Stock Growers launch grass bank pilot project at Grasslands
The Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association and Parks Canada - Grasslands National Park are teaming to partner on a unique habitat preserving grass bank pilot project.
The project, announced at last month’s Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association AGM in Swift Current, will utilize grazing management practices to help preserve habitat for species at risk including the Greater Sage-grouse, Sprague’s Pipit, and Chestnut-collared Longspur.
“What will be happening is that the local ranchers who manage grazing on parts of the East Block of the Grasslands National Park, and their adjacent private land. The grazing will be managed to meet certain habitat targets for each of the three species,” explained then SSGA President Shane Jahnke.
“The Stock Growers are excited to be part of this project as it provides an opportunity for collaboration between ranchers, Parks and scientists to help species recover and to actually measure the conservation benefits.”
“The Stock Growers are excited to be part of this project as it provides an opportunity for collaboration between ranchers, Parks and scientists to help species recover and to actually measure the conservation benefits.”
“This program brings together producers knowledge of effective grazing practices with applied science and research to reach specific habitat targets. This project demonstrates important benefits of cattle grazing for the environment.”
He noted that a lot of time and effort went into making this pilot project a reality. Grasslands National Park is playing an active roll in implementing recovery and conservation of the Greater Sage-grouse in East Block. Environment and Climate Change Canada is providing financial support for the project through the Species at Risk Partnership on Agriculture Land (SARPAL) program.
Jahnke thanked SSGA producers for taking part in the project.
“You’re not just achieving conservation and environment goals, but you are also showing the rest of the world how cattle can be used to protect species at risk, and have a positive impact on the health and sustainability of our ecosystem.”
Adriana Bacheschi, Acting Field Unit Superintendent, South Saskatchewan Field Unit, also noted that there was a lot of involvement in the project to get it off the ground and working.
“I think it’s a great initiative,” Bacheschi said. “It is about government working with ranchers, working with scientists, working with non-government associations to make things happen, and working together as opposed to apart.”
“I’m working with landowners that have land within the future boundaries of the park, and we’re taking care of the land together.”
She highlighted that the pilot project was important for one significant reason.
“It’s about the fact that it really showcases what grazing and what ranchers do in terms of protection of the environment.”
“The only reason we have a Grasslands National Park and this landscape today is because of the ranching industry. It’s because of the guys who were there. It’s because the land wasn’t plowed. It’s because of the conservation that you guys did.”
Habitat targets in the project area, which covers 40,000 acres of public and private land on portions of the East Block of Grasslands National Park, are being set and measured by the South of the Divide Conservation Action Program. And because the ranchers will be making conservation management efforts on both park land and their own property, the conservation efforts for the habitat is more than the park or the ranchers could achieve on their own.