Resolution No. 21-01A

WHEREAS, the Department of Agriculture and Food, along with Environment and Resource Management and Economic and Co-Operative Development, are currently working on a process to make tree resources on agricultural crown lands available to potential users; and

WHEREAS, lessees of agricultural crown land have paid and continue to pay lease fees and taxes on the total acres including areas containing tree resources;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that SARM endeavor to ensure that the new process does not take away any of the existing rights that lessees have to the tree resource on agricultural crown lands that they lease.

Response from Gord Nystuen:

The current policy with respect to Crown agricultural land is that the Crown owns the timber resources and has the duty to manage it to maximize the benefits to Saskatchewan residents. This includes the right to enter onto the lands and harvest the resource. At the same time, it is recognized that sustainable use of this provincial resource can only be achieved through the willing participation of Crown leaseholders in decisions surrounding the management and harvest of this timber resource.

Over the upcoming months, Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management (SERM), the Saskatchewan Economic and Co-Operative Development (SECD) and Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food (SAF) will be engaging local communities and Crown leaseholders in a public dialogue on how to best utilize this public resource.