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Protecting ecosystems requires diverse approach

A broadly integrated approach is required if we are to conserve threatened ecosystem such as prairie grasslands.
ecosystems
Kenton Lysak, left, talks with Carol Bolt and Bernie Egilsson after Lysak’s Earth Day presentation.

A broadly integrated approach is required if we are to conserve threatened ecosystem such as prairie grasslands.
That was the clear message those attending an Earth Day presentation Saturday in Yorkton at an event hosted by the Yellowhead Flyway Birding Trail Association heard Saturday from speaker Kenton Lysak with the Meewasin Valley Authority in Saskatoon.
“Grasslands now are really one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world,” said Lysak.
That is particularly true of rough fescue grasslands. “Rough fescues are perennial bunch grasses (growing in dense tufts) with stiff, narrow leaves that are rough to the touch, and with purplish sheaths at the base of the leaves which persist from year to year even though the leaf blades may fall off,” details material from the Alberta Prairie Conservation Forum.“Three species or subspecies of rough fescue occur in Canada and adjacent parts of the USA. Alberta is the only province (or state for that matter) in which all three species occur and their distribution probably reflects the pattern of colonization following deglaciation (10,000 years ago).
“Plains Rough Fescue occurs in northern Great Plains Grasslands and parklands from west-central Alberta through central Saskatchewan to southeastern Manitoba and North Dakota.”
Lysak said the loss of such grasslands has been dramatic.
“There’s only five per cent of what there was 100 years ago,” he said.
The loss of grasslands has been a result of human encroachment from urbanization and agriculture. However, Lysak is not one who sees farms as “evil men with pitchforks.” He said he understands that farmers require land to grow food for a growing world population.
That said, Lysak said it means additional efforts to maintain the limited amount of native grasslands is important, as is trying to re-establish grassland stands where possible.
The revitalization of grasslands however is not easy because there are so many organisms within the ecosystem which interact. Lysak said be tilling the native grasslands it exposes the soil bacteria to the air, changing the make-up. While efforts to reintroduce the natural grassland soil bacterias are being made, it has been with limited success.
Native grasslands also face issues of encroachment by non-native plant species.
“Invasive species are going to be a huge battle over the next couple of decades,” said Lysak.
As a more understood example Lysak pointed to zebra mussels and how the one-time Ukraine-based water crustaceans are causing problems in Canadian waterways.
“They change entire ecosystems to benefit them at the cost of all other species,” he said.
In the case of grasslands invasive species can take over native species stands.
Lysak said other human influences can impact nature, pointing to light pollution. He said the light produced by cities can be “really harmful to animals and plants.”
Noise too can be a factor.
Lysak said there are situations where reproduction levels have been found to be lower in some species in some areas, the problem being traced to noise pollution impacting the ability of species to communicate.
In regards to maintaining grasslands in particular, Lysak said the traditional influences must be understood.
For example, grasslands were once renewed by lightning caused fires, and the 34-acres of grasslands being preserved in Saskatoon are being treated to “prescribed burns” to mimic the lightning caused events.
“It (the fire) brings back a ton more native species,” he said.
Similarly, huge herds of bison were a part of grasslands in the past, a role taken on by a small flock of sheep at the Saskatoon grasslands.
Lysak said while it may seem a daunting task to save ecosystems, or species, efforts are working.
Internationally, for the first time since conservation efforts started in the 1950s, tiger numbers are increasing, said Lysak.
And, pandas have been shifted to vulnerable, rather than endangered.
“So we’re not too late to the game,” he said.