Our February Native Prairie Speaker Series presentation was Lorelle Berkeley, Research Wildlife Biologist, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks talking about grazing and sage grouse.The presentation recording is available on our YouTube Channel!

The March webinar presentation will be Taylor Kell from Moose Jaw River Watershed Stewards, who will be discussing applying Biosecurity Measures for Invasive Weeds. You can register here!

Caitlin has lined up a great set of webinars for our annual Prairie's Got the Goods Week! You can find more information below and register for the webinars here!

SKPCAP is also teaming up with Nature Saskatchewan to do two evening workshops in March, one on the "Bird Species at Risk Management and Information" on March 11th and another March 18th, "Multi-Species Management and Conservation Awareness Virtual Workshop".

And finally, we would like to thank our sponsors for their generous support : Camp Wolf Willow, EcoFriendly Sask, K+S Potash, Pembina Pipelines, Ranchers Stewardship Alliance Inc, Saskatchewan Cattlemen's Association, SaskPower, SaskTel, Wildlife Habitat Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada, as well as the continuous support of all the PCAP Partners. 

Join us for a series of webinars about the ecological goods and services provided to us by the native prairie ecosystem. The ranching industry isn't just about cattle, but prairie rangelands are also for prairie wildlife!

March 15 @ 12 PM MT Quantifying Ecosystem Services Derived from Wetlands: The Integrated Landscape Modeling Partnership by: Dave Mushet, U.S. Geological Survey. More info. Register here! 

March 16 @ 12 PM MT Retaining Canada’s Grasslands Using Carbon Offset Markets and a Roadmap to Quantify Grassland Soil Organic Carbon by Karen Haugen-Kozyra, Dr. Brian Mcconkey, and Jonathan Alcock of Viresco Solutions Inc. as well as Cedric MacLeod of Canadian Forage & Grasslands Association. Register here!

March 16 @ 3 PM MT The goods and services provided by the native prairie ecosystem and prairie wetlands, from an indigenous perspective by Vice Chief Heather Bear, Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations. Register here!

March 17 @ 12 PM MT Linking rotational grazing with greenhouse gas dynamics in grassland soils by Dr. Edward Bork and Dr. Bharat Shrestha, University of Alberta. More info. Register here!

March 18 @ 12 PM MT "No farm is an island": biodiversity in prairie agro-ecosystems by Dr. Samuel Robinson, University of Calgary. More info. Register here!

March 19 @ 12 PM MT Cattle grazing effects on water infiltration in grassland soils by Timm Dobert, University of Alberta. More info. Register here!

Submitted by Dale Gross, Grassland Ecologist

Native grasslands are under threat globally and locally, considered to be the most endangered ecosystem on Earth, and face numerous ecological and management challenges, including in our provincial parks. It’s critical to recognize that native prairie continues to be lost in the province, with roughly 20% of the original extent remaining in 2000, with some estimates indicating less than 14% only 15 years later. In addition, landscape fragmentation, exotic invasive species, inappropriate fire and grazing regimes, development, and climate change continue to have a negative effect on our remaining prairie, with important implications for wildlife, species at risk, and their habitats. The roughly 36,000 ha of grasslands in the provincial park system is extremely significant from an ecological perspective but also as an economic and social benefit that remains readily accessible to the public. While the bulk of these grasslands are located in large, southern provincial parks (e.g. Cypress Hills, Saskatchewan Landing, Douglas, Danielson, Buffalo Pound), many smaller parcels are found in parks (e.g. Meadow Lake, Greenwater Lake, Goodspirit Lake, Porcupine Hills) and recreational sites across the province.

A recently developed “Strategic Framework for Native Grassland Conservation in Provincial Parks” provides a summary of threats and priority actions to address these challenges within and adjacent to parks, and as part of a larger network of native prairie in the province and across the continent. Our actions include a database with extent, status, and connectivity of all park grasslands, identifying information gaps and collecting, analyzing, and incorporating new data into our multiscale, collaborative and integrated management and evaluation program, working with researchers and students, and communicating our results to stakeholders and the public.

Managing park native prairie involves livestock and targeted grazing programs, currently in 10 parks and recreational sites spanning 35,000 ha, using periodic range health assessments and working with livestock producers and shepherds to adjust grazing as needed. Under specific environmental conditions, we reintroduce prescribed fire, a natural ecosystem process and Indigenous cultural practice, for many reasons such as reducing risk of wildfire and enhancing habitat for wildlife, and are a founding member of the newly established Canadian Prairie Prescribed Fire Exchange. We are developing an ambitious grassland restoration and invasive species management program, integrating grazing, fire, and selective herbicides to address an ever increasing threat to our parks and surrounding prairie.

All aspects of our strategic management for park native prairie are captured in our collaborative, ecosystem-based planning where we reach out to our neighbours to find ways to work together to conserve our precious, remaining native prairie. As our vegetation plans require renewal and revision, we are drafting comprehensive grassland management plans, completed for Saskatchewan Landing in 2020, with Douglas and Danielson Provincial Parks slated for 2022, along with range health reassessments for Moose Mountain (2021) and Cypress Hills (2022) ongoing as well. At the Ministry of PCS, we see great value in contributing to and communicating with PCAP and its many partners to share our work and experience and to continue to learn from theirs.

This fall, SaskPower partnered with Grasslands National Park (GNP) to relocate an existing overhead distribution line. The power line, installed in the 1950s, served original ranch infrastructure still operational within GNP to this day. Over the years, Greater sage-grouse populations dwindled in Canada to the point that they became endangered and currently face an imminent risk of extirpation.  GNP has taken steps over the years to improve habitat conditions for Greater sage-grouse including captive breeding, marking fences to reduce collision potential, restoring habitat and removing anthropogenic structures. Powerlines provide perching opportunity for hawks or other raptors to scout prey, like Greater sage-grouse. Research has shown grouse avoid these areas even though habitat quality may be highly suitable.

SaskPower’s original 11 km line traversed upland native grassland and descended down steep coulee slopes to the bottom lands of the Frenchman River Valley. The valley bottom, flush with sage brush, has been designated as critical habitat for sage-grouse. When approached by GNP, SaskPower Operations, Engineering, Construction Management, Land and Environment departments worked together with GNP to develop a relocation and line salvage plan that reduced impact to native grassland, sage brush and a host of other species at risk found within the region.

This work required extensive planning and coordination with GNP, lessees, the rural municipality, Ministry of Environment, contractor crews and consultants. The new line was routed to follow the existing road through the area and involved undergrounding approximately 8 km of line in the area of critical habitat. Compounding the challenge was a Black-tailed prairie dog colony, archaeological sites, yard sites with unmarked utilities, fall cattle round-up, extremely hard ground and the fire hazard from the dry fall conditions.

Prairie dogs are a threatened species in Canada and construction had the potential to impact burrows located close to the road and in the path of the underground line. Careful routing and monitoring and research by GNP staff and the SaskPower team ensured impacts were minimal. The work was also carefully timed to occur after the migratory bird nesting season and prior to prairie dogs entering into torpor for the winter. This was a narrow window between September and the end of October. The team worked well to manage the challenges, even calling in a local neighbour with a 4x4 tractor to provide extra horsepower to pull the plough cat in the extremely hard ground. Three new archaeological sites were discovered by SaskPower archaeologists during pre-construction assessments that needed to be avoided. This required archaeological monitors to be onsite to ensure the line salvage and any required excavations did not impact sites.

By the end of the project, an estimated 400 ha of Greater sage-grouse habitat had been restored and effects to other wildlife and habitat were minimized. Overall, it was a success!

Photos provided by Grasslands National Park.

"Some things that I predict will stick with me from this year: the concept of "cultural chaos" and alterations to natural world relationships (Kensi Fox), looking at ecosystem functions and trait profiles in assessing grassland conditions (Colleen Robertson, Monika Pokorny), importance of soil root traits and nematode abundance in restoration projects (Rafael Otfinowski / Victory Coffey, Rachel Becknell)"

"Collaboration is key."

"Kelly Cooley's message - manage for what you want, not what you don't want - certainly reinforced the appropriateness of the way I try to do things."

"Importance of utilizing an ecosystem based approach to planning/doing a project and all the pieces - vegetation diversity, wildlife, insects, land characteristics - need to be considered. What really stood out was the bare soil in the reclamation project that the engineers want to fix right away but the consultant noted was habitat for wild bees and were able to add soil boxes to still accommodate them!"

"For me, the biggest take home was the continued improvement of involving First Nations people in future projects - TEK is continuously becoming a much more important aspect of many projects, and we need to always keep this in mind."

"We need to have more demand for native seeds and the producers to grow them. It has been an ongoing challenge. Planning from start to finish is really important- able to react quickly when notice problems are beginning to occur. I know this, but it is always good to reiterate- establishing relationships, keeping in contact with them and following up on what you said you were going to do. "

 A big thank you to our sponsors, trade show participants, speakers and everyone who participated in the workshop. We appreciate your support and contributions!

Plan to attend our March Native Prairie Speaker Series webinars! 

Please visit our Native Prairie Speaker Series webpage  for more topics, dates, and registration details.

Thank you to our Prairie's Got the Goods Week Sponsors!

March 1-31, 2021

March 10 @ 11 CST

March 11, 2021 @ 7 PM CST

April 16-18, 2021

White Butte, SK

June 5-6, 2021

Eagle Creek Regional Park, SK

SK PCAP gratefully acknowledges in-kind support for 2020-21 from: