Southwest Saskatchewan will now have a large section of grasslands protected by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). The new conservation project is being called Rangeview and is located in the far southwest corner of the province near the Alberta and Montana borders.

The Rangeview property contains 1200 acres of grasslands and wetlands, including seasonal creeks and riparian areas. This specific land is only around six kilometers away from the  Old-Man-on-His-Back-Prairie-and-Heritage-Conservation-Area, which is one of the largest properties NCC has in the province.

With the property and surrounding area the grassland will provide habitat to many different species of plants and animals, including several that are threatened under Canada’s Species at Risk Act. Theses animals include the chestnut-collared longspur, common nighthawk, ferruginous hawk and the swift fox.

NCC says grasslands benefit the environment by storing carbon, filtering water and preventing floods and droughts.

Minister of Environment and Climate changes, Steven Guilbeault says, “The twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss are two sides of the same coin, and we must tackle them together. By working with partners like the Nature Conservancy of Canada, individual and corporate donors, we are helping to protect the the natural environment in Saskatchewan and across the country.”

The land for the Rangeview conservation project came through private donors and the estates of William Gibbs and Margaret Smith. Significant funding also came from the Maple Cross Fund, The Mosaic Company, TC Energy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife service and Walmart Canada.

Over the past two years the NCC has influenced the protection of more than 2.4 million Acres of grasslands across Canada, which is almost twice the size of Banff National Park. Saskatchewan now has a total of over 489 000 acres of protected grasslands.

Matthew Merriman