Regulations Amending the Wildlife Area Regulations – De-Listing of Unit Number 10 of the Prairie National Wildlife Area

Key findings from the strategic environmental assessment (SEA) conducted for the Regulations Amending the Wildlife Area Regulations, as published in Canada Gazette, Part II.

The Canada Wildlife Act and the Wildlife Area Regulations allow for the establishment, management and protection of national wildlife areas (NWAs) for research, conservation and interpretation purposes. The creation and effective management of NWAs serve to protect and conserve wildlife and wildlife habitat.

In Budget 2018, under the Nature Legacy initiative, the Government of Canada (GoC) committed to supporting Canada’s biodiversity and to protecting species at risk, not only by expanding the network of NWAs but also by favouring the use of high conservation value lands and optimizing the management of wildlife habitat and conservation efforts. The 2019 and 2020 Speeches from the Throne reiterated this commitment. Furthermore, in Budget 2021, the GoC announced an additional investment over five years in Canada’s Enhanced Nature Legacy, in continued support of these commitments.

Prairie NWA in southern Saskatchewan includes a unit of land (unit 10) of 160 acres, which is of low conservation value. Since 1956, prior to the creation of the NWA in 1979, unit 10 has been occupied and used for cattle operations. Unit 10 has never met the criteria for designation as an NWA and should not have been included in the Prairie NWA at its creation.

The Regulations Amending the Wildlife Area Regulations (Regulations) de-list the unit 10 land. Subsequently to the de-listing of unit 10, the Department will dispose of unit 10 by exchanging it for a grassland parcel that is of high conservation value and contains critical habitat for Sprague’s Pipit, a songbird listed as “threatened” in Schedule 1 to the Species at Risk Act. The Department is considering combining the parcel with the adjacent Prairie NWA unit 11, which is also of high conservation value, to establish a new NWA (the potential new NWA) through an anticipated subsequent proposal to amend the Wildlife Area Regulations.

The Regulations constitute the first necessary step in a sequence of steps aimed at optimizing the management of lands in the Prairie NWA, in order to ensure the greatest possible effectiveness of conservation. One of these steps is the creation of the potential new NWA with the high conservation value lands of the grassland parcel and unit 11. These Regulations are therefore key to an ensuing process that is consistent with the GoC’s Enhanced Nature Legacy commitment from Budget 2021, to support biodiversity by favouring the use of high conservation value lands in the creation of NWAs.

There are no direct environmental outcomes expected from the Regulations, per se. The Regulations are a first step in a broader initiative aimed at creating the potential new NWA using high conservation value lands and at optimizing the management of wildlife habitats and conservation efforts in the area. The indirect environmental outcomes of the initiatives to follow the Regulations are therefore anticipated to be positive.

The unit 10 de-listing process of the Regulations does not have any direct environmental effects, nor does it directly contribute to the 2022 to 2026 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS) goals and targets. It is the broader initiative of the subsequent creation of the potential new NWA and then of other new, southern Saskatchewan NWAs of higher conservation value that would have environmental outcomes expected to contribute to the following FSDS goals:

• Goal 13 – Take Action on Climate Change and Its Impacts: A strengthened protected areas network contributes indirectly to the larger strategy of the GoC to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Optimizing the effectiveness of conservation and biodiversity protection measures in the southern Saskatchewan area by creating protected areas of high conservation value would play a role in addressing climate change by modestly enhancing the resilience and adaptive capacity of these areas to climate-related hazards and natural disasters.
• Goal 15 – Protect and Recover Species, Conserve Canadian Biodiversity: The ultimate objectives of the Regulations are to contribute to the greater and improved protection of wildlife and wildlife habitats in the southern Saskatchewan area. The creation of the potential new NWA and then of other new NWAs using high conservation value lands would help further these objectives, and thereby contribute to increasing the overall health of local ecosystems.

The Regulations are a first step in a broader initiative aimed at contributing to the mitigation of certain effects of climate change through processes such as the protection of species and the promotion of genetic diversity, erosion prevention and carbon sequestration. As such, favouring the use of high conservation value lands in the creation of NWAs and optimizing the management of wildlife habitats and conservation efforts will contribute to fostering a healthy environment, which is central to the quality of human life.

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) is committed to ensuring that regulations are clear for stakeholders, and are an effective means of protecting wildlife and wildlife habitats through management of the NWAs in Canada. All NWAs are managed in such a way as to maintain their ecological integrity for the benefit of migratory birds, species at risk and other wildlife of national importance. The overall management strategy applicable to all NWAs serves to protect and maintain habitat vital to wildlife and to improve habitat when necessary for wildlife use.

Guided by the Wildlife Area Regulations, each individual NWA is managed according to the conservation objectives set out in its respective management plan, tailored to the specific characteristics of its site and surrounding area. Management plans are elaborated in consultation with local Indigenous communities, stakeholders and the general public and are used by ECCC’s regional teams to guide decision-making on the monitoring of wildlife, the maintenance and improvement of wildlife habitat, the enforcement of regulations, the maintenance of any facilities, and permitting.

As provided for in the Regulations, the de-listing of unit 10 was devised within the longer-term and broader departmental objectives of favouring the use of high conservation value lands in the creation of NWAs and optimizing the management of wildlife habitat and conservation efforts.

In and of itself, the de-listing of unit 10 of the Prairie NWA has no direct environmental effects. It is simply the first necessary step in a sequence of steps aimed at optimizing the management of lands in the Prairie NWA, one of which is to create a potential new NWA that will contribute to the improved protection of wildlife and wildlife habitats in the southern Saskatchewan area. Consequently, the de-listing of unit 10 requires no follow-up or monitoring measures.