June 2026 | Volume 18 Issue 6 | |
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Happy June, Grassland Enthusiasts!
Upcoming Events
We are organizing the 28th Native Prairie Appreciation Week (NPAW, June 14-20)! We have our photo contest, a youth poster contest, we'll be handing out native seed packets at Farmer's Markets in Regina, Moose Jaw and Swift Current. More information on NPAW activities can be found here.
The NPAW tour will be in Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park and Monet Pasture, June 12-13, 2026. In an effort to get kids out on the landscape there will be kids programming by PCAP's Education Coordinator, Shirley Bartz. It'll be a great line up of presenters and we'll get to use the new Range Health Assessment workbooks!
You can find more information and register here.
The International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) monthly theme for June is 'Sustainable rangeland use and restoration'. Keep an eye out for events and resources celebrating grasslands on this Trello board.
Webinars
Our May Native Prairie Speaker Series webinar was about the diets of prairie amphibians. You can find the recording on YouTube. The June webinar will be ecological impacts of roads! Register here. You can also register and find more information for the July and August webinars here.
Thank you Sponsors
We would like to thank our sponsors for their generous support:
K+S Youth+Us, North American Helium, Pembina, Sasktel, TC Energy, and Wildlife Habitat Canada, as well as the continuous support of all the PCAP Partners!
Carolyn Gaudet, SK PCAP Manager
pcap@sasktel.net
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Survey Opportunity
The Grassland Learning and Knowledge Hub is a research partnership to improve our understanding of and build capacity in grasslands natural climate solutions in Canada (i.e., conserving, restoring, and managing grasslands for the benefit of the climate, biodiversity, and people). They are conducting a survey on barriers to grasslands natural climate solutions and they want to hear from you! All perspectives are welcome including, but not limited to, practitioners, farmers/producers, rightsholders, and researchers.
Please complete the online survey before July 6 here: https://carletonu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eM9HEAizHgIZIIC.
The survey has been reviewed and approved by the Carleton University Research Ethics Board (Clearance ID: 125976).
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Native Prairie Appreciation Week
June 14-20, 2026
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Check out our annual Youth Poster Contest and Social Media Photo Contest and NPAW Tour with the Society for Range Management - Prairie Parkland Chapter
Register by June 5th for the tour here: www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/native-prairie-appreciation-week-tour--2026
| PCAP Recap: Prairie Conservation and Endangered Species Conference | |
Nearly 350 individuals gathered in Saskatoon, May 5-7, 2026 for the 14th PCESC. There were:
51 break-out presentations
5 plenary presentations
38 posters
14 tradeshow booths
7 tours and workshops
3 Prairie Conservation Awards were celebrated
3 Young Professional Stewardship Grants were awarded
Based on the evaluations, attendees enjoyed the restoration, conservation and wildlife management topics, as well as the Indigenous knowledge, community engagement and human dimensions of conservation and the technical presentations. Attendees also liked the networking and relationship building opportunities throughout the event, the diversity of content and they thought the conference was well organized.
The PCESC Proceedings will be available on the website when completed. In the meantime, the presentation and poster abstracts can be found on the website.
PCESC would not have been possible without the speakers, volunteers, tour and workshop leaders, and planning committee members. We are so thankful to have a strong community working towards grassland conservation.
We greatly appreciated support from PCESC sponsors:
| International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists! | |
Check out the SK Working Group's Trello board for upcoming International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists events and range-related content. You can find the Trello board for Canadian Resources here. There are quite a few field tours in Alberta on the IYRP Trello board. You can find more global information at the official IYRP website: https://iyrp.info/
Canadian Forage and Grassland Association (CFGA) is inviting organizations, networks and leaders from across the country to participate in a biweekly national Zoom call dedicated to collaboration, promotion and shared learning. You can register here.
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Stay tuned for news about our upcoming Native Prairie Speaker Series webinars! | |
June Native Prairie Speaker Series
Paved Paradise: The Ecological Impacts of Our Planet's Highway System
Speaker: Ben Goldfarb, Environmental Journalist and Author
Tuesday June 9th, 2026 at 12:00 pm
Register free!
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July Native Prairie Speaker Series
Citizen Science and the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre
Speaker: Andrea Benville (she/her), Data Manager, Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre, Ministry of Environment
Wednesday July 29th, 2026 at 12:00 pm
Register free!
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August Native Prairie Speaker Series
Woody Plant Encroachment and Forages
Speaker: Andrew Williams, Masters Student, University of Saskatchewan
Tuesday August 25th, 2026 at 12:00 pm
Register free!
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Employment Opportunities
Birds Canada is hiring a Northern Biologist. Application deadline is June 5th.
The Association of Manitoba Community Pastures is hiring a Range and Project Manager. Application deadline is June 8th.
Meewasin Valley Authority is hiring various CPPFE positions: Program Manager, Training Coordinator and Community Engagement and Partnership Coordinator.
Application deadlines vary by position but are this week!
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2026/27 Education Programs:
Presenting Sponsors:
| | Carolyn Gaudet, Editor, Saskatchewan Prairie Conservation Action Plan Newsletter | | |
SK PCAP gratefully acknowledges financial support in 2026-2027 from:
North American Helium, Parks Canada - Grasslands National Park of Canada, K+S youth+us, Pembina, Saskatchewan Cattle Association, Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment - Fish and Wildlife Development Fund, SaskEnergy, University of Regina, University of Saskatchewan - College of Agriculture and Bioresources, the Department of Plant Sciences, and the College of Arts & Science, Water Security Agency and Wildlife Habitat Canada.
SK PCAP gratefully acknowledges in-kind support for 2026-2027 from:
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada - Science and Technology Branch, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Association, Environment and Climate Change Canada - Canadian Wildlife Service, Meewasin Valley Authority, Native Plant Society of Saskatchewan, Nature Conservancy Canada, Nature Saskatchewan, Parks Canada - Grasslands National Park, Ranchers Stewardship Alliance Inc., Redberry Lake Biosphere Region, Salthaven West. Saskatchewan Aboriginal Land Technicians, Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, Saskatchewan Association of Watersheds, Saskatchewan Bison Association, Saskatchewan Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre, Saskatchewan Cattle 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, the Department of Plant Sciences, and the College of Arts & Science and Water Security Agency.
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