For the average Canadian, the long, lonely drive along the Trans-Canada Highway across southern Saskatchewan and Alberta is capital B boring. For those not from the Prairies, the seemingly endless, mostly flat landscape can seem underwhelming when you’re used to rolling hills and mountains or cities and towns.
But those who take the time to get out on the landscape and spend some time exploring Canada’s grasslands know something those zooming-by passengers do not: these grasslands are complex, fascinating, beautiful, and extremely important ecosystems for birds, insects, and grazing animals.
Canada’s native grasslands once spanned millions and millions of acres from Manitoba to Alberta, but now truly native Prairie grassland is a fraction of what it once was. Jean-Michel DeVink, a consultant and adjunct professor with the University of Saskatchewan, says that re-establishing native prairie is incredibly difficult, but preserving what still exists is very possible.
The challenge to preserve Canada’s remaining grasslands is complicated by several factors, DeVink says. The more isolated an area is from existing grasslands, the harder it will be to re-establish the insects and bird species that once called it home. Conservation easements can work, but many ranchers and landowners are hesitant to commit to them in perpetuity.
Grasslands too, likely suffer somewhat from a PR problem — while grasslands are incredible carbon sinks and support thousands of species, DeVink admits the landscape doesn’t evoke the same wow-factor as something like a rainforest or coral reef.
In this interview, DeVink shares some of the successes of grassland conservation and some of the challenges in doing so; how agriculture and ranching are a permanent fixture of the Prairie landscape; and why preserving what’s left is so important to the overall ecosystem.
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