1,300 hectares of prairie grassland protected

More than 1,000 hectares of prairie grassland in the Rural Municipality of North Cypress-Langford is now protected to combat ongoing threats against one of the most endangered ecosystems in Canada.

In a partnership between the RM and the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), 1,300 hectares of native prairie land — mostly in the eastern region of the municipality — is now under a conservation designation that prohibits future industrial or commercial development.

North Cypress-Langford Coun. Rob Van Kommer (Ward 1) says he is proud to have been part of this project.

“I want to make sure it’s sustainable and that we’re helping sustain our municipality the way it is,” Van Kommer said in an interview Thursday.

“The biggest thing for us was the future, we need to try to help the aquifer, we need to try and help everything,” he said.

The parcel was chosen to protect the grasslands, but also the Assiniboine Delta Aquifer underneath the threatened land.

An aquifer is a permeable layer of rock underground that holds and transports groundwater. Van Kommer says it is a valuable resource to many farmers in the area.

“The farming industry around here is huge because of the aquifer,” he said, referring to the prominent potato farming industry in the region.

“It’s basically the sandy land what makes potatoes so comfortable to grow in this country. And with the water (from the aquifer), you’re almost guaranteeing a pretty good crop every year,” Van Kommer said.

“It is a resource and if we abuse that resource, it’s not going to be here forever.”

In addition to being one of the most endangered ecosystems, prairie grasslands are also one of the least protected terrestrial ecosystems on the planet, according to NCC program director Josh Dillabough.

Dillabough, who has worked on numerous conservation projects in southwestern Manitoba, said the move to preserve the land above the aquifer will protect native biodiversity.

“These properties, they have this native prairie that also have these rare species, including our northern prairie skink,” Dillabough said, which is the only species of lizard native to Manitoba.

“The properties that we’re working on are so special that it’s amazing that the municipality and the council is so forward-thinking on this,” Dillabough said. “It is native prairie, like it is important that these plants are managed.”

The RM still holds ownership and therefore collects taxes on the land. “It just means that the development of that property, they have to stay native prairie, and that supports the local grazing agriculture that’s going on there right now,” Dillabough explained.

“It provides the opportunity for these lands to stay that way,” he said.

» rgerrard@brandonsun.com