Coordinating Data on the Health of the Prairie Ecosystem

How can producers, governments, and the various responsible agencies tell if the prairie is healthy? How do we examine rangeland and riparian areas and agree on policies and management practices? The best way is to conduct an assessment, store and analyse the data.

Until recently, each organization collected and stored data using its own format and protocol, with no shared methods available to monitor the state of rangeland and riparian areas. Now, the Prairie Conservation Action Plan (PCAP) is developing standard methods of collecting and storing data, allowing agencies to share information and coordinate their efforts in preserving the prairie ecosystem.

PCAP brings together partners with the common goal of a healthy prairie. Since 1998 PCAP has been operating as a subcommittee of the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association. For this project the PCAP Working Prairie Group has developed standard protocols for data collection and storage through the Saskatchewan Range and Riparian Health Assessment Framework.

Partners include Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (which provides funding through the Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program (CAAP), with delivery of funding by the Agriculture Council of Saskatchewan), Agri-Environment Services Branch of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority, the Saskatchewan Research Council, Ducks Unlimited Canada, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment, and the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

Jennifer Lohmeyer is a Program Co-ordinator with the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority. She says both agencies and producers will benefit. “Agencies will be more effective if they are able to share data with other agencies. They will be able to provide better information to the producer even if the producer worked with a different agency in the past.” Among other benefits, agencies will get maximum use of collected data, with easy reference to overlaps or gaps in the research. Data will also be less likely to be lost, and long-term range and riparian health will be more effectively monitored throughout the province.

A manual has been assembled using the standard protocols and describing mandatory and optional data categories, collection methods, a detailed species list and guidelines for data entry and storage. It complements, but does not replace, existing range and riparian health assessment handbooks. This manual is available on the PCAP website:  http://www.pcap-sk.org.

Phase Two of the project, set to be completed next year, will build a database for use by the partner agencies. Data sharing agreements are also being developed, to ensure that information shared between agencies respects privacy rights of the landowner.

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