Dear Editor:
I am writing in response to an article widely circulated in the province several weeks ago written by Provincial Manager of Operations for Ducks Unlimited in Saskatchewan, Brent Kennedy. In the article he is suggesting that the solution to flooding this spring is maintaining wetlands and that the governments needs to have an effective wetlands policy rather than investing additional money for flood relief.
Having sat on the Assiniboine Basin Study since its inception, I, along with other producers hold a different view of wetland management and real stakeholders should provide that view, in this business we call farming.
To understand progress we must first revisit history.
The Palliser Expedition (1856) described Saskatchewan as a vast treeless prairie. Some of these challenges in the dryer years were indeed finding adequate water. Wild life was extremely rare and prior to settlement almost non-existent except for the transient herds of buffalo.
The first settlers in our municipality of Churchbridge came in 1885 prior to the advent of the railroad. These people lived in a hole in the ground for the first 12 years of their homesteading as there were no local building materials available. There were wet and dry years in the early days and some of the earlier Icelandic settlers left the district in 1896 because of the drought. Some of the settlers that came in the early 1900's settled in low lands and when the wet years came in the early 20's they were scrambling for higher ground or relocated to new areas. The drainage in this RM started out of necessity at that point.
The thirties were the dry years. My grandfather relocated to this area in '33. At that point in history there were no trees here to provide wood for fuel so they went to the Assiniboine Valley, approximately 16 miles east by horse and wagon.
In the fifties, wet years again resulted in more drainage. Some of the land that was developed was lost because of the prolonged wet years. The early sixties were dry and some of the drainage infrastructure was neglected and some areas filled in. With the advent of larger equipment farmers of that time did a more complete job of land development. When you read history you will realize that it is because of the plow and the development of farms that we now see the array of wild life that is currently here.
As agriculture developed, it stopped prairie fires, which kept perennial vegetation in check. As more farms were established, perennial vegetation established and farms also provided food for wildlife. Wild life numbers are still increasing, in fact, to problematic proportions. There were no beaver here in the fifties. We now have beaver bounties. In the fifties we would stop if we saw a deer, now there are depredation tags given out for deer. We have resident moose, bear, wolves, foxes, raccoons and Canada geese. None of these were in this area in the fifties. There have also been sightings of wolverine, cougars and pleated billed woodpecker. Very clearly this menagerie of wild life is here because of agricultural development, not in spite of it. According to Canadian Wildlife Service, most species of ducks are at record levels.
According to the Assiniboine Basin Study, unmanaged wetlands do not reduce flooding in wet conditions and high run off events. In this situation the only thing that reduces flooding is controlled drainage. Obviously, an empty sponge holds more than one that is already full.
With uncontrolled wetlands we have found a substantial increase in soil salinity, which leads to large areas with little or no vegetation, destroying the bio diversity that formerly existed. We have experienced this on some of the land that is left unmanaged adjacent to mine where 6 & 8-inch poplars are dying in the standing water. In these stagnant wetlands the rotting vegetation is causing increasingly poor water quality. These unmanaged wetlands, which are finished projects according to DUC, do nothing but propagate beaver that damage our infrastructure.
Also, there is made mention of the wetlands acting as filters. In order to do that they must be strategically placed in water runs, not on top of the divide between two water shed areas. Agriculture and its development have been undervalued in this province, not only by DUC but also by a portion of those in government and society as a whole.
When you go to the grocery store, remember the food comes from farms, not wetlands. I believe we are at the point where producers should not only lobby DUC supporters but also governments to make meaningful changes to allow cooperative development in this province. I look forward to that day and want to be at the table with the real stakeholders who own and farm the land.
Neil S Mehrer
Calder, Sask.
