February 2024 | Volume 16 Issue 2

Happy February! The newsletter is a bit light this month as we're busy getting the final details together for the 10th Native Prairie Restoration/Reclamation Workshop occurring in Saskatoon this week.

The February Native Prairie Speaker Series webinar will be about coyotes with Dr Susan Lingle from the University of Winnipeg. You can register here.

Last month, the Native Prairie Speaker Series had three experts discuss burrowing owl monitoring and recovery in Alberta. You can find the recording on our YouTube Channel.

And finally, we would like to thank our sponsors for their generous support: Canadian Forage and Grasslands Association, K+S Youth+Us, North American Helium, Nutrien, Saskatchewan Cattlemen's Association, SaskEnergy, SaskPower, SaskTel, SaskWater, Wildlife Habitat Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada, as well as the continuous support of all the PCAP Partners. 

Carolyn Gaudet, SK PCAP Manager 

pcap@sasktel.net

2024 Native Prairie Restoration/Reclamation Workshop!

The 10th Native Prairie Restoration/Reclamation Workshop is back in person! The workshop takes place February 7-8, 2024 at the Saskatoon Inn and Conference Centre in Saskatoon, SK.

The theme is "Building Bridges to Tomorrow: Restoration and Reclamation For the Future"

You can check out the fantastic lineup of abstracts and speakers on the PheedLoop Event site.

Employment Opportunities

Ducks Unlimited Canada have a few jobs available on their website.

Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society is looking for someone to fill a one-year term as Indigenous and Stakeholder Relations Coordinator.

Meewasin Valley Authority is hiring summer term staff. Deadline for applications is Feb 23rd.

Nature Saskatchewan is hiring summer staff. Deadline for applications is Feb 15th.

Sask Forage Council is hiring a new Executive Director. Deadline for applications is Feb 28th.

SaskOutdoors is hiring a Climate Education Program Officer. Deadline for applications is Feb 7th.

SK Stock Growers Foundation is hiring summer staff. Deadline for applications is Feb 19th.

Native Prairie in the News

Bird surveys confirm decline in some Canadian bird populations

How the Midwest is Climate-Proofing Its Prairies

Partner Spotlight:

Environment and Climate Change Canada - Canadian Wildlife Service

Submitted by Sarah Ludlow

Home on the Range: Habitat Assessment for Species at Risk

“You Can't Manage What You Can't Measure” – Peter Drucker

In recent years, investments under the Federal Canada Nature Fund and the Enhanced Nature Legacy, along with provincial and partner contributions, has resulted in an expansion of species at risk and grassland conservation programming in the Prairies. This has resulted in the Canadian Wildlife Service Prairie Region (CWS) needing to find a method to monitor habitat and project effectiveness with respect to species at risk recovery. 

Currently most methods of assessing habitat are often for single species that may have overlapping ranges with different targets for those species, which can be confusing where multiple species overlap in habitat. Monitoring for single species is often intensive and expensive, and many relationships can be species or site specific, which makes broader generalizations and management recommendations difficult. To alleviate some of these issues the Stewardship Unit of CWS has been working with provincial and regional wildlife habitat and rangeland experts to develop a standardized means to quickly assess the condition of grassland habitat for species at risk that is based on traditional rangeland habitat assessment methodologies. The resulting tool has been named the Habitat Assessment Protocol (HAP). More specifically, the intention of the HAP is to have it applied by users already conducting range health assessments to assess habitat at the same time. The HAP has been designed to work with traditional range health assessments by collecting some additional data on key habitat features to determine if preferred habitat is present for species at risk at a particular site. Like rangeland assessments, the HAP assessments can be repeated over multiple years to provide insight into changes and trends. The HAP results can then be used to set specific management goals to reach habitat targets and influence trends. 

This field protocol was developed to be applied in the dry mixed grassland ecoregion of southwest Saskatchewan and southeast Alberta. If proven effective in this region, the HAP could be extended to monitor habitat across the Canadian Prairies where rangeland plant community guides exist. Presently, the protocol can be applied in native grassland, tame grasslands, mixed (native and tame) grasslands, and riparian areas with the key purpose of the HAP to assess multiple species’ habitat together as opposed to assessing species individually. There are currently 24 different species at risk that are included in the HAP, with more to be added as the protocol is further refined. Through this, it is hoped collectively CWS, and its partners can more effectively gather consistent information on habitat availability and condition to help inform grassland and species at risk conservation programming. 

Stay tuned for news about our upcoming Native Prairie Speaker Series webinars!

Coyotes

Speaker: Dr. Susan Lingle, University of Winnipeg

Thursday February 29 at 12 PM CT

Register here

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

Native Prairie Restoration/ Reclamation Workshop

February 7-8, 2024

Saskatoon, SK

SALT Annual General Meeting

February 12-13, 2024

Regina, SK

SaskSoil's Soil Health Conference

February 13-14, 2024

Saskatoon, SK

SK Wildlife Federation's Annual Convention

February 15-17, 2024

Saskatoon, SK

For Educators

SK PCAP has two free education programs available.

See more information here!

SaskOutdoors has a number of PD and facilitator training courses available this month. You can check them out here.

2023/24 Education Programs:

Presenting Sponsors:

SK PCAP gratefully acknowledges financial support in 2023-2024 from:

Canadian Forage and Grassland Association, Ducks Unlimited Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada, North American Helium, Nutrien, Parks Canada - Grasslands National Park of Canada, K+S youth+us, Saskatchewan Cattlemen's Association, Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment - Fish and Wildlife Development Fund, SaskEnergy, SaskPower, SaskTel, SaskWater, University of Regina, University of Saskatchewan - College of Agriculture and Bioresources, Water Security Agency and Wildlife Habitat Canada.

SK PCAP gratefully acknowledges in-kind support for 2023-24 from: 

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada - Science and Technology Branch, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Association, Environment Canada - Canadian Wildlife Service, Friends of the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, 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 Region, Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, Saskatchewan Association of Watersheds, Saskatchewan Bison Association, Saskatchewan Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre, Saskatchewan Cattlemen's Association, Saskatchewan Environmental Society, Saskatchewan Forage Council, Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment, Saskatchewan Ministry of Energy and Resources, Saskatchewan Ministry of Parks, Culture and Sport, Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association, Saskatchewan Stock Growers Foundation, Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation, 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.