The Saskatchewan government will fund a new look at methods such as pesticides and predators to keep gophers in check.
The province on Tuesday pledged $380,000 in research funding for gopher control. Gilbert Proulx of Alpha Wildlife, an Edmonton-area wildlife management company, will evaluate existing methods and focus on “long-term, sustainable solutions.”
“Gophers have caused extensive damage to crops and pastures throughout the province, especially in southwest Saskatchewan,” said Agriculture Minister Bob Bjornerud in a release. “Our primary goal is to provide farmers and ranchers with effective methods of gopher control.”
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Alpha Wildlife, on its web site, bills itself as “a leading agency in the management of rodent populations in agricultural fields” and as having developed “the first effective and environmentally sound control program for northern pocket gophers.”
The province said the funding will go to “multi-year research projects” scheduled to begin this spring 2008 in the province’s southwest.
The province noted that Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation paid out more than $1 million just on gopher damage claims to farms in the southwest region in 2007.
Saskatchewan Crop Insurance last month announced it would expand its gopher damage coverage provincewide in 2008 after running a pilot program in 2007. Gopher damage will be added to the Crown agency’s “multi-peril” program.
