven't really had any recent land acquisitions for quite a few years now. So it's the first one in a number of years. The Milk River basin has some of the largest tracts of intact grassland left in the province. Every little bit that we can secure and protect is important, and with the case of the Zen-Ridge property that fact that parts are designated as critical habitat for species at risk is just an added bonus for us.”
Grassland habitat is one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world. Saskatchewan has lost over 809,000 hectares (two million acres) of native grassland during the past 25 years, and less than 20 per cent of native grassland are still intact.
“The fact that the majority of this property is native grassland that has never been broken or altered is definitely a bonus for us,” he said. “It has historically been grazed and will continue to be by the previous landowner who sold us the land. So it's been well managed for a few years now and we will continue to do that, which is why it does have quite a few species of risk that we did observe this summer when we did spent some time out on the property.”
Ferruginous hawks, which are listed as a threatened species, are nesting in the surrounding area near the Zen-Ridge property.
They did not see any greater sage-grouse on the property while they were doing their inventory work this past summer.
“I don't think there have been any reported from the general area for quite a few years now, just because of the population decline, but for us to secure a piece of property like this that does have a portion of it designated as critical habitat is just an important piece to future recovery efforts,” he said. “So if and when those numbers are able to rebound, there are areas that are important to them that we have set aside in our protection for them into the future.”
The area where the property is located provides habitat for a variety of plants and animals, including species listed under the federal Species at Risk Act. Portions of the Zen-Ridge property is designated as critical habitat for endangered greater sage-grouse and threatened chestnut-collared longspur.
“There’s quite a few grasslands songbirds that are listed as being at risk that we did see when we were out there,” he said. “That would include chestnut-collared longspurs, which the property is designated as critical habitat for them. We kind of anticipating we would encounter them out there. We actually found a surprising number of McCown's longspur, which is another at risk listed songbird species similar to the chestnut-collared longspur, but it was definitely in higher numbers than we were anticipating.”