After more than 75 years of managing fragile grasslands as productive rangelands for livestock grazing, the federal government announced in the spring of 2012 that it was transferring control of the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA) pastures back to the provinces. This was done with no public consultation and little advance warning.
In Saskatchewan the PFRA lands comprise 62 pastures totaling 1.8 million acres. The Saskatchewan government has announced it plans to sell or lease the land to farmers and ranchers who have been grazing livestock on the pastures. However, many patrons have indicated they are not in a position to buy the pastures. The Province has also said that it does not want to manage the pastures.
Preservation of the natural landscapes and ecology of the pastures is important at a World level. They contain the largest contiguous blocks of original prairie grasslands in the Northern Great Plains and are essential for maintaining prairie biodiversity, including the 32 species at risk found in 55 of the pastures. The pastures are also important for locally-owned livestock operations; hunting; nature hikes; archeological heritage, sacred and ceremonial First Nations sites; tourism; and scientific study and in preserving the traditions of working cowboys and ranching communities.
Public Pastures – Public Interest was formed to keep these pastures in the public domain. They are asking for the support of groups and individuals to achieve this goal.
How can you help?
1) Write a short, courteous letter to the Honourable Brad Wall, Premier of Saskatchewan (address: Legislative Building, Regina, SK S4S 0B3, or email: premier@gov.sk.ca) telling why you think the PFRA pastures should remain in the public domain. Please be sure to include your name and full address on all correspondence, and ask for a response to your letter. A cc to PPPI at public4pastures@gmail.com would also be appreciated.
2) Encourage others to write to the Premier of Saskatchewan about this issue.
3) Encourage environmental/naturalist/conservation and/or ranching and agricultural organizations to write to the Premier of Saskatchewan asking him to retain these pastures in the public domain. Also ask these organizations to post information on web pages and in newsletters so others can gain knowledge of this issue. Information on a webpage will result in a Google hit. Both politicians and the media look at Google hits to see how much support and traction an issue has.
4) Encourage environmental/naturalist/conservation and/or ranching and agricultural organizations to allow PPPI to use their logos in press releases and other documents to show the broad range of support for keeping these pastures public.
5) Encourage the media to cover this story.
The issue has also been reported on in a number of newspapers including this Trevor Herriot article in the Globe and Mail on 6 April 2013: Why Is Ottawa Abandoning Swaths of Prairie Grassland?
Greg Wagner, B.Sc.
President and Senior Wildlife Biologist
Athene Environmental Limited
Email: greg.wagner@athene.ca