Letter to Minister Schulz, Minister Sigurdson, Minister Loewen and Minister McIver

Recent proposals for over 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres) of irrigation agriculture expansion within the South Saskatchewan River basin have raised several concerns about environmental impacts, including potential loss of native grasslands.

Native grasslands are valued by Albertans as habitat for a broad diversity of plants and animals, including over two dozen species at risk. Southern Albertans benefit greatly from the ecological goods and services native grasslands provide such as water storage, carbon storage, erosion control, pollination and pest control. Native grasslands support ranchers in sustainable livestock production. Conversion of native grassland for expansion of irrigated cropland would compromise these invaluable and irretrievable assets.

In acknowledging the significant value of native grasslands, the approved South Saskatchewan Regional Plan 2014-2024 (Amended 2018) (SSRP) establishes a regional outcome that “Biodiversity and ecosystem function are sustained through shared stewardship”. Regional objectives specify that “Intact grassland habitat is sustained” and “Species at risk are recovered and no new species at risk are designated”.

Reservoir and other infrastructure development would flood native grasslands and/or impact habitat for species at risk at proposed project sites including Chin Coulee, Deadhorse Coulee, Snake Lake and potentially as part of the MD Acadia Special Areas project. Proponents of irrigation expansion assert that, in keeping with the direction established in the SSRP, expansion of irrigated cropland will occur on already cultivated parcels and not lead to conversion of native grasslands. However, legislation and policy governing decisions about expanding irrigation acres fail to support shared stewardship for sustaining native grasslands.

Gaps include the following that are described more fully in ENCLOSURE 1:
– Lack of a regulatory requirement in the SSRP prohibiting conversion of native grasslands to cropland on public land.
– Lack of regulatory and policy mechanisms for municipalities when implementing irrigation expansion projects (e.g. Special Areas, M.D. Acadia) to prevent loss of native grasslands on municipal and private land.
– Lack of land classification standards and land assessment criteria that preclude adding parcels of native grassland (and parcels of other ecological significance) to Irrigation Districts’ assessment roles. Furthermore there is a lack of ability for an Irrigation District, under the Irrigation District Act (IDA) when making a decision about an application to add a private parcel to the assessment role, to deny approval on the basis that native grasslands or species at risk will be impacted.

For the complete letter, click … here.