Photo: Meewasin

In an effort to rid the grasslands of invasive and overpopulated plant species, Meewasin is once again enlisting the help of shepherd Jared Epp and his flock of sheep.

Meewasin’s Resource Managment Officer Renny Grilz says targeted grazing has many benefits, including enhancing biodiversity, controlling the spread of invasive species, and reducing encroachment by shrubs and trees. Meewasin has utilizing sheep to improve the grassland ecosystems around Saskatoon for the last 18 years.

The two sites that are being targeted this year are the Beaver Creek Conservation Area and the Northeast Swale.

“One of the areas that we’re going to graze has an increase in an invasive plant called sweet clover. It’s popping up in our native grasslands, and it’s starting to choke out some of the (exposed) sand that we need.”

At the Northeast Swale, the sheep will be focusing on shrubs.

“The shrubs that they’re grazing are native shrubs, but the population of the shrubs is too high, so we’re hoping the sheep will try and knock back some of the shrubs.”

Grilz says on select days until September, Epp and his sheep, as well as some herding dogs, will be conducting grazing demonstrations for the public.

“Over the years we’ve done everything from 30 sheep up to 443 sheep at a time grazing. This year we’ll probably have about 65 sheep out grazing our sites.”

The public can view several grazing demonstrations at both Beaver Creek Conservation Area and the Northeast Swale. The demos are free, but viewers will need to register at meewasin.com/grazing demo.