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Native Prairie in the Winter, photo credit: Heather Facette
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Seasons Greetings Grassland Enthusiasts!
Last month, we had Dr. Lisha Berzins present on prairie pond abundance and tree swallows.
If you missed Dr. Berzins' presentation, the recording is available on our
YouTube Channel
.
The last webinar for this year on December 18th, will be Andrew Jakes from the National Wildlife Federation, who will be discussing pronghorns and grassland connectivity. You can register here.
SK PCAP had a great time in the Family Ag Pavilion at Agribition again this year! We are so thankful for our volunteers and the opportunity to talk about species at risk and their native prairie habitat. See the write up below.
We had a great turn-out at our screenings of Guardians of the Grasslands in Regina and Saskatoon. There are more details below, provided by our partner, Sask Forage Council.
Finally, we would like to thank the generous support from our sponsors: Crescent Point Energy, Saskatchewan Cattlemen's Association, SaskPower, SaskEnergy, SaskTel, SaskWater, Mosaic, Enbridge, EcoFriendly Sask, Wildlife Habitat Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada, as well as the continuous support of all the PCAP's
Partners
.
Please note the PCAP office will be closed from December 19th, 2019-January 1st , 2020. That's all for now, I hope you all have a wonderful and safe holiday season!
Carolyn Gaudet, SK PCAP Manager
Ph. 306 352 0472
pcap@sasktel.net
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7th Native Prairie Restoration/ Reclamation and 5th Transboundary Grassland Workshops
for details, including the draft program! The early-bird deadline is January 21st!
Call for posters deadline was extended to December 16th at 11:59 pm CST! Remaining poster spots are limited so submit your abstract soon!
Please contact Carolyn Gaudet, SK PCAP at (306) 352-0472 or pcap@sasktel.net for any questions.
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PCAP Partner Spotlight...
Prairie Winds and Silver Sage
Submitted by Norine Leibel, PWSS
Prairie Wind and Silver Sage (PWSS) is a museum that also acts as a gift store, coffee shop, bookstore and art gallery. We provide a space for regional and local artists to display their culturally and ecologically relevant work. Prairie Wind and Silver Sage supports Grasslands National Park by providing facilities and interpretive services for visitors to the Park. We host speaker series for authors and researchers to share their stories and results with the local community and those visiting the Park. What is provided by Prairie Wind and Silver Sage is more than just gifts, coffee and artwork, we provide a space for people to explore, engage and envelop themselves in the Grasslands lifestyle.
Heritage Building Restoration:
PWSS is housed in a Val Marie's little brick schoolhouse which was built in 1927 and declared as a Municipal Heritage Site in 2007. The closure of the school in 1985 celebrated the town's optimism for growth with the construction of a larger modern school. The building has been continually maintained and restored by PWSS and the town of Val Marie and we hope to continue doing so for generations to come.
Virtual Museum:
Our museum features examples of wildlife found in native mixed-grass prairie including species at risk found in Grasslands National Park and surrounding areas. Also displayed in the museum is information about the historic and ongoing significance of ranching to the conservation of native prairie as well as a history of the town of Val Marie. We plan to expand the scope of our current historic and ecological information by providing a virtual platform to share with those not able to visit our physical location. Collecting culturally and ecologically significant stories, photos and other media content and presenting this material in an educational, engaging and user friendly way are our goals for our virtual museum.
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Guardians of Grasslands screenings and panel discussions
Submitted by Shannon McArton, Sask Forage Council
Prairie Conservation Action Plan (PCAP), the Saskatchewan Forage Council (SFC), the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association (SSCA) and the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association (SSGA) partnered to host two public screenings of Guardians of the Grasslands in November.
Guardians of The Grasslands is a 12-minute documentary exploring the current state of one of the world's most endangered ecosystems, the Great Plains grasslands, and the role that cattle play in its survival. Produced by the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, with Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) and the Nature Conservancy of Canada, the film examines critical questions that society needs to ask about its relationship with the land, and with food.
Our first screening took place on November 14th in the Rex Schneider Theatre, Luther College University of Regina campus. More than 80 people attended, including special guests the Honourable Dustin Duncan, Minister for the Environment and SaskPower, who brought greetings. NDP agriculture and environment critic, Yens Pedersen, was also in attendance. Following the screening, there was a panel discussion with rancher Ross MacDonald, Jodie Horvath from DUC and Eric Lamb from the University of Saskatchewan.
On November 19th, we hosted the second screening at the historic Roxy Theatre in Saskatoon, attended by just over 100 people. That evening's panel included Ross MacDonald, Hanley-area bison producer Les Kroeger, Jeremy Brown, from DUC and SSCA past president John Bennett, a grain farmer and conservationist.
Audiences at both events included a broad mix of interests, both personal and professional, that included agricultural producers, urban-dwellers, naturalists, conservationists, university students, government and agriculture industry representation. Discussion and audience participation were engaging and thoughtful and panel members continued to take questions from engaged participants well past the official programs' end, in both locations.
Many thanks to all who took part, including our moderators and panel members, and the sponsors who made the evening possible:
Saskatchewan Cattlemen's Association,
Ducks Unlimited Canada
and the
Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation
.
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SK PCAP at Agribition 2019
PCAP had a booth in the Family Ag Pavilion where we talked with students, teachers, parents, naturalists and producers about species at risk, the importance of native prairie, as well as some of our upcoming events. There were over 9000 students that came through the pavilion!
We have a new display 'Whose Nest is This' that show nests from 6 species and their habitat. We've updated our
'Piping Plover' nest with replica eggs and 'Burrowing Owl' burrow to be more realistic and they were a real hit!
We also held our Pitch for Pipits & Plovers Gameshow all week, where 24 classes (595 students) participated and learned about how they can help Sprague's Pipit and Piping Plover recovery.
We could not have survived Agribition week without our volunteers! So a big thank you to everyone (Kaytlyn, Mimi, Larry, Mackenzie, Diego, Becky, Emily, Leanne, Shirley, John, Laura, Melanie and Shathi) who collectively spent over 70 hours working the booth and game show with us! Thank you to our partners for sending representatives and those that decided to volunteer their own time because they believe in what PCAP is doing (their words!).
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SK PCAP Native Prairie Speaker Series
Plan to attend our December Native Prairie Speaker Series webinar!
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Upcoming Events!
PCAP Winter Partner Meeting
December 11, 2019
December 12, 2019 at 7:30 PM
University of Saskatchewan, Health Sciences E-wing (Rm 1130)
Saskatoon, SK
SaskOutdoors
December 14-15, 2019
Prince Albert National Park
January 25-26, 2020
Conexus Art Centre
Regina, SK
January 29-30, 2020
Saskatoon Inn and Conference Centre
Saskatoon, SK
February 25-27, 2019
Ramada Plaza
Regina, SK
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Career and Volunteer Opportunities
CanNorth has a few positions available including a Botanist and an Archaeologist, more information is available
here.
Saskatchewan Cattlemen's Association is hiring a new Communications Specialist, see the posting
here.
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Prairie Published Papers
A few new prairie-related publications came out recently:
Sawatzki, Katie Doke and Joseph M Piwowar, 2019. "Changes in prairie grassland extent in Saskatchewan from 1990 to 2015", Prairie Perspectives: Geographical Essays
, Vol. 21, pp. 1-8, available online at
http://pcag.uwinnipeg.ca/PP-Vol21.html
McKeller, R. et al, 2019. "A direct association between amber and dinosaur remains provides paleoecological insights", Sci Rep 9, 17916, available online at
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2019 Education Programs:
Presenting Sponsors:
01
2019 Education Programs
Supporting Sponsors:
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Carolyn Gaudet, Editor, Saskatchewan Prairie Conservation Action Plan Newsletter
306-352-0472 |
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SK PCAP gratefully acknowledges financial support in 2019-2020 from:
Crescent Point Energy, Ducks Unlimited Canada, EcoFriendlySask.ca, Enbridge Inc., The Mosaic Company, Parks Canada - Grasslands National Park of Canada, Saskatchewan Cattlemen's Association,
Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment - Fish and Wildlife Development Fund,
SaskEnergy,
SaskPower, SaskTel, SaskWater, University of Saskatchewan - College of Agriculture and Bioresources, Water Security Agency and Wildlife Habitat Canada.
SK PCAP gratefully acknowledges in-kind support for 2019-20 from:
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada - Science and Technology Branch, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Association, Canadian Western Agribition, Environment Canada - Canadian Wildlife Service,
Friends of the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, Friends of Wascana Marsh, Meewasin Valley Authority, Native Plant Society of Saskatchewan, Nature Conservancy Canada, Nature Saskatchewan, Parks Canada - Grasslands National Park, Prairie Wind & Silver Sage, Ranchers Stewardship Alliance Inc., Redberry Lake Biosphere Reserve, Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, Saskatchewan Association of Watersheds, Saskatchewan Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre, Saskatchewan Cattlemen's Association, Saskatchewan Environmental Society, Saskatchewan Forage Council, Saskatchewan Forage Industry Network, Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment, Saskatchewan Ministry of Energy and Resources, Saskatchewan Science Centre, Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association, Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation, Saskatoon Nature Society, SaskEnergy, SaskOutdoors, SaskPower, Society for Range Management - Prairie Parkland Chapter, South of the Divide Conservation Action Program Inc., University of Regina, University of Saskatchewan - College of Agriculture and Bioresources, Wild About Saskatoon-Nature City Festival.
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