Dear Editor:
Recently, the federal government decided to drop its long-held management responsibility for the PFRA pastures. And here "long-held" is the key word. The Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration was legislated into being during the drought of the 1930s. Its mandate was to reclaim the land and introduce sound water and soil conservation practices. Over the eighty some years since, the PFRA has done a fine job, managing more than 60 pastures in Saskatchewan, 640,000 hectares of land.
And then, the axe of fiscal restraint dropped on the PFRA. Without prior consultation with the provinces and stake-holders, the federal government transferred the responsibility for these pastures to the three provincial governments. Saskatchewan was left with a problem - what to do next?
Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart revealed his government's answer to the question.
"We're making pastures available through purchase or lease to the patrons that are using them now," he said in a recent CBC interview. "The vast majority will be leased simply because the present cost of farm land is high."
Rules, quite likely easements, will be in place, he added, to prevent the breaking of the land to seed crops. Each patron would then become responsible for the management of the pasture land he uses.
In contrast to the Saskatchewan arrangement, Manitoba has opted for a system more closely aligned to the present federally managed PFRA program. An Association of Manitoba Community Pastures has developed a business plan to manage the province's ten pastures on a 100 % cost recovery basis.
In February, the Saskatchewan government announced a timetable for the transfer of land from the federal government to the province and ultimately to the pasture patrons.
Saskatchewan conservationists and the pasture patrons themselves are most concerned about the proposed provincial plan. They argue that there are benefits to the continued public ownership and management of the pastures.
"We look at the PFRA pastures as a major component of the great grasslands of Canada," Trevor Herriot said in a recent CBC interview. Herriot is a well-known Saskatchewan birder, environmentalist and author of the award-winning book, Grass, Sky, Song.
Herriot noted that the provincial government invests significant funds in the management of the forest sector. He added that a similar approach should be taken in regards to the PFRA pastures, areas he calls "a part of our most important natural capital."
"The pastures contain ten to fifteen per cent of our remaining grassland and aspen parkland natural landscape," Lorne Scott wrote in a background paper about the issue. "They are critical for species survival and diversity." Scott is an environmental activist and former Saskatchewan Minister of the Environment.
Indeed, the statistics Scott cites are alarming. Saskatchewan has lost 80% of its natural landscape south of the forest fringe. Close to fifty per cent of the province's original wetlands are gone. Twenty per cent of Saskatchewan's native plants are rare and disappearing at an alarming rate. Three out of four grassland bird species are declining in numbers, including burrowing owls, Sprague's pipits, and killdeer.
Many complain they no longer hear the lilting song of the meadow lark. This species, too, is in decline largely due to habitat loss - a loss conservationists fear will be aggravated by changes to the management of the PFRA pastures.
Environmentalists have a great many questions about the present government plan. They ask, even if easements are in place, who will monitor the land to see it is not broken for crops? Who will check that the land does not suffer from over-grazing? Who will ensure that the pastures are managed properly especially if the patrons decide to re-sell to third and fourth parties?
The ranchers and mixed farmers have their questions as well. The cattle industry supports public management of the pastures because it allows cow-calf operators with a small land base to remain in business. Their question - who will guarantee that large cattle interests with their access to big capital will not buy the land and force the small producer out? That question (among others) prompted the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities and the Agriculture Producers Association of Saskatchewan to pass resolutions calling on the province to retain ownership of the PFRA pastures. In addition, 250 pasture patrons met in Saskatoon recently to form the Community Pasture Patrons of Saskatchewan (CPPS). This new group is looking at the same questions.
"The Saskatchewan government has been dealt a difficult hand," Trevor Herriot concluded.
Given the complexity of the issue, the need for an open conversation with stake holders, and the ground swell of public interest, Herriot suggests we take a year to study the issue and come up with a plan. Given the controversy, this proposal has a lot of merit.
Kathleen Morrell
Saskatoon, SK.
