NFWF Funding Support for Critical Habitat

NFWF Funding Support for Critical Habitat

In June of 2022, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation announced $5.8M in grants available for conservation efforts of native grasslands throughout the Northern Great Plains. The support covers multiple aspects of conservation strategies and focuses on strengthening relationships with local ranchers and their communities.

The Saskatchewan Stock Growers Foundation was able to secure funding to protect native grasslands that are home to Greater Sage Grouse and to identify and protect grasslands that may be at high risk of conversion. Greater Sage Grouse were once common but are estimated to have lost close to 80% of the population in the last 50 years. They are incredibly sensitive to habitat destruction and fragmentation and call very few areas in southwestern Saskatchewan home anymore. In order to protect the land these birds need to breed and survive, we will work collaboratively with local ranchers and landowners.

Much of our intact native grasslands left in Saskatchewan are privately owned by ranchers. Thus, ranchers will play a critical role in conserving and maintaining biodiversity in these landscapes. By using cattle to graze the native grasslands, mimicking what the bison herds did years ago, they create a diverse ecosystem of tall and short grasses that these birds need to call home. Working with ranchers, we are able to create management strategies for the amount of grazing and the timing of grazing. Both of which positively affects population levels by increasing the amount of food resources and nesting cover needed for the Greater Sage Grouse during their leks.

A proven way to conserve these delicate grassland ecosystems is by signing term conservation easements with the local ranchers.They also have the ability to add habitat agreements on top of those easements for further conservation efforts. These easements will have a basic no break, no drain and no development restrictions but we are committed to working with ranchers to find the easement that works for their operation. Term Conservation Easements enable the producer to protect their land for set number of years instead of for perpetuity. Being able to reassess after the term has ended will bring into consideration the opportunities for the next generation.

The funding received from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation will pave the way for us to continue to develop working relationships with ranchers to work to protect their land for the health of the grasslands, their cattle and their families.While we actively work to protect our native grasslands for Greater Sage Grouse, we still maintain a multi-species approach and are able to rebuild habitat for other species at risk such as Burrowing Owls and Spraque’s Pipit.  This funding will bring community awareness to species at risk, support local ranchers and work to conserve the intact native grasslands we have left.

For more information on the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, please click here