Sask. Wildlife Federation waiting to hear results on trespass law

This June, SWF met with Ministers Don Morgan, Lyle Stewart and APAS to discuss Provincial Governments plans to review and modify Saskatchewan’s trespass legislations. We also responded with a follow up letter stating our position that we have provided excerpts from below:

“The Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation (SWF), being a science based organization, has recently teamed up with the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association, Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association, APAS, SARM and the Ministry of Environment to do an in-depth study of land-owner and vehicle/ATV/quad/hunter access issues. We anticipate having, at least, preliminary statistics by early August and would be pleased to discuss the research results at this time.

We have engaged Dr. Alistair Bath, an associate Professor in the college of Geography from Memorial University in Newfoundland, to conduct the study and provide a statistical analysis. The overarching goal of this study is to understand the attitudes, beliefs, and behavioral intention of land owner’s access issues.

The SWF and our over 33,000 members recognize the complexity of the land access question and the importance this issue has on game management which has been acknowledged in the recently released “Government of Saskatchewan; Game Management Plan: 2018 – 2028”.

We further recognize that an integral part of game management is landowner respect and the SWF has operated a program promoting this concept for many years. Without landowner/hunter co-operation game management in Saskatchewan would be very difficult if not impossible …. The SWF appreciates the opportunity to provide input into proposed legislative changes governing access on private land. We would like to suggest, pending the results of our access study, that we would support the concept of informed consent for all vehicle traffic while allowing foot access for hunters during hunting seasons on land that is not posted.”

This issue encompasses the potential to severely impact hunting as we know it.

We will continue to meet with all stakeholders and represent resident hunters interests in this pivotal issue to mitigate any negative effects that new, unbalanced legislation may create but also recognize the rights of land owners to control access to their properties.

If you feel passionately about this topic, The Sask Government had an on-line post requesting your opinion on potential changes, which people could reply to before October 1.

We also encourage you to contact your MLA: http://www.legassembly.sk.ca/mlas/

Chelsea Walters represents the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation.