July Newsletter

Newsletter - July 22, 2023

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TOPICS INCLUDE:

Climate Adaptation Demo Day
AIS Monitoring in Saskatchewan
Board of Directors
Thesis Survey - Cover Crops

NEWSLETTER

JULY 2023

Saskatchewan Association of Watersheds Welcomes the 2023/2024 Board of Directors

The Saskatchewan Association of Watersheds (SAW) held their Annual General Meeting on Thursday, July 20, 2023 at the Moose Jaw Events Centre, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Approximately, 40 people were in attendance with 9 watershed stewardship group members voting in a new set of bylaws supporting SAW’s new governance structure.

2022/23 can be noted as a year of change for SAW. SAW’s entire governance, fundraising, and organizational model was restructured this past fiscal year. Now, SAW is the provincial watershed organization that is comprised of 5 watershed districts (Southeast, Southwest, Northeast, Northwest and the Northern District) representing 29 watersheds across Saskatchewan. Each district (except the Northern District) has developed a watershed District Advisory Committee (DAC). The DAC’s bring regional and watershed issues forward to SAW to be addressed, participate in district watershed stewardship planning to identify regional needs and ensure SAW provides suitable and adequate services to districts and form the new SAW board. Representatives from each of the DAC’s are nominated to the SAW Board of Directors and three nominees are approved by the board.

Each DAC has an elected chair to guide their DAC. The current chair for each DAC are:

Northwest DAC – Ken Crush

Northeast DAC – Aron Hershmiller

Southwest DAC – Bernie Lemire

Southeast DAC – David Sloan

SAW is also focused on obtaining charitable status and continues to fundraise through the delivery of the Tree for Life program, Watershed Lottery and Fee for Service contracts. SAW has partnered with over 25 organizations to deliver watershed stewardship programming.

SAW organizational structure changed from employing an Executive Director and one contract employee to over 20 SAW employees in 2022/23. This occurred to ensure the Prairie Watersheds Climate Program (PWCP) was delivered successfully in the next two years in Saskatchewan. SAW’s head office is in Moose Jaw. There are two satellite offices; one in Swift Current and the other in Saskatoon. In addition, there are 10 SAW employees that work remotely throughout the province.

The elected 2023/24 SAW Board of Directors are:

Northwest District – Ruth Seime (Chair), Paul Rybka (Vice-Chair), and Renny Grilz

Northeast District – Aron Hershmiller (Treasurer), Grant McCallum, Morgan Leigh

Southwest District – Daryll Meyer

Southeast District – Teresa Walker, Sharon Rodenbush, and Wade Hicke.

Ex-Officio Representatives – Myron Kopec (SARM) and Julie-Anne Howe (Irrigation Saskatchewan)

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the past and present SAW board members and Watershed Stewardship groups for volunteering your time and efforts towards restructuring the SAW organization. I would also like to thank Sue Michalsky, Paskwa Consultants, for leading us through the restructuring process. Restructuring an entire organization in one year has not been an easy feat.

Through this restructure, watershed stewardship programming is growing provincially at an exponential rate. The SAW staff have been working hard at delivering and supporting SAW's programming and the SAW board would like to thank you for your continued commitment. SAW is very grateful and appreciative of the support we have received from our partners financially and in-kind. SAW will continue to push forward and continue to grow and expand watershed stewardship across Saskatchewan. The future is bright. Please feel free to visit SAW’s website at www.saskwatersheds.ca for updates on the current watershed programs and projects SAW is delivering.

Watershed Stewardship for a Changing Climate

On July 19^th, we partnered with the Assiniboine Watershed Stewardship Association (AWSA) to host a Regenerative Agriculture Workshop and Field Day, in Langenburg, SK. During the workshop, Dr. Dave Sauchyn spoke on Maintaining Soil Health as an Adaptation to Climate Change. We also went on a Regenerative Ag tour hosted by Aaron Gray of Aldaron Beef. The day was both informative and engaging, with stories shared by both our presenters and the participants. Dr. Sauchyn discussed how our climate will be expressing profound weather variability in the future – that our summers may have less precipitation and our winters may have more. A question that did arise from Dr. Sauchyn’s information – how can producers build resiliency with such extreme climate variance?

During Mr. Gray’s field tour, the guests were guided through projects relating to rotational grazing, cover cropping, perennial forage, and other related projects. Participants found it helpful and informative to see the projects being implemented on the land and had several questions for Mr. Gray about his experiences. Due to weather variability potential, Mr. Gray’s work in irrigation is a great way to build resiliency – it stores excess water to be utilized during dryer times.

If you are a producer interested in learning more about existing programming that can help you be climate change resilient, check out our Prairie Watersheds Climate Program!

Click Here for More Information

You may remember that SAW will be developing six climate change adaptation plans for each of the watershed districts. Climate change adaptations processes will be highlighted at public demonstration sites in different parts of the province. The first Climate Change Adaptation Plan will be competed in the Northwest District.

Our first engagement meeting is in Saskatoon on July 28^th, where we will be collaboratively working through the planning process with community members to identify both existing and future climate change effects, the risks and threats of those, and suggest implementation strategies to mitigate these issues.

If you have experience or knowledge, or are interested in watershed management, climate adaptation or environmental systems, let us know! We are looking for interested individuals who will engage with us on a climate adaptation plan from a watershed management perspective – from grassroots to RMs to industry and anyone in between!

For questions, please email the Project Manager, Alyssa Chapman, at a.chapman@saskwatersheds.ca

Aquatic Invasive Species Monitoring

in Saskatchewan

Over the last several years, SAW has been implementing an aquatic invasive monitoring program across Saskatchewan. Over 40 lakes have been veliger sampled, annually, for early detection of quagga and zebra mussels. To date, nether invasive mussel species have been found. This year, SAW has partnered with the Government of Saskatchewan Fish and Wildlife Development Fund and the Water Security Agency to sample 45 lakes across the province.

According to the Invasive Species Centre (invasivespeciescentre.ca/know-before-you-go/), invasive mussels cost Ontario $75- $91 million per year for control management. It is vitally important to prevent these invasive mussels from entering Saskatchewan’s waterways. Saskatchewan, along with the other western provinces of Manitoba, Alberta, and B.C., have mandatory boat inspections and it is required, by law, for drain plugs in watercraft to be removed when moving them across land.

Protecting Saskatchewan waters from aquatic invasive species starts with you!

Here are some ways you can help:

Clean, drain, dry your boat and anything (including fishing lines, lures, inflatable water toys, etc.) that has encountered the water before transport.
Participate in Saskatchewan's Adult Invasive Mussel Monitoring (AIMM) Program
Don't release aquarium/garden pond friends into rivers, lakes, ponds, or storm drains. Learn what to do instead.
Call the TIP line 1 (800) 667-7561 if you identify any aquatic invasive species
Learn about aquatic invasive species and how to identify them. Check out the Government of Saskatchewan Aquatic Invasive Species Fact Sheets and Meet the Species from Invasive Species Centre

Cover Cropping on the Canadian Prairies - Understanding Current Practices

My name is Jodi Holzman and I am the researcher for this survey. I am currently pursuing my MSc in Environment and Management from Royal Roads University. Agriculture has always been a part of life, growing up on a grain farm in west central Saskatchewan, I have a BSc in Agronomy from the University of Saskatchewan and 15 years of work experience in agriculture R&D.

This survey is looking to gather information from you, Prairie farmers, who are or have used cover crops within your production systems since 2016. The intent of this survey is to better understand the goals, practices, benefits, challenges, and costs related to incorporating cover crops into your systems, learning from those of you who have experience. As cover crops are a new and expanding practice to most Prairie farmers, providing relevant knowledge of recent cover crop production practices and of the challenges and benefits of cover crops enables farmers to make more informed decisions around cover crop adoption.

Click here to take the survey!

This knowledge also benefits current cover crop growers by allowing them to make comparisons with the experience of other farmers, will guide future research and development to overcome identified challenges, and improve beneficial management practices for cover crop use.

The focus of information is on producers who do not harvest cover crops as a cash crop. Those who only grow cover crops to harvest as grain, such as winter wheat or rye, or those who intercrop, and harvest both crops as a cash crop are not included in the scope of this research.

The research results will be published in public outlets, including thesis dissertation that will be published in RRU’s Digital Archive, Pro-Quest and Library and Archives Canada. The results might also be disseminated at industry, public, and academic conferences and presentations.

WATCH: The Saskatchewan Association of Watersheds works to protect and conserve Saskatchewan's Freshwater

SAW is dedicated to protect and conserve Saskatchewan's surface and groundwater by implementing source water protection and stewardship programming provincially.