Only 14 per cent of Saskatchewan’s native prairie grasslands remain following losses due to urban development, agriculture, and invasive species.

To enhance conservation efforts across the prairie provinces, specifically prescribed burns, the Weston Family Foundation has awarded the Canadian Prairies Prescribed Fire Exchange with $6.49 million.

Renny Grilz, Meewasin’s Director of Conservation, says a few of the initiatives to be funded include training over 1000 prescribed fire practitioners and land managers and supporting the application of prescribed fire on up to 25 thousand acres of prairie.

Grilz says prairie grasslands are among the most endangered ecosystems in North America, but prescribed burns have been used as a conservation tool for decades. Another one of the initiatives is to establish provincial prescribed fire councils in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta.

He explains that these councils “create that provincial-level partnerships of groups, talking together and working together on prescribed fire. Each province is a little bit different, but there’s also lots of similarities. That’s the role of the fire exchange, to build that network of prescribed fire practitioners.”

Expanding Indigenous-led fire stewardship is also on that list of initiatives.

“We would be working with those communities that are looking at cultural fire to work with them and learn from what they’re doing, but also to help them with any resources and knowledge that we can help them with.”

Grilz explains that prairie grasslands provide homes for wildfire, source water for our drinking-water systems, and provides land for the ranching industry, so keeping the prairies healthy is vital.