It’s been over a century since plow met prairie and agricultural development began in Saskatchewan. The land has given us bountiful crops and rich grasses. The newly-broken land has also supported new wildlife populations which weren’t known to the province, such as white-tailed deer, raccoon, red fox and many small birds.
Agriculture expanded rapidly after World War II as farmers cultivated more land and grew more crops. Often, marginal lands were cleared, plowed and seeded. This practice is still continuing today. While farmlands provide habitat for certain species, populations of many other species of plants and animals have declined.

The Status of Wildlife Habitat in Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan contains one of the most modified landscapes in North America. Because of our extensive agricultural industry during the past century, we have seen over 75 per cent of our natural areas in the agricultural region disappear to cultivation and other developments including roads, towns and cities. Between 1976 and 1981, we lost two million acres of natural landscape. As more land is broken, natural habitat disappears, and it continues to shrink. This habitat provides basic necessities such as food, water and shelter for over 400 species of wildlife. Saskatchewan’s wildlife populations must live on far less than one-quarter of their original habitat.

The Wildlife Habitat Protection Act
Much of the best remaining wildlife habitat is on Crown land. These natural areas are very important for maintaining existing wildlife populations as about two-thirds of the land base south of the forest fringe is privately owned.
In 1984, the provincial government initiated a conservation process by passing The Critical Wildlife Habitat Protection Act, now known as The Wildlife Habitat Protection Act (WHPA). This legislation protects 3.4 million acres of uplands and wetlands, or one-third of all wildlife habitat in the agricultural region, in its natural state. Protection of these lands makes the Act the most cost-effective wildlife habitat conservation program in Saskatchewan. The Act prevents the government from selling designated Crown land, and lessees require permission before any clearing, breaking or drainage occurs. The philosophy of the Act is to conserve wildlife habitat while enabling compatible traditional uses to co-exist.
In fact, WHPA recognizes and supports some agricultural uses and petroleum activities. These lands are leased mainly to cattle producers who use them for grazing or haying. The WHPA designation has no effect on the lessee’s rights to continue leasing their lands, or on the terms and conditions of their leases. Leases can be routinely renewed and transferred, as in the past. In fact, the Act has very little effect on daily operations at all. Routine developments such as fencing and dugout construction can also take place without question. Oil and gas companies can explore and drill, but must ensure they do very little damage to the surface.

Protecting Saskatchewan’s Ecological Landscape
Preserving more lands to save endangered species is important. Saskatchewan has designated 15 plants and animals under the species-at-risk provisions of The Wildlife Act. They are listed as extirpated (no longer exist in Saskatchewan) endangered (threatened with immediate extirpation and threatened (likely to become endangered). The species designated and listed include:

Animals: whooping crane, piping plover, burrowing owl, sage grouse, swift fox, black-footed ferret, plains grizzly bear, greater prairie chicken and eskimo curlew;
Plants: small white lady’s slipper, sand verbena, western spiderwort, tiny cryptanthe, hairy prairie-clover and slender mouse-ear cress.

Conserving habitat helps provide food, water and shelter for all species, and may contribute to taking some species off the endangered species list.
The Government of Saskatchewan remains committed to completing identification and designation of sites within each of the province’s 11 ecoregions by the end of the year 2000. This will ensure the Government meets its commitments to the rest of Canada to help complete a national network of protected areas. Saskatchewan Environment is leading the establishment of a network of ecologically important land and water areas across the province. This system includes national and provincial parks, wildlife refuges, ecological and other reserves in the province.
In Saskatchewan, this effort is known as the Representative Areas Network (RAN) and The Wildlife Habitat Protection Act is part of the provincial government’s answer to conserve vanishing native ecosystems in the agricultural region of the province. The 3.4 million acres amounts to about five per cent of Saskatchewan’s agricultural region and about 80 per cent of this region’s total protected natural areas which also include areas such as parks or protected wildlife and ecological areas. Protecting these lands has been found to be the best preventative medicine to ensure habitat for the survival of endangered species and spaces for species.

Wildlife-Friendly Farmers and Ranchers
Ranchers who lease WHPA lands are good stewards of the land and wildlife is benefiting. Preserving important wildlife habitat has enabled Saskatchewan to come to the forefront of national and international habitat and natural eco-system conservation, which is helping Canada contribute its share towards global environmental conservation. Wise, multiple use of public lands can curb habitat loss while accommodating the interests of agriculture, wildlife and the public.