MELITA - For 20 years, a fourth-generation Melita-area cattle producer has been helping protect native grassland pastures and species at risk along the Souris River Valley in partnership with the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation.
Allan Downey’s family farm was homesteaded in the 1880s. At the time, Downey’s great-grandfather fenced mixed-grass prairie that was grazed by massive bison herds. Now the family runs a cow-calf operation.
"We’ve always had cattle every generation and we enjoy them," Downey said.
Protecting native habitat is essential for his operation, he explained. Eighty per cent of Manitoba’s mixed-grass prairie has disappeared, and the grasslands protected at his farm are helping to save many prairie species, including the endangered Ferruginous Hawk, Baird’s Sparrow and Sprague’s Pipit.
His partnership with the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation (MHHC) has allowed Downey to bring several new activities to the farm including perimeter pasture fencing, cross fencing, dugouts, watering systems and shrub mowing — all are centred on preserving mixed-grass prairie.
Downey connected with the MHHC after purchasing land off the Souris River. He soon learned the organization was offering funding to operators to put a caveat on land to leave it essentially untouched.
"That sat right into what we were wanting and believed in, and we’ve just continued ever since," Downey said. "It fell in line with what we wanted the land to stay as."
The MHHC projects proved to be a good fit for the farm because the organization was making funding available for projects he was already looking to undertake.
He would encourage other producers interested in partnering with the MHHC to do so because of the success he has found in their collaborations, and the aid in helping maintain the land in its historic natural condition.
"We care a lot for our cows and native prairie grasslands," said Allan. "There are fewer cattle producers every year, and 2021 was a tough year for many. It is encouraging that MHHC understands that beef producers are protecting their grasslands, raising food and helping endangered species at the same time. It is nice to feel appreciated."
MHHC conservation specialist Tom Moran said protecting the about 15 per cent of the remnants of mixed-grass prairie and native grasslands left in Manitoba and the species living in these ecosystems remains critical.
"Every time we lose habitat and lose species, that’s a mark against our ability to manage the landscape and manage the planet," Moran said. "These lands evolved under grazing management, and I think it’s important to keep that in place to have healthy grasslands and healthy wildlife species that rely on those grasslands."
The idea behind the program and partnership with Manitoba Beef Producers is that native grasslands are important for wildlife, especially listed and threatened species, Moran said. The MHHC can provide funding and support to participating producers through different programs or easements.
"That’s been the primary long-term protection tool in the southwest and in areas where there are mixed-grass prairie," Moran said.
The MHHC works with producers to provide funding for improvements including fencing, water management, water supply, brush control and other activities. Moran added the MHHC also shares insights on different grazing systems with those who are interested.
"We’re looking to help them continue to manage those grasslands in a favourable way and support what they’re doing to raise beef and support their families," Moran said. "In some cases, we’ll provide some fencing and water systems that facilitate rotational grazing. It’s up to the producer at the end of the day in terms of how he manages his landscape, but we provide some support and advice."
The MHHC is continuing to pursue long-term protection for native grasslands in Manitoba, and this has been accomplished at times through conservation easements protecting the lands in perpetuity, like the project undertaken by the Downeys.
"We have a responsibility to monitor what is happening there so we do annual inspections and then as programs like this one become available we will seek out our co-operators and see what kind of opportunities we can work on," Moran said.
As producers learn about available MHHC programming, Moran noted they are one of several organizations offering incentives for land management. They are seeing increased engagement.
"I think folks see what’s happening, and they see the support they can get, and your phone will ring and someone will be interested in some programming, or then we’ll get a referral from one farmer to another to have some conversation about our programs," Moran said.
The partnership with Manitoba Beef Producers began accepting applications for the project in 2017, hitting the landscape in 2018. The programming began with a focus area along the southwest part of the province and along the Souris River.
They are now expanding to a larger target area that encompasses a broader part of the landscape, Moran said, while keeping a focus on grasslands and wildlife.
MHHC can now work with producers to deliver programs from the Saskatchewan border, to south of Riding Mountain National Park to just west of Winnipeg.
Areas for funding are targeted based on ecology, landscape features and survey information on species.
For producers participating in projects, the MHHC will complete a range of management evaluations, additional surveys of species and examines uptakes in programming to measure the success of the program. This data in turn ties back to the preservations of biodiversity, habitat, grasslands and species.
"When we see the program growing and expanding, that says something," Moran said. "The take-home is preserving this natural cover and supporting the folks that are doing the actual heavy lifting — the [people] who actually work on the landscape and that’s the landowners — and they’re trying to make a living and raise families and keep the rural fabric going here in Manitoba. That’s important stuff."
Protecting ecosystems in the province is for the benefit of all Manitobans, grasslands and native species conservation, said MHHC director of conservation Kurt Mazur.
"The grasslands are an at-risk ecosystem — its focus is a lot more on species conservation and habitat conservation," Mazur said. "That’s where our focus on the grasslands is really, really, really geared towards."
The native prairie is one of the most threatened ecosystems in North America, Mazur said. Mixed-grass prairie is more abundant than tall-grass prairie, but it remains at risk, affecting the plants, bugs and animals that rely on it as a habitat.
These ecosystems are at risk due to cultivation. He noted once an area is cultivated and put into an annual crop rotation restoration is incredibly difficult.
The goal of MHHC is to ensure it is maintained on the landscape and cattle producers are an essential part of that formula.
Cattle can serve as a surrogate for the bison that once roamed the prairies.
"Just like bison, they clip the plants, they put pressure on the plants, and their hooves are on the ground working the ground to expose the ground for seed germination," Mazur. "They’re very good surrogates for bison on the landscape in that way. They’re a type of pressure on the landscape."
The MHHC encourages producers to not keep cattle in one area for an entire summer of grazing, moving the cattle gives the grass a chance to regrow using a rotational system.
Without support from beef producers and other livestock producers, the value of the land turns to cultivated acres.
"The connection of beef and grasslands is just essential," Mazur said.
