National heritage group adds pasture land to 'endangered places' list

Vast tracks of Saskatchewan land used primarily for cattle grazing have been added to a national heritage group's list of endangered places. The National Trust for Canada, an organization that highlights the value of historic places and hopes to save them, added community pastures in Saskatchewan to its list, according to an announcement Thursday. A provincial group that has been raising concerns about the future of pasture land welcomed the move. "These are worth conserving and we need to take steps ... to provide conservation," Trevor Herriot, from the advocacy group Public Pastures - Public Interest, said. Herriot explained how a 2012 move by the federal government to end its stewardship of pasture land, through the PFRA, put thousands of acres of Crown land into the hands of the provincial government which has invited users of the land (primarily cattle ranchers) to purchase the land. According to Herriot, the ecological value of the largely undisturbed land has been overlooked or ignored...more