Resolution No. 11-06M

WHEREAS, conservation easements should be a decision of private land owners; and 

WHEREAS, Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food (SAF) Land Branches have been putting conservations easements on crown land; and 

WHEREAS, in the future, this land may become privately owned and the new owner will be unable to improve the arable land because of decisions made previously by government bodies; and 

WHEREAS, SAF, being a government body, should be an agent in buying and selling the land but should not have the right to decide what happens to the land in perpetuity; 

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that SARM lobby Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food to stop putting conservation easements on crown land.

Response from Honourable Mark Wartman, Minister of Agriculture and Food: 

SAF uses conservation easements (CE) as a method of protecting native habitat prior to the sale of Crown Land during the tender sale process.  This is done to protect sensitive lands.   

SAF’s use of CEs allows for sale of Crown lands that otherwise would remain under lease.  While CEs prohibit cultivation or disturbance of the natural cover on the land, activities including grazing of livestock, fence line clearing, water development, oil and gas/sand and gravel exploration, and timber harvest may occur with proper approval.   

It is our belief that conservation practices and agricultural use can co-exist and actually serve to benefit each other.