Urban and Rural Attitudes Toward Endangered Species Conservation in the Canadian Prairies: Drawing Lessons From the American ESA

Abstract

The North American prairie ecosystem is under threat from urbanization, agriculture, oil and gas extraction, and climate change. Biodiversity loss is on the rise and while the United States has a national law in place to protect endangered species across all land parcels, Canada does not. The province of Saskatchewan presently has no stand-alone legislation for endangered species. The province, however, has signaled a willingness to create legislation. Using qualitative and quantitative data from urban residents and rural landowners, this article argues that the province would be well served to heed lessons from 40 years of conservation history in the United States. The amendments to the American Endangered Species Act suggest that it is necessary to incentivize landowner cooperation, particularly when dealing with agricultural landowners. The article concludes that Saskatchewan should emulate the American policies of Safe Harbor Agreements and Habitat Conservation Plans with “no surprise” policies.

Keywords:

• agricultural landowners
• rural–urban
• conservation policy tools
• Saskatchewan
• species at risk
• voter attitudes

Notes

1. In November 2011 the Ministry of Environment announced it was conducting a “gap analysis” of endangered species policy that would include recommendations for new policy. In a personal interview with an ecologist at the Ministry, it was confirmed that the province does intend to draft new legislation in the next year or two.

2. Similar to other provinces, Saskatchewan has a lot of “crown land” that is technically owned by either the province or the federal government. However, often times this land is leased to private landowners and thereby placed under private management.

3. There have also been issues with the scientific listing process, the species approach (as opposed to an ecosystem approach), and the recovery success rate. If the law were ever opened up for debate in Congress it is likely that numerous issues would be raised, aside from just the property debate (see Schwartz, 2008).

4. Three landowners contacted me for an interview. In one case it was because the landowner was supportive of conservation and wanted to talk about his stewardship, while in the other two cases the landowners were angry about government regulation of property and wanted to have their voices heard. The other nine landowners contacted were on the basis of these landowner’s recommendations after the interview was over.

5. All government representatives that were interviewed had direct experience working with agricultural landowners.

Additional information

Funding

The author acknowledges grant support from the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.