AGM 2024 and Grasslands Forum

Join us for information and discussion. We look forward to connecting and continuing our work together on grasslands!

Saturday April 6, 2024, 1 to 5 pm

Sign up via Eventbrite, https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/saskatchewan-grasslands-forum-and-pppi-agm-2024-tickets-876398029097?aff=oddtdtcreator and email or phone PPPI if hoping to attend in person.

1:00     Event commences

Welcome & Introductions. Land acknowledgement. Update on PPPI activities and achievements

1:40     Annual General Meeting

Approval of 2023 AGM minutes. Financial Report. Election of Board – (nominations of new Board members welcome). Participation opportunities.

SPEAKERS

·       Amanda Muller – International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists

·       Update on community pastures. Supporting livestock producers on biodiversity and sustainable land management. – Lorne Scott, Trevor Herriot, Dean Tavenetz

·       Steve and Heather Mazurak – Last Mountain Neighbours: Across the Fence for Common Sense – “A Collaborative Approach to Conserving a Prairie Oasis in the Upper Qu’Appelle Valley”

·       Aura Lee MacPherson – Calling Lakes Ecomuseum – “Inspiring communities and neighbours to protect and improve the Lower Qu’Appelle Watershed through education and collaboration”

REPORTS FROM ORGANIZATIONS OR INDIVIDUALS ON CURRENT ACTIONS

SASKATCHEWAN ELECTIONS 2024

Key policies desired. Public opinion surveys. Elevating environmental and land issues in the campaign conversation

5:00     Adjournment

Call to Action

Proposed Potash Mine Would Impact Thousands of Hectares of Habitat for Prairie Flora and Fauna Including Many Species at Risk

Public Pastures—Public Interest has just learned that the Province of Saskatchewan is preparing to give the go ahead to a new solution potash mine that would harm or destroy up to 6,000 hectares (14,800 acres) of increasingly rare grassland, wetland and riparian (creek valley slopes) habitat in the upper Wascana Creek watershed near the towns of Sedley and Lajord.

Saskatchewan has already lost approximately 86.7% of its native grasslands, placing dozens of prairie species in jeopardy. This project, if approved, would impact populations of several at-risk birds such as the Loggerhead Shrike, Long-billed Curlew, Short-eared Owl, and Ferruginous Hawk as well as the American Badger and Northern Leopard Frog, among nearly 150 species of wildlife using the lands. Five known dancing grounds for our provincial bird, the sharp-tailed grouse, as well as nesting sites and dens for other species, would be affected.

Details of how you can take action can be found on our Take Action page.

There are two weeks to respond before the deadline of April 15!

Northern Leopard Frog: Shelley Banks

Brilliant green frog, half-submerged in brackish water with reeds,
at the old 76 Ranch in Grasslands National Park © SB 

http://prairienature.blogspot.ca/2011/07/northern-leopard-frog-grasslands.html

PPPI Annual General Meeting 2019

We are pleased to invite you to the Public Pastures – Public Interest annual general meeting.

Saturday March 30, 2019  

Regina Senior Citizens Centre, 2404 Elphinstone Street, Regina, Saskatchewan

Registration is at 12:45

The meeting will run from 1:00 to 5:00 pm, with speakers, brief AGM business meeting, updates from organizations and planning of future actions. It promises to be an informative and energizing meeting!

1:00 pm – Speakers (Andrew Miller, Katie Doke Sawatzky, Trevor Herriot)

1:45 pm – AGM (minutes, financial report, board election)

2:45 pm – Priorities for upcoming year (discussion on action and projects)

A more detailed meeting agenda can be found here, with contact information if you have questions.

More details about speakers are here.

RSVP if you can, Either way we hope to see you on March 30th – your support remains very important!

_________________________

We presented at the Prairie Conservation and Endangered Species Conference in February 2019! A handout based on our poster at PCESC highlighting the current status of publicly-owned pastures and grasslands and the work of PPPI can be found here.

PFRA pastures in Sask make National Trust endangered places list

Two articles this week highlighted the placement of the former PFRA pastures in Saskatchewan on the National Trust’s list of endangered places. CBC ran this article and the Leader-Post ran this article, from which the following quote is taken:

The Public Pastures – Public Interest group is quite pleased to see the pastures on the list. The group has been campaigning for years for the conservation of the pastures.

“We’re trying to end up with some form of assistance, some form of guarantee that the pastures will remain publicly owned and managed for livestock producing as well for species at risk, biodiversity and basically continue on the same track that the PFRA system had developed,” said Lorne Scott, co-chair of Public Pastures – Public Interest.

Lands Act Review – Opportunity to Comment

The provincial government has given people until June 3 to comment on new proposals concerning the Provincial Lands Act. There are implications for community pastures.

The government held consultations in the 2013, then put the issue on the backburner. Now they plan to introduce legislation and are giving people until June 3 to to comment on the highlights of their proposal.

Click here to read the notice of the final stage of consultation and, following, the Provincial Lands Act Amendment Proposal.

Saskatchewan Election: Protecting our Grasslands

With the Saskatchewan provincial election in full swing, and an election date of April 4, 2016, we have created some material for bringing forward the concerns about the PFRA Community Pastures and publicly-owned grasslands.

– A fact sheet

– A handout to give candidates, with recommendations for things they can do. It is a thumbnail sketch of the complexities of the Community Pastures and grasslands issues, but we hope it conveys the essentials.

There are many ways to influence direction at at the time of an election.

• Talk to the candidates that knock on your door or that you meet at events.Take courage – you have the right to present your views and even a short conversation has an effect.
• Attend all-candidate forums and ask about the environment, agriculture, public pastures and grasslands, even though other issues seem to be dominating the airwaves.
• Write a letter or email or make a phone call to your local candidates. Drop by their constituency office and have a chat about  your views.
• Write a letter to the editor to the newspaper, or local community paper.
• Put forward your views on social media.
• Talk to your neighbours.
• Do a creative video, or just a short simple interview on your camera or smartphone, and post it on You-Tube.
• Send a message via Twitter

Grasslands could become an election issue!

Protected Areas: Saskatchewan’s “Geography of Hope” at risk

Is conservation an issue in the provincial election? Trevor Herriot argues, in the Leader-Post, that it should be:

In 2012, the federal government cut the PFRA community pasture program, placing the lion’s share of our protected grasslands in limbo. The Saskatchewan government chose to pass on management responsibility for these ecologically rich lands to private grazing corporations, offering to lease or sell them. By any application of the IUCN criteria for protection, you can no longer count conservation land stripped of its biodiversity programming, then leased or sold primarily for cattle grazing.

So where is Saskatchewan at then, once we remove the WHPA lands for sale and PFRA pastures from the tally of protected areas? Our protected area percentage drops from 8.7 to 6.34 per cent — nowhere near the 17-per-cent commitment under Canada’s 2020 Biodiversity Targets and Goals and half our original RAN commitment.

Pasture Transitions in the News

With a new party in the decision-making seat, groups are calling on the federal government to delay the pasture transition.

Saskatchewan Pasture Transfers Should be Delayed: Conservation Groups

“What we want is an assurance of protection for the grasslands,” said Ignatiuk.

“Right now, the transfer agreements are divesting to the province and the patrons associations (will eventually) take them over … but there’s really no long-term assurance that those lands will be protected.”

Ignatiuk said his group has no objection to grazing, a practice that’s compatible with the Nature Saskatchewan’s conservation objectives.

SARM coming around on pasture issues

From the Western Producer:

The turning point was a meeting about the pastureland issue at last week’s convention that attracted about 60 RMs and a few SARM directors.

It became clear at that meeting that SARM would now be taking the issue seriously and would be lobbying the province to come to some sort of agreement with the affected RMs.

 

Lots of news coverage of PFRA Pastures Transition Study

– Leader Post article

Groups wants changes to provincial pasture plan

– Western Producer article

Pasture transition needs changes: Sask report

– Swift Current Online

APAS Calling for New Approach to Pasture Transition

and

Stewart Speaks on Pasture Lease Fees

– Saskatoon Home Page

Pasture Transition Needs Changes

– Grenfell Sun

APAS calls for new approach to PFRA pasture transition