Ranchers encouraged to attend Priority Threat Management assessment workshop

Nov 22, 2021

The Saskatchewan Stock Growers Foundation recently received $3.5 million dollars from the Westin Family Foundation in order to investigate conservation agreements and help ranchers to conserve biodiversity in south west Saskatchewan as well as maintain their ranching operations.

The Saskatchewan Stock Growers Foundation and the University of British Columbia's Conservation Decisions Lab will be holding a Priority Threat Management assessment session to inform conservation agreements and easements in south west Saskatchewan as Program Manager for the Stock Growers Foundation, Tom Harrison explains.

"It's an interactive exercise that asks producers, species experts, and natural resource experts to get into a group and begin talking about different conservation items, different needs and then come up with priority areas to work in, priority places, and priority activities to focus on."

Harrison adds that through the workshop itself, they hope to get engagement from producers as well as species experts, ranchers, and ag producers in order to get their thoughts on different activities.

Harrison says ranchers are essential to the conservation process.

"The ranching community throughout Saskatchewan is responsible for retaining and managing the native grasslands and naturalized grasslands in Saskatchewan, and the reason we have that allows the wildlife to flourish and gives a home for them."

The online workshop will be taking place Tuesday, November 23rd from 12:30-3:30 pm. For more details and information on how to attend contact Wayne Hellquist, General Manager of the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Foundation at quest@myaccess.ca

Those attending will also receive a $50 Cowtown gift as a token of appreciation.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

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Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.