Over the years, topics addressed have included: the amazing songbirds, NCC easements, wildlife conservation, the last ice age, travel across the plains, flooding, community pastures, connectivity and conservation, climate change and our future water, Indigenous perspectives on conservation, and solar energy.
Late last fall, Dave Phillips, a local ecologist and Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) Board member, provided the NCC perspective on the topic “Conservation Priorities.” An NCC study shows that conservation in southern Saskatchewan is nationally important. About 30 people gathered in the renovated multi-purpose room at the Lumsden High School to hear Dave. Many questions were asked following the illustrated presentation, and Dave was able to answer all of them…and often elaborate. A summary of his talk follows. Thanks, Dave!
Recent studies by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) show that while southern Saskatchewan’s natural habitats are among Canada’s richest areas for biodiversity, they are also some of our country’s most threatened and least protected. NCC is now producing maps and other planning tools to help focus and concentrate the efforts of landowners, private organizations, and government on managing and protecting the most important natural areas for conservation.
NCC undertook a conservation assessment for southern Canada several years ago. This study aimed to rank the relative biodiversity and protected area status of natural habitats in 77 of the country’s 94 ecoregions in southern parts of Canada where human impacts have been greatest. Data sets that included records from all 77 ecoregions were gathered and analyzed to estimate biodiversity, threat and representation in protected areas in each ecoregion. Typical measures of biodiversity included species richness, key biodiversity areas and species at risk, while typical threats included human footprint, land-use change and watershed stress.
The results showed that three ecoregions comprising Saskatchewan’s landscape south of our northern forests are in Canada’s top tier for biodiversity, threat and the need for future conservation. Careful management of the remaining patches of natural habitat in our aspen parkland, moist mixed grassland and mixed grassland ecoregions will be crucial to achieving national and provincial goals for biodiversity and nature conservation.
NCC will use the results of this project to support the organization’s conservation work and its partner’s efforts by providing a systematic approach to categorize ecoregions based on biodiversity values, threats and conservation responses. While the significant biodiversity and threat levels are well-known in many southern ecoregions, this analysis gives new information and evidence to support the urgency of conservation in these areas.
Most Canadian ecoregions with higher biodiversity and higher threat have a high proportion of private lands and few protected areas. This is particularly true in the aspen parkland, moist mixed grassland and mixed grassland ecoregions of southern Saskatchewan. Conservation organizations working in these ecoregions will need to work cooperatively with landowners and continue to protect key sites for biodiversity.
Achieving Saskatchewan’s goal of protecting a minimum of 12% of terrestrial and freshwater areas will be challenging in these ecoregions and may not be achieved for many generations. In most cases, protected areas in these ecoregions will be small. They will require intensive on-going management to maintain their biodiversity values and mitigate threats associated with small, fragmented nature reserves. Giving greater recognition to private landowners for their stewardship in managing and protecting residual natural land cover will be even more important going forward. On a small scale, natural areas managed for land uses like riparian buffer strips and erosion control help by maintaining and connecting residual patches of native habitat. On a larger scale, nature-friendly land uses like managed livestock grazing on native pastures can play a crucial role in sustaining biodiversity at the regional level.
About NCC. The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is the nation’s leading not-for-profit, private land conservation organization, working to protect our most important natural areas and the species they sustain. Since 1962, NCC and its partners have helped to conserve 14 million hectares (35 million acres), coast to coast to coast. In Saskatchewan, more than 198,219 hectares (489,810 acres) have been protected. To learn more, visit natureconservancy.ca.
- Dave Phillips, Barry Mitschke