Habitat Agreements Increase Resources for Landowners
Habitat Agreements Increase Resources for Landowners
The Saskatchewan Stock Growers Foundation was created to support landowners and ranchers with grassland and rangeland conservation in mind. We offer a variety of agreement options for landowners to utilize to not only increase grazing resources but improve existing ones as well.
Each agreement is tailored to the rancher’s operation based on a ranch evaluation and planning exercises, producer objectives and resources, habitat objectives and circumstances that are present. We will go over all data collected on the land with the landowner so they understand the importance of reaching project goals. Our agreements are not tied to title but contracts are put into place to ensure project outcomes and compliance. Time frames for each agreement may vary but we stress the importance of longer terms so we can better monitor the impacts of changes made. They allow for flexibility and adaptive management decision making since ranching is ever-changing. Communication is key to successful agreements so we focus on creating a collaborative relationship with the landowners and ranchers we work with.
Our habitat management agreements allow us to team up with ranchers to identify existing problems and focus on constructing a plan to solve them. Some of our current agreements focus on habitat management to control and hopefully, stop the spread of invasive species such as leafy spurge or common burdock. Invasive weeds host a variety of issues when they begin to take over grasslands and choke out the native species. This decreases both biodiversity within the already depleted grasslands and decreases the amount of habitat available for wildlife and some species at risk. Any disturbance to grasslands such as road construction or removal of natural resources like sand or gravel and natural vectors like wildlife movement or spring runoff also increase the incidence of invasive plants moving in. Our agreements that focus on invasive weed control can be managed in a variety of ways from chemical control or biological control to targeted grazing. Depending on resources available and the terrain of the land we can find the best solution for each landowner to implement on their operation.
Other agreements highlight the use of grazing management strategies to achieve native grassland health and wildlife habitat targets. Finding a balance with grazing tame and native grasslands can be key to improving the health of the native grasslands. Using a more intensive grazing system on tame grasses can help to defer grazing on native grasslands until later in the year such as September and October. Being able to let these native grasslands rest can also increase the amount of grazing available and decrease habitat disturbance to species at risk that call these landscapes home. Implementing intensive grazing systems may require construction of additional water sources or fencing as well as additional management and maintenance costs. We understand that building new or improving existing structures can be costly so we offer both financial support and technical support to ensure success. We are working to make sure our existing grasslands are healthy and thriving and working with ranchers who manage these lands is key to our success. If you would like to learn more, please visit our Habitat Agreement Webpage or contact us here.
Mindy Hockley