source: Farm and Food Report
Few places in Saskatchewan have generated as much passion as the Great Sand Hills, with its active sand dunes and grasses.
This is why the Saskatchewan Prairie Conservation Action Plan and the Society for Range Management have embarked on a collaborative effort to stage a two-day workshop and tour of the Grand Sand Hills.
Entitled Discovering the Great Sand Hills, the event will take place on June 22 and 23 in Leader. Michel Tremblay of Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food, a forage crops specialist, is helping organize it.
“The event is open to landowners, land managers, people from the tourism industry and other stakeholders. The Great Sand Hills is dominated by a unique landscape, including active and stabilized sand dunes, resulting in unique vegetation and wildlife,” Tremblay says.
“We will share with participants some of the latest research findings and techniques to monitor rangeland health through factors like site stability, litter accumulation, erosion and the presence of noxious weeds. We are also bringing in a number of presenters with intimate knowledge of the area and of the issues of concern in terms of management practices and local economic activities.”
Trevor Lennox, the Prairie Parkland Chapter President of the Society for Range Management, and Karen Scalise of the Prairie Conservation Action Plan (PCAP), the two chief sponsoring organizations, will set the scene for the event.
Mark Elford of the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association (SSGA) will speak on The Environmental Stewardship Award (TESA) that is given out to a producer who has demonstrated exemplary stewardship practices, while Robin Hilts of Saskatchewan Environment will talk about the land use plan that has been developed for the Great Sand Hills. Chris Hugenholtz, a graduate student at the University of Calgary, will share some of the work that’s been done to examine the geology and geomorphology of the Hills.
Bill Houston, Acting Head of the Range and Biodiversity Division at the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA) will give some insight on sand dune ecology, and Kerry Wrishko, a local conservation officer with Saskatchewan Environment, will share some of his knowledge of the wildlife in the Great Sand Hills.
Jeff Thorpe, a Research Ecologist at the Saskatchewan Research Council, will talk about the dynamics of wildlife and livestock grazing in the Hills. As well, other presenters are scheduled for the event, which will include a visit to the dunes themselves and to the local museum in Sceptre, and an evening presentation of Great Sand Hills images by Dean Francis of Sagebrush Studios.
The workshop and tour are offered in conjunction with Native Prairie Appreciation Week.
For more information, contact Trevor Lennox at (306) 778-8294 or Michel Tremblay at (306) 787-7712.
For more information, contact:
Michel Tremblay
Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food
(306) 787-7712
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