What is the future for PFRA community pastures?
For over 75 years, the Canadian government has managed a large swath of community pastures across the Canadian Prairies, comprising of 929,000 hectares (2.3 million acres) of some of the largest unfragmented tracts of grasslands found anywhere in the world. If grasslands included in the Community Pasture Program (CPP) were a country, they would rank 168th in size – slightly larger than the Republic of Cyprus and right behind Lebanon. Or in the Canadian context, the PFRA community pastures cover the area that is 1.6 times the size of Prince Edward Island. The federal...
Read MoreOld Man on His Back – Nature Conservancy seeks conservation volunteers
Nature Conservancy of Canada is hosting another exciting Conservation Volunteer event at their flagship conservation property in Saskatchewan, the Old Man on his Back Prairie and Heritage Conservation Area near Claydon (southwest of Eastend). Just a few weeks ago I attended a Conservation Volunteer event at the NCC Maymont property and really enjoyed it. This 3-day event will run over the weekend of August 10-12, 2012 and is full of activities: bird, mammal and wildflower surveys and help with the management of the Plains Bison conservation herd. In the evening, participants will be able to...
Read MoreMeet Your Neighbours photo gallery
I posted a new gallery with sample images from the Meet Your Neighbours photography project that I have been contributing to over the last two years. Meet Your Neighboursis an international environmental photography initiative, created by Niall Benvie and Clay Bolt in 2009. Aim of the program is to encourage appreciation of common plants and animals in our neighbourhoods, species that often get overlooked. Each subject is photographed on location in a field studio with minimal disturbance. The photographs were made in partnership with the Native Plant Society of Saskatchewan and Nature...
Read MoreMaymont – a new Nature Conservancy property in Saskatchewan
Last Sunday I joined members of the Saskatoon Nature Society on a field trip to one of the newest protected areas managed by the Nature Conservancy of Canada. We visited the Maymont property, which includes several sections of land along 5.5 km of riverbank on the south side of North Saskatchewan River near Maymont bridge. NCC secured the land over the last few years, with several large sections being purchased this spring. Currently, the organization manages approximately 3,500 acres of diverse plant communities of native grasslands, aspen parkland, heavily wooded area along the river bank,...
Read MoreWorld Water Day 2012
World Water Day is observed on March 22 every year, to draw the international attention on the relationship between humanity and the water resource. In 1993 the United Nations General Assembly declared this date as the World Day for Water. The UN and its member nations devote this occasion to implement UN recommendations on water sustainability and promotion of concrete actions for responsible use and management. For almost 10 years, the United Nations agency UN-Water has been responsible for selecting the theme of annual events, education messages and the lead UN agency responsible for the...
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