PFRA Swift Current District Office

Assistance Available

District staff provide assistance under the Rural Water Development Program (RWDP) to individuals, groups and communities. Clients receive technical and financial assistance for development of water sources such as dugouts, wells, pipelines, tank loading facilities, ground water investigations and development of irrigation projects. Technical assistance includes feasibility surveys, designs, construction supervision and other services required to identify and develop sustainable solutions to secure water supplies. Financial assistance is based on the nature of the project and its cost.

Technical assistance in areas such as direct seeding, gully restoration, grassed waterway design, salinity diagnosis and soil conservation are provided upon request from clients throughout the district.

District staff continually monitor land under the Permanent Cover Programs. Staff are also available to assist clients with On-Farm Conservation Planning, shelterbelt planning, solar water pumping, community and group planning, wildlife projects and feasibility surveys for intensive livestock operations.

The South West Saskatchewan Irrigation Projects comprised of 10 dams and reservoirs, 100 km main canals, and their associated control structures are managed by the Swift Current District to provide water for approximately 14,000 ha of privately owned land. PFRA operates border dyke and backflood irrigation projects located at Rush Lake and Val Marie and supplies water to numerous provincial and private irrigation projects throughout the District. The communities of Swift Current and Herbert receive their water supplies from PFRA's irrigation reservoirs. Engineering services, canal and reservoir maintenance, land levelling surveys and designs are provided by District office staff. Irrigation project operations, including reservoir management and water delivery services, are provided by staff located in Rush Lake and Val Marie.

The Land Management and Diversification Service (Community Pastures) provides an important grassland conservation and grazing management program for ranchers and farmers in the area. Eight Community Pastures comprised of 134,600 ha of land provide grazing for 24,000 cattle annually. These pastures assist 410 local cattlemen who have limited supplies of their own grassland for summer grazing.

District description

The Swift Current District encompasses a wide variety of landforms and soil types. Soil types range from sand dunes to heavy clay soils. The district is comprised mainly of soils found in the brown soil zone but does have a thin band of productive dark brown soils.

Loamy soils formed on calcareous glacial till modified by clays and shales of the Upper Cretaceous bedrock and often by coal or carbon flecks of Tertiary bedrock origin make up the south end of the district. This area is used mainly for ranchland while the heavier clay loam soils are used for cereal grain production. The area near the Canada-USA border is home to the Grasslands National Park, Canada's newest National Park. The Frenchman River Valley, host of the Boundary Commission Trail Ride, also runs east/west through this area.

Moving north the transition begins into the dark brown soils of the Cypress Hills Upland. These productive soils consist of silty loessial materials and clay loam glacial till. Most drainage is through the Swift Current Creek watershed which is the water source for Duncairn Dam. The dam provides the largest irrigation reservoir in the district which is the location of the Shaunavon Wildlife Federation's annual fishing derby.

The north end of the district ends at the South Saskatchewan River, home of the Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park as well as the annual Saskatchewan Landing Walleye Derby.

Moving west is an area of highly productive lacustrine heavy clay soils sandwiched between the active sand dunes of the Great Sand Hills and the weakly developed eroded valleys bordering the South Saskatchewan River.

The Great Sand Hills start near the town of Webb and run Northwest towards Sceptre. The town of Sceptre provides a gateway for tourism activities into the Great Sand Hills.

Forty percent of the cultivated land is in summerfallow and cereal grain production dominates the crop land. Spring wheat and durum account for 80% of the cropped acreage, while canola, tame forages, lentils, rye, winter wheat, barley and oats account for the remainder. Canola and lentil acreage has increased significantly over the past few years. Forages play a role in farm diversification, however, tame forages grown in the District are used primarily as feed sources for the local cattle industry. Small acreages of berries, fruits, vegetables and nursery products are grown under irrigation.

Natural resources

Surface water resources in most watersheds are fully allocated and new small scale irrigation projects, required for more crop diversification, are not possible at the present time. Although water is in short supply in the district, there are often natural resources which contribute to the economy. Oil production is of the medium crude type with remaining established reserves of approximately 16.8 million cubic metres. Natural gas is of medium type gas. Both oil and natural gas exploration and development have significantly increased over the past two years, and is continuing in 1996. Mineral deposits of sodium sulfate are actively mined and processed near the Town of Cabri.

Settlement and Industry

The City of Swift Current (population 15,680) is the main agricultural service and retail trade centre for the District and is the location for two new inland grain terminals as the City is located on the Canadian Pacific Railway mainline. The Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Semi-Arid Prairie Agricultural Reseach Centre (SPARC) is located on the eastern edge of Swift Current. The agricultural sector is the mainstay for Swift Current's economy, however, manufacturing is gradually expanding. Many small manufacturers and service businesses produce world class products for local and export markets. Major towns in the Swift Current District are Hodgeville, Gull Lake, Shaunavon, Herbert, Cabri and Sceptre.