Transboundary Grassland Partnership Workshop Held in Swift Current
Transboundary Grassland Partnership Workshop Held in Swift Current
Native grasslands helped to shape our province, industries and a way of life for many people in the grassland regions and recently, the 7th annual Transboundary Grassland Partnership Workshop was held in Swift Current to celebrate that. The focus of this year was ‘Culture, Carbon and Conservation’ and spurred hot button conversations while evoking new and meaningful discussions encompassing the topic of grassland conservation.
With over 100 attendees this year, it is a forum that allows a broader scope of people to meet and discuss both challenges and successes of keeping native grasslands intact. Strongly emphasizing that the environment doesn’t play by our man-made borders and boundaries so we should approach conservation from a more extensive point of view and treat the landscape as a whole.
The workshop had not only a packed room but a packed schedule as well with jurisdictional updates to showcase the work of conservation groups working in the Northern Great Plains, touching on both the challenges and successes they’ve encountered in the past year. Two different producer panels had representatives that stretched from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Montana but more importantly, brought different cultures together.
Culture around grasslands brings together various backgrounds and the workshop had representation from both the Piikani and Nekaneet First Nations along with ranchers, landowners, NGOs and government officials. The Transboundary Grassland Partnership Workshop allows a safe space for ideas to flow about different management styles and conservation ideologies, all while sharing plenty of stories. By bringing together such a diverse crowd, it celebrates the work and steps that everyone is taking to help conserve native grasslands.
In the first produce panel discussion when posed with a question asking what steps conservation groups and organizations should take to increase program uptake, Kyle Forbes, a rancher from Medicine Hat, Alberta, made a comment noting that, “it’s tough for these groups to overcome the distrust or preconceived notions about these programs from past experiences being more prescriptive and not viewed as a collaborative effort.” The idea of having a community focused approach to these programs was echoed numerous times. Explaining that it can benefit not only conservation groups but the landowners and their local area. Ranching and rural communities rely on the landscape to be intact for the community to both grow socially and economically. This avenue of thought can bring landowners and communities together for a greater understanding and purpose.
Ian Cook from Birds Canada along with John Wilmshurst from the Canadian Wildlife Federation spoke on the use of their Bird-Friendliness Index and the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Foundation Multi-taxa Project to better understand our grasslands. Discussing their findings in the last couple years of research and implementation. Other topics touched on discussed the diverse role these landscapes play on ecosystems such as grassland restoration and the latest research on soil organic carbon in grasslands by Dr. Cameron Carlyle from the University of Alberta.
A keynote, delivered by Dr. Roy Golsteyn, spoke on a more scientific, chemistry-based view at the goods and services that native plants give us. Varying from biodiversity in the landscape to pharmaceutical usages. Expanding the way, we look at the diverse native plants that flourish on Canadian grasslands and how much more we have yet to learn about them.
The workshop rotates locations every year and will be held in Montana next year, with a specific location yet to be determined. The impact of a workshop like this one will hopefully bring increased knowledge, communications and program delivery for grassland conservation not only in small pockets of the grasslands but throughout Alberta, Saskatchewan and Montana.