Interlake tall grass ranch added to conservation list

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This article was published 10/11/2022 (1116 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A tall grass prairies property in the Interlake — roughly 10 times larger than Assiniboine Park — will now be protected by the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

The 6,700-acre Lake Ranch, located in the Rural Municipality of Woodlands at the East Shoal Lake complex, had been one of the largest privately-owned tall grass tracts left in the province.

The federal government contributed $1.4 million to the project, while the previous owners (Lake Ranch Ltd. Group from Germany) donated more than 20 per cent of the property’s value. Other donors include the MapleCross Fund and Richardson Foundation.

Winnipeg South Liberal MP Terry Duguid, parliamentary secretary for environment and climate change Canada, said he’s pleased the federal government could play a role in preserving the property.

“It’s conserving (a section) of the most endangered eco-system in North America: the tall grass prairie,” Duguid said Thursday shortly after attending a news event announcement at the site.

“It’s important to Manitoba and important to Canada.”

Duguid said just because the land is now protected doesn’t mean it won’t be used in some form. It has been grazed by cattle for a century, and that will continue.

“Traditional uses are allowed,” the MP said. “Cattle will be grazing on it, just like the bison did.”

The property is also home to several threatened species, including birds such as bobolink and Sprague’s pipit.

In a statement, federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said the funding, through the Natural Heritage Conservation Program, allows a public-private partnership to help buy private land to protect and conserve it.

“Protecting lands plays a vital role in helping to halt and reverse biodiversity loss and contributes to the recovery of species and risk,” Guilbeault said.

“The government of Canada is making progress toward its goal of conserving a quarter of lands and oceans in Canada by 2025, working toward 30 per cent of each by 2030.”

Cary Hamel, Nature Conservancy’s Manitoba director of conservation, said: “Every single project that we do, big or small, is an act of hope and personally reminds me that we’re not in this alone. It’s not just one ecologist against the world, it’s not the Nature Conservancy of Canada against the world, it’s the world with us wanting these prairie landscapes as part of its future.”

Since 1962, the organization has helped conserve more than 37 million acres across the country, including 178,000 acres in Manitoba.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca