But when an emergency protection order (EPO) under the federal Species at Risk Act was placed on Willow Creek Ranch in 2014, it presented an entirely new challenge to Randy and Terry Stokke. The EPO was meant to ensure the protection of the greater sage grouse, but it had the potential to threaten the Stokke family’s livelihood.

At the same time, it gave them an opportunity to tell the real story of their ranch, a story that highlights how they work with the land to ensure its sustainability as well as that of their cattle.

“I think it’s very important that we do share our stories now. Most ranchers were quite reserved and independent in the past,” says Randy Stokke.

These days, producers have to share what they’re doing and show people that they can can raise food in a way that supports species at risk and the environment, he adds.

This wasn’t a new concept for the Stokke family, who have ranched at Consul, Sask., south of the Cypress Hills, for three generations. In fact, they’ve been doing all the right things for decades, and their grassland conservation efforts have allowed them to continue raising cattle and lead the life they love.

Stokke’s parents started their ranch in 1943, buying land that had once been part of the vast holdings across the Palliser Triangle ranched by J.H. Wallace and William Inkerman Ross. The Stokkes raised sheep until cattle prices improved after the Second World War, then built up a herd consisting of Hereford and Shorthorn genetics. In the early 1980s, Randy and Terry bought the previous generation’s share and ranched with Randy’s brother and wife before buying them out in 1999.

Today, they ranch with their youngest son, Jay, and his family. Their middle son, Garrett, and his wife also have a small share in the ranch. Their eldest son, Monty, and his family ranch north of Maple Creek, and they’re in partnership in a small herd of purebred Black Angus.

The Stokkes introduced Black Angus genetics into their herd around 20 years ago, first crossbreeding with Hereford females and then raising their own Angus bulls. They presently run 400 head in total. Heifers begin calving around March 20, and mature females start in early April, which suits their conditions and the early native grass.

“Feed is the hardest thing for us to come by in this area, so the less we feed the better off we are here,” says Randy Stokke.

Their ranch encompasses 14,000 acres, 11,000 of which are Crown lease. Ninety per cent of their grass is native. This short-grass prairie on the eastern edge of the Wild Horse Plain is one of the province’s driest areas.

“The annual precipitation is less than 12 inches a year,” says Stokke. “But the grass is very nutritious, and under proper management cattle do very well here, well into the late fall and winter on this grass.”

Knowing the land has been vital to the success of Willow Creek Ranch from its establishment. “Being such an arid place in southwest Saskatchewan, we have to really look after our grass well,” he says. “We use tame grasses to try to give our native grasses a rest for the spring. We then try to rotate through our pastures.”

They have five pasture units, one of which is specifically for winter grazing. This is grazed as much as possible during winter, then left as soon as they can in spring, where they rotate pastures through to the fall.

“It’s pretty much been the same rotation for the last 70-some years.”

This philosophy is based on studies conducted in the area in the 1930s. When Stokke’s father started their ranch, he was involved with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Onefour Research Ranch in southeastern Alberta, which did plenty of research during the Dust Bowl era on grass management in this dry region.

“They came up with how much grass an acre of this would produce on average, and so we’ve used that research to plan our management of our grasses,” says Stokke. “A lot of research that was done in the ’30s is just as applicable today as it was then.”

Proving the benefits of grazing

As good stewardship has always been a priority at Willow Creek Ranch, the Stokkes were extremely concerned about the necessity of a severe measure such as an EPO being placed on their land. They contacted Environment Canada about taking a deeper look at the issue, which resulted in a two-year project monitoring the species count and grass on their ranch. This resulted in the identification of several species considered at risk, critical or endangered living in abundance on their land.

“We discovered that the mosaic that we’ve created on the grassland created habitat for the different species,” says Stokke.

This project illustrated just how beneficial the Stokkes’ ranching practices are to the species who call this land home. “By grazing these cattle, we’ve created biodiversity that’s healthy for all these species,” he says.

Species at risk on their land include the burrowing owl, swift fox, prairie loggerhead shrike, Sprague’s pipit, McCowan’s longspur, chestnut-collared longspur, northern leopard frog, ferruginous hawk, bank swallows and Baird’s sparrow. In addition to these, more than 50 species of birds were identified on the ranch.

Their experience highlights the necessity of communicating with groups that may not be aware of ranching’s benefits to grassland ecosystems.

“We’ve been doing this all our lives, conservation, but it never got to be an issue before the EPO came about for the sage grouse. So by providing this information, we were able to meet with several conservation groups,” he says.

They travelled to Ottawa to meet with the minister of environment, and have hosted directors at their ranch for tours. “We’re able to show them that the livestock industry is not a detriment to species at risk. So it changed a lot of their thinking, because at one time they thought grazing had to be removed to preserve pastures.”

When this EPO came about, the Stokkes were involved in establishing Sustainable Canada, a rancher-focused conservation group, along with other land owners and stakeholders in the area. This organization was created to inform ranchers about this legislation and work together proactively in response to these measures.

“We knew it was wrong, a lot of the things they were saying,” says Stokke. “It’s a very dangerous thing, emergency protection orders on grasslands, and so we’ve tried to push that point and convince a lot of these conservation groups that that’s not the way to go, that co-operation is a whole lot better result than legal things. Conservation of land and species happens by people, not laws.”

Stokke is currently the chair of Sustainable Canada and continues to work with other environmental organizations to promote the role of ranchers in preserving grassland ecosystems, and he’s found they’ve made strides in shifting attitudes of conservation groups about livestock production. He does advise producers to be aware of what EPOs can entail.

“I would like to warn land owners, especially the ranching industry, to not take that (EPOs) lightly. Protection orders can basically shut your place down,” he says.

In light of this, he’s worked with Environment Canada to develop new conservation agreements to ensure participating land owners don’t have to worry about EPOs restricting their operations to the point where they can’t make a living.

“If you’re willing to sign an agreement to look after the species on your land, there should be some assurance that there would be no more protection orders put on it. It’s not a big stretch, but unfortunately they’re very afraid of being sued by conservation groups if they don’t have some way of legally protecting these species.”

This, he notes, has to do with how the greater sage grouse EPO came about in response to conservation groups suing the federal department of justice, setting a precedent.

The idea behind this agreement, he explains, is to be a more co-operative effort, compared to past acts that have relied heavily on regulation, and thus more encouraging to interested ranchers.

“It was fairly well-accepted all the way up to the top,” he says, noting that unfortunately the federal department of justice recommended the minister not take it forward.

Stokke was also part of a group of ranchers that used pastures previously managed by AAFC in the southwestern part of the province; they came together out of concern when it was announced the pastures were to be taken over by Environment Canada.

“Our group was concerned about being able to continue grazing this land as we had for over 70 years and the amount of complications that would go with it, having (Environment and Climate Change Canada) as managers,” he says. “After many months of negotiations over an grazing agreement, we reluctantly agreed to a grazing permit that hopefully allows us to maintain grazing there for a long term.”

Sharing the real story

Open communication is vital for producers to effectively convey their position on grassland conservation and environmental stewardship, Stokke says.

“We have to recognize that they’re going to be here. So we need to share what we know; they need to share what they know so we can accomplish something together,” he says.

Another key element he learned is to document all your efforts and results, as your experiences may appear anecdotal otherwise to outside groups.

“Everything they base their decisions on has to be science — the science may not be good science — and documentation. So when a rancher just goes into a hall meeting and tells them, ‘This is what it is,’ they’re probably not going to listen to us. But if we can go in there and say, ‘Well, we’ve been doing this for 70 years and I have these birds on my place and we’ve been grazing cattle in this manner for 70 years,’ then they have to listen.”

The value of a producer’s practices and observations is even greater when one considers their proximity to the topic.

“Ranchers are there 24/7, so we’re looking at this land over long periods of time, where most of these researchers are looking at snapshots. They’re there for a month or two, even a week or so, and they base a lot of their theories on short-term research,” says Stokke. “I think ranchers need to get involved. They need to know what these people are doing.”

Stokke is now working on a new pilot project with Environment Canada to bring local funding to counties and rural municipalities for producers who implement sustainable practices. “If you’re doing these things on your land to help species at risk, you should be able to get some sort of a tax break on your land.”

On their own ranch, the Stokkes have added water developments through dugouts in areas without water, and they’ll likely look at implementing different water pumping systems in the future. Their ranch was also recently certified through Verified Beef Production Plus.

The family’s advocacy efforts and sustainable practices were recognized when they received the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association’s Environmental Stewardship Award in 2019.

“It was a very big honour for us,” says Stokke. “With all the difficulty over the last five years with the conservation people and trying to convince them that we’re doing the right things, it was a form of recognition that what you are doing was maybe the right thing.”

The Stokkes will continue to take good care of their grasslands as they transition the ranch to the next generation. “I would like to continue doing some more things that would improve the ranch for species at risk and the cattle. That’s first, making a living off the cattle. We have to figure out how we can do that and help the species at risk,” says Stokke.

They’re also happy to see how the land that’s supported their family will continue to do so in the future. “We just appreciate the life we’re leading here, and hopefully our children can enjoy it as well. Our grandkids, they all love the ranching industry, too. They’re all small, so it’s nice to see them take interest in it.”

For Stokke, his life-long passion for raising cattle also endures. “I’ve always enjoyed it,” he says. “There’s nothing like the new calves in the spring and improving your genetics and trying to always reach for better cattle. You fall in love with the land and the cattle.”

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The $750,000 SARPAL (species at risk partnerships on agricultural lands) initiative administered by Manitoba Beef Producers couples producers’ knowledge of the land and cattle with conservation specialists’ scientific knowledge of grassland birds’ habitat to identify management practices most likely to benefit cattle and birds.

“We couldn’t be more pleased to be asked by MBP to deliver this program with producers,” says Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corp. CEO Tim Sopuck. “MBP’s cow-calf producers own, manage and conserve more habitat in agro Manitoba than any other organization. SARPAL gives us a chance to try out different ways to connect with producers, find out what works, what doesn’t, and learn from each other.”

The project offers cost-shared funding for beneficial management practices (BMPs) and management services to help producers implement grazing and grassland management strategies shown to be effective for conserving habitat for grassland birds, while having potential to improve pasture and cattle productivity.

Suggestions include but aren’t limited to installing fencing and/or watering systems to improve cattle distribution, establishing complementary pastures to alleviate pressure on grassland pastures, establishing native grass stands, and managing shrub encroachment on grasslands.

MBP president Ben Fox says producers across the province know the importance of well-managed pastureland to their businesses and for biodiversity, including supporting wildlife and species at risk. This project is an opportunity to show how beef production is part of the solution to supporting and protecting species at risk.

SARPAL is a fairly new model for working with producers on voluntary stewardship initiatives by connecting with existing regional groups. It was rolled out by Environment Canada as part of the 2014 $252 million Conservation Action Plan, with the SARPAL component providing $6.2 million nationwide over five years.

An important feature of SARPAL is that it’s not a set-aside program. It focuses on actively farmed land that encompasses habitat identified as critical for one or more species at risk listed under the federal act.

Areas of interest in southwestern Manitoba include Broomhill/Poverty Plains, Pierson/Lyleton Grasslands, Coulter/Blind Souris River Valley, West Oak Lake/Belleview, and the Pipestone/Maple Lake region. Key birds of interest include Sprague’s pipit, ferruginous hawk, chestnut-collared longspur, loggerhead shrike, baird’s sparrow and the burrowing owl.

The MBP project is open until March 31, 2019, but the voluntary commitment is a 10-year agreement. Information on grassland health and bird use will be collected at the beginning of the project to assess the impact of management changes over time.

The contact for this project is Carol Graham at MHHC’s Reston office, 204-821-4943.

The West Souris River and the Turtle River conservation districts will be assisting MHHC with on-the-ground delivery and received SARPAL support for related projects. The West Souris River group’s grassland birds project, which is mapping, surveying and implementing bird-specific BMPs, already has a lot of interest from producers. In the Turtle Mountain district, artificial nests will be installed to protect burrowing owls from digging predators, conduct research and raise awareness of this species.

A fourth SARPAL project carried out by Manitoba Agriculture will add a species-at-risk component to the Environmental Farm Plan Program booklet.

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Kathryn McGarry, Ontario minister of natural resources and forestry, spoke to the Ontario Federation of Agriculture’s 2016 annual meeting to update farmers on the status of the regulations covering the protection of the Algonquin wolves.

In June, eastern wolves in Ontario were renamed Algonquin wolves and their status was changed to threatened by the Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario, an arms-length body that classifies species at risk in Ontario.

The threatened status meant that the wolves had to be protected across Ontario, and the government had 90 days to respond.

The challenge is that the only way to differentiate the Algonquin wolf from coyotes is with a DNA test — which, as McGarry admitted, would be difficult.

“Yes, I know they have big teeth. You can’t ‘Just say give me your mouth and I’ll do a swab,’” she said. “This presented a problem for us.”

The government has since set two years to draft a recovery plan for the Algonquin wolves, she said, with input from groups such as the OFA and scientists.

In the meantime, the hunting of the wolves is restricted in Algonquin Park and in the areas around Killarney Provincial Park, Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands and the Kawartha Highlands Signature Site.

The wolves, and the coyotes that look the same, can still be hunted in areas outside the restricted zone.

There is also an exemption for landowners and farmers in restricted areas who can still protect livestock if there is a health and safety risk.

— John Greig is a field editor for Glacier FarmMedia at Ailsa Craig, Ont. Follow him at @JGreig on Twitter.

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My understanding of the proposals is that there may be a large reduction in the stocking rate on these lands. This reduction could be 50 per cent or more. There may be noise restrictions, fencing regulations and reduced or denied access. All these regulations are being set by the government with little or no involvement of local stakeholders.

These regulations may be well intended, however, if they are meant to protect the sage grouse they will have no positive impact. In fact the regulations will have a negative impact on the sage grouse, the land and local stakeholders.

Let me explain how I arrive at this conclusion. Allan Savory (the man who developed Holistic Management) had four key insights which provided new knowledge about how our ecosystems function. While this knowledge has been available in Western Canada for the last 25 or 30 years it is still not as widely accepted as it might be. I do not mean to imply that the people who developed these regulations were wrong. What I do imply is that they are working with incomplete information because they were either unaware or chose to overlook this new knowledge.

Allan’s Four Key Insights

1. Nature functions in wholes: This implies that in nature everything is interrelated. Each species has a function, a purpose and a value. Each species contributes to the health and well-being of other species. Managing for a single species will not be effective. We must manage for the health of the ecosystem. The result will be balance between all species.
2. Overgrazing is a function of time: For many years it was accepted that overgrazing was the result of too many animals. Allan has proven that overgrazing is a function of time. When grazing, the animals can’t stay too long or return too quickly. To have a healthy ecosystem it is essential to stop the overgrazing. If cattle numbers are reduced and continuous grazing occurs the land will deteriorate. A deteriorating ecosystem will be harmful to the sage grouse.
3. The prey-predator connection: Most of the grasslands in the world were developed by the presence of large herds of grazing animals that were kept bunched and moving due to predators. This is nature’s way. Planned grazing focuses on mimicking nature’s plan. The result is a healthy ecosystem.
4. The brittleness scale: This is a 1 to 10 scale. Number 1 (non-brittle) represents a rainforest. Number 10 (brittle) a desert. All environments fall somewhere on this scale. In a rainforest resting the land (removing the animals) will improve the land. Resting the land in a brittle environment is detrimental to the land. The land involved in this discussion is in a brittle environment. Large grazing animals are essential to maintain the health of the land.

Using Allan’s insights we can see that the likely result of the emergency order will be:

1. A continued deterioration of the land.
2. A further reduction in the number of greater sage grouse.
3. The ranches will be unprofitable.
4. A loss of a way of life.
5. Economic loss for other stakeholders.
6. A devaluation of the deeded land in the area.

A Better Solution

1. Bring all the stakeholders together.
2. Develop a common vision for the land.
3. Apply all the knowledge available.
4. Develop a sustainable plan.

The likely result of the better solution will be:

• An improvement in the health of the land.
• An increase in sage grouse and other species.
• Profitable, sustainable ranches.
• A way of life maintained.
• Economic benefits for other stakeholders.
• An increase in the value of the deeded land.

This is a serious issue. It represents a great opportunity for all stakeholders to come together and develop a win/win plan for the future. Holistic Management can help this happen. Let’s hope that cooler heads prevail and wise decisions are made. Happy trails.

• More ‘Holistic Ranching’ with Don Campbell: Planned grazing makes for healthier pastures

Don Campbell ranches with his family at Meadow Lake, Sask., and teaches Holistic Management courses. He can be reached at 306-236-6088 or doncampbell@sasktel.net.

The post The Greater Sage Grouse appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

As to how it can be done, they hope to demonstrate that this summer when they run a pilot program using their Prairie Beef and Biodiversity (PBAB) model.

What sets this apart from traditional conservation schemes is it’s a results-based model that pays participating ranchers, says RSAI director and rancher Sue Michalsky of Eastend, Sask.

Landowners and managers would offer clearly defined ecosystem services with specified outcomes and get paid when they deliver the desired results.

The buyers of these services may be government, environmental groups, businesses, industries, individuals, or foundations — anyone who values these services for environmental or marketing reasons.

PBAB targets any natural grasslands area shared by grazing livestock and species at risk. The aim is to stem the decline in grassland biodiversity as measured by the preservation of habitat for species at risk.

The presence of at-risk species is an accepted indicator of biodiversity because maintaining habitat for one species generally benefits others and the grassland ecosystem as a whole.

For the pilot, the ranchers selected the Sprague’s pipit and Swift fox as their target species. Both are listed as indicator species and species of special concern under the legislation.

• More from the Canadian Cattlemen: Alberta wildlife stories needed

The hope is a PBAB model could eventually complement the usual conservation programs such as conservation easements, permanent cover programs and cost-shared beneficial management practices (BMPs) for grazing grasslands that are used today.

“As it is, ranchers are doing all of the work,” says Michalsky. “Cost-share programs might occasionally work for species at risk, but there’s little in it for producers except paying half the cost of the project plus all the ongoing maintenance. It’s bothersome, too, that some BMPs don’t have a benefit to species at risk.

“We want to see a program that works for ranchers and species at risk.”

The grasslands of the Northern Great Plains in the adjoining corners of Saskatchewan and Alberta contain the highest density of Prairie species at risk in Canada. The alliance contends these creatures survive here because their habitat has been maintained by ranchers right back to the homesteaders’ era when vast areas of native prairie were turned over.

In other words the decline in species on native prairie can be traced to the decline in ranching when it wasn’t profitable enough to curb the conversion of grassland to grain production, supported by government through the years, and other industrial and residential uses.

As a consequence relatively few people have been left holding the species-at-risk bag. Many who still ranch in this area feel it’s unrealistic to expect such a tiny percentage of the population to bear the cost of protecting native prairie and species at risk, especially as their families were not the ones who broke up the grasslands in the first place.

• Decline in biodiversity of farmed plants, animals gathering pace

Michalsky says the alliance initially envisioned a program that would provide reliable, long-term financial incentives for the ranchers’ good stewardship right up to the present day. Programs built on the business-as-usual model, she says, can actually be a disincentive if they tempt producers to undo BMPs already implemented to qualify for a new program.

Ranchers who participate in PBAB will need assurance that they are complying with the species-at-risk legislation and won’t be left with the cost of removing expensive infrastructure, such as fencing, if science turns up a better way to get these beneficial results in the future.

Given that most grassland ranchers already support the habitat of many species at risk, the PBAB’s guiding document makes recommendations, but stops short of prescribing management practices.

“If you have species at risk on your land, you’re probably most of the way there and may only need to tweak things a bit,” says Michalsky. “The program leaves it up to ranchers to decide how to produce the desired results and in this way rewards people already providing the service.”

Taking the lead

In late 2011 the RSAI contracted three studies to flesh out their ideas with a grant from the Commission for Environmental Co-operation, an international body headed up by the three ministers or secretaries of the environment from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. The CEC then commissioned RSAI to design a results-based program, which led to the creation of the PBAB.

One two-part study, Grassland Stewardship Conservation Programming on Natural Grasslands Used for Livestock Production, by the Miistakis Institute at the University of Calgary, reviewed market-based programs from around the globe to find those that best met RSAI’s criteria, promote conservation of grasslands and species at risk while improving ranch profitability.

One option was certification-style programs. Of the handful that have been tried, only three remain. This report uncovered significant hurdles in marketing certified “conservation beef” to consumers. Primarily, there’s no solid evidence that consumers will pay a premium for it.

Payment-for-ecosystem (PES) programming showed more promise. The study found several that promoted biodiversity or endangered species and RSAI incorporated some of their concepts into the PBAB. (Both reports are on the Miistakis Institute’s website.)

The next question was how to value an ecosystem service. For this, RSAI turned to former Agriculture Canada range management specialist Chris Nykoluk of Lumsden, Sask. In consultation with Dr. Ken Belcher, an agricultural economist at the University of Saskatchewan, Nykoluk looked at five options in her report, What are Native Prairie Grasslands Worth and Why it Pays to Conserve this Endangered Ecosystem. Best estimates range from $5.40 to $13.88 per acre per year beyond the costs associated with grazing livestock. She suggests a rancher’s actual cost of providing the service would be the most appropriate pricing mechanism. (This report is posted at www.pcap-sk.org.)

The model was then refined by stakeholders during two intense workshops on the target species involving representatives of RSAI, South of the Divide Ecosystem Stewards, Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, Western Stock Growers’ Association, Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association, government and non-government organizations.

Saskatchewan Environment has also funded more research into the habitat needs of Spraque’s pipit and Swift fox and the development of another module that accommodates the habitat needs of the greater sage grouse without harming other species.

Environment Canada’s emergency order in December to protect the greater sage grouse angered many ranchers who felt they’ve already co-operated fully with voluntary stewardship programs and done as much as they can reasonably be expected to do to protect this particular species.

Not set in stone

RSAI is essentially breaking new ground in Canada so this pilot run will be monitored carefully to identify the model’s strengths and weaknesses as well as the outcomes for payment purposes. There is a concern that the monitoring could easily cost more than the amounts paid to the ranchers so that too will have to be evaluated. The ideal would be for the ranchers to feel they are being adequately compensated and the buyers to feel they are getting their money’s worth.

For more information contact Sue Michalsky at 306-295-3696.

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