The federal government yesterday announced it would be funneling nearly two million dollars into the tall grass prairie preserve in the Rural Municipality of Stuartburn.

A 445,628-hectare piece of land covered in gamagrass, switchgrass, and big bluestem that is centralized in Stuartburn is one of the largest and last remaining sections of tall grass prairie in the world. Because of the landscape’s alarming rareness, it is the only spot in all of Canada that certain native species still live.

Carey Hamel is the Director of Conservation for the Manitoba branch of Nature Conservancy Canada (NCC), a not-for-profit organization focused on the protection of endangered species and species at risk. NCC has had researchers and conservation specialists stationed in Stuartburn for some time and Hamel was pleased to see such a sizable financial commitment to the area.

“It really is a testament to the national importance of southeastern Manitoba,” he says.

Environment and Climate Change Canada has pledged a total of 1.9 million dollars over a four year period to a group that has collectively been tasked with taking care of the prairies. Among its members are the RM of Stuartburn, Sunrise Corner Tourism, Seine Rat Roseau Watershed District, and NCC who will be assuming the role of project coordinator.

“It really is a feather in the region’s cap to have this kind of attention,” says Hamel. “The funding recognizes the ecological importance but also that the reason these spaces are still here is because of the landowners who have cared for these spaces by grazing and haying." 

Hamel says there are a wide variety of ways his organization and their partners plan on transforming this money into action. Already, he notes, surveys have been conducted to determine the local understanding of conservation practices.

“We’ve been spending a lot of time directly engaging with residents and what is very apparent to us is a deep sense of pride in the area.”

Hamel says two predominant themes have come across in recent studies. One, that southeastern Manitobans love the clean air, flowing waters, and wide-open spaces associated with their homeland; and two, that they also value their historical agricultural backgrounds.

In Stuartburn, the respective fields of farming and conservation have been known to butt heads, on occasion. Just this past year, some producers near Vita were asked to stop cultivating parts of their land in order to protect an endangered wildflower. One farmer was actually fined under the Endangered Species Act for non-compliance. While NCC had nothing to do with this lawsuit, Hamel acknowledges that the relationship between the two entities has not been entirely smooth in the recent past. Still, he believes the two can also easily cooperate to achieve a common goal.