Sask. bill passes, protected land to go up for sale

Controversial amendments to Saskatchewan’s Wildlife Habitat Protection Act passed on the second last day of the legislative sitting last week, paving the way for lessees to buy protected crown land.The amendments did not sit well with members of conservation and environmental groups who said there hadn’t been enough consultation. They are wary of the computer assessment tool used to determine which land would be sold outright, which would be sold with new crown conservation easements for protection and which would remain protected and under crown ownership.The government has not been able to say how much land will fall into each category.Conservationists also want the province to replace lands withdrawn from protection with new protected areas.The Saskatchewan Environmental Society last week called for the bill to be withdrawn, saying the plan would lead to habitat loss.“We believe the bill now before the assembly will lead to further habitat loss and habitat fragmentation, thus adding stress on wildlife populations such as grassland bird species, several of which are already in sharp decline,” said SES executive director Allyson Brady.The National Farmers Union expressed concern, while 19 other organizations supported the bill.The NFU said that computer modelling is not an acceptable way to assess the ecological value of land.But it also said that the land is being offered at the worst possible time, considering that farm income is projected to drop 55 percent.An ongoing agricultural crown lease program that doesn’t include protected land has seen only 10 percent of 1.6 million available acres sold.NFU president Terry Boehm also said that outside investors are buying large tracts of Saskatchewan farmland while rural areas decline. Any crown land sold should be done with the caveat that it remain in the hands of Saskatchewan farmers and ranchers or be repurchased by the crown, he said.Proponents of the changes have agreed that not all lessees will be able to buy land that becomes available. However, they want that ability because owning land adds to an operation’s equity.NDP leader Dwain Lingenfelter took one last shot May 19 at trying to convince environment minister Nancy Heppner to change her mind about the legislation.“Many tens of thousands of people in this province want this bill stopped because it protects land – 3.5 million acres – that belongs to the people of the province,” he said. “It belongs to the children, it belongs to the adults and it belongs to future generations.”Heppner replied that the government believes in the principle of land ownership.She also said the government will move to address the concern raised by some that a stroke of the minister’s pen could remove lands from protection. In a future session, she intends to introduce changes that will ensure land that is to remain under WHPA protection is listed in the legislation itself and subject to public scrutiny.