The Saskatchewan Stock Growers Foundation recently held their 3rd Annual General Meeting at the SSGA 110th AGM and Convention in Moose Jaw on June 6th.
In the past year, the SSGF has seen significant growth, we’ve brought on new staff to help increase our reach and better program delivery. Marika Sherman, our range technician has been busy in the field with rangeland assessments and even has two students this summer to assist her and expand their knowledge on grassland conservation and field work. Mindy Hockley, our communication specialist has been working to broaden awareness of programs through channels such as social media and advertising. In March 2023, we also welcomed our new General Manager, Brant Kirychuk to join the team.
SSGF has been busy with the creation of both a Conservation Easement Policy and Conservation Agreement Policy documents. This will guide the foundation and our board when new projects come forward for approval.
Our Conservation Easement (CE) Policy outlines the priority areas of conservation as native, seeded or naturalized grasslands within Saskatchewan but with a special focus on the southwestern corner of the province. The priorities of CE’s will reflect and align with provincial and federal government, while also taking into consideration rancher/landowner interest. It clearly defines the three restrictions of our easements and compliance strategies.
The SSGF is hoping to have our first Term Conservation Easement signed within the next year and we are open to exploring easements in perpetuity if that suits the landowner better. We note that communication is forefront in our agreements and easements to ensure landowner understanding. We’ve been exploring new ways to approach CE compensation and haven’t been deterred by the red tape we’ve encountered. Our CE Policy document was completed with the help and expertise of Robert (Bob) McLean. He has extensive knowledge in policy creation and programs for wildlife habitat conservation and stewardship.
Our Conservation Agreement Policy document notes the environmental outcomes our agreements are set to meet. These include, grazing management strategies to improve rangeland health, protection of water sources and riparian areas, invasive species management, native grassland restoration and much more. It also outlines the funding and cost sharing requirements that ensure fiscal responsibility and standardization moving forward. All proposed agreements are subject to approval from our Producer Advisory Committee and our Board of Directors.
We have had an influx of interest for both our conservation agreements and easements in the last year as we become more well-known and have been able to sign numerous agreements from that. It has been exciting to work with different ranchers and find solutions for them to better the health of their grasslands while keeping conservation at the forefront.
We successfully ran our first Reverse Auction for Native Grassland Restoration and are looking to run another sometime this fall. We received bids from all over the province and it was difficult to narrow down the successful bidders since all the proposed projects were strong. Seeing landowners interested in restoring native grasslands despite the dry years we’ve faced was comforting that our program filled a need. We are constantly looking to expand our programs and funding so stay on the lookout for more opportunities to work with us.
The SSGF would like to bid farewell to Brian Weedon, as his board position expires and he moves on. He has been with the SSGF since the creation and has been a valuable voice of reason in the execution of program delivery. We thank him for the time he has spent with us, getting us on the right path and moving forward always.
We had the opportunity to attend multiple events through the year including Ministry of Agriculture events, Transboundary Grassland Partnership Workshop and the Prairie Conservation and Endangered Species Conference. At many of these, we had the chance to connect with landowners, industry groups and fellow conservation minded individuals to discuss and present our program options.
We will move forward into this next year with optimism and hope to conserve more acres of native grasslands and work with landowners to reach their goals for their ranch while increasing biodiversity and grassland connectivity. We have some exciting things coming our way such as the Transboundary Grassland Partnership Workshop this December and hopefully signing our first Term Conservation Easement by the end of this year. Stay tuned!