REGINA - Nature Saskatchewan recently celebrated their 75th year anniversary, as the organization looks ahead to continue researching, advocating and protecting wildlife.
Jordan Ignatiuk, executive director of Nature Sask., looked back on how the organization first started.
"[it] all started with sort of a naturalist in out of Yorkton. They had come up with [a] sort of a little, you know, journal of observations and, you know, tidbits of a sort of nature sightings and created a journal called the Blue Jay. That actually even predated the start of the organization itself. And then in 1949, there had been, I guess, sort of a Nature Regina [group] and then [there was also] interest within the province. So in 1949, they got together with this group out of Yorkton and created the Saskatchewan Natural History Society."
Ignatiuk clarified that the Sask. Natural History Society is the legal name of Nature Sask., but around the 1990s, the organization decided to change its business and operating name to Nature Sask.
Over the years, Nature Sask. has helped establish and protect wildlife. Ignatiuk mentioned the organization was a big part of establishing the Grasslands National Park, located near the U.S. border.
Nature Sask. also started various programs, including Operation Burrowing Owl, where landholders voluntarily agree to conserve habitat for the endangered burrowing owl and other species that live on their land.
Because of the care Nature Sask. had for wildlife, many people were interested in joining the organization around the 70s and 80s. At one point, the organization had close to 3,000 members.
Ignatiuk noted how Nature Sask. has members from all across Canada, including Ont., which he credited to the organization for being able to attract people through their Blue Jay journal. A new volume of the journal is regularly published with the latest research and information regarding wildlife.
Speaking of members, throughout the 2000s and 2010s, Nature Sask. saw a big dropoff in their numbers, going down to around 600 members. In response to being asked if that was a concern, Ignatiuk said, "it was." He believed as the internet became a tool for research, people were less interested in joining the organization to understand nature better.
Even with the decline in numbers, Ignatiuk felt there "was [still] a place for the organization to continue because we had created a niche of programs that we were still developing that were important enough for people to sort of access and recognize the importance of them."
Ignatiuk believes the passion of the roughly eight full-time and two part-time staff Nature Sask. employs is a true testament to how the organization has kept going on for so long.
Reflecting on his tenure
Ignatiuk, himself has been with the group for 12 years and is stepping away at the end of Jan.
When asked about his most proud moments throughout his tenure, Ignatiuk pointed toward two key points.
The first was when the Saskatchewan Community Pasture Program (CPP) had been dissolved by the government in the 2010s. So, Nature Sask. and other conservation groups believed the area should still be held in crown ownership because most of the pasture land was native habitat.
So, Ignatiuk lobbied for the land to be leased out to ranchers instead of farmers buying the land and cultivating it. If that were to occur, many species would have lost their home.
From their efforts, Nature Sask. was able to ensure the land was still being used by ranchers. To Ignatiuk's knowledge, none of the lands have been sold as different groups of landowners and ranchers from the areas manage them together and pay a lease to the government.
His second point was advocating for wetland drainage to not occur. Ignatiuk clarified Nature Sask. is not totally against the idea but pointed out that if farmers do cultivate right through wetland, "from a water quality standpoint, it's probably the biggest [issue]. If all this water is draining off, there's no wetland for it to be filtered through. So phosphates, nitrogen, you know, the fertilizers that are being used [by the farmers] are running off the land down the creek, they're ending up in the terminal basins [and] the lakes."
From these elements ending up in bodies of water, Ignatiuk said it has caused the Qu'Appelle chain of lakes to bloom algae in the summer.
According to Ignatiuk, the Sask. Water Security Agency is working on a new agriculture management structure that could be unveiled this month. Ignatiuk is hoping there can be a resolution to the matter soon.
As Ignatiuk closes out his tenure with the group, he has mixed-feelings about his departure.
"I'm sort of at that time in my career where I think, yeah, it's particularly from the advocacy end [where I am like] 'how many times can I keep banging my head against the wall without seeing sort of any results to it?' So you kind of get exhausted from that. And that part of it, I'm sort of ready to move on. On the other end, yeah, there'll be a lot of parts of it that I'll miss, both from this organization specifically, or just the field of biology itself. And from that end, you know, I know I'll keep myself sort of active or interested in finding other ways to be involved."
