This cache is part of a series called the “Prairie Storms Adventure Trail” developed by Living Skies 2014 MEGA Event volunteers. Enjoy the hidden secrets of Southern Saskatchewan by getting off the beaten trail to sites seldom visited, scenic views, historic sites and buildings. The name also pays tribute to the Alberta's “Prairie Winds Adventure Trail” which was created for the Best of the Bad (WestCan 1) MEGA event in 2011.
This series will also take you along the Red Coat Trail, which is a 1,300 km route through southern Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta taken in 1874 by the North-West Mounted Police in their quest to bring law and order to the Canadian West. In Saskatchewan, Highway 13 is designated as Red Coat Trail.
The Community Pasture Program is a land-management service provided on 85 pastures in the Prairie provinces. It was created in the 1930s to reclaim land that was badly eroded during the Prairie drought. Today, the Program has achieved its original goal, having returned more than 145,000 hectares of poor-quality cultivated lands to grass cover, significantly improving the ecological value of these lands and helping to increase the productivity of the area.
The mandate for the Community Pasture Program is to conserve the land resource, protect it from future deterioration due to drought while utilizing the land primarily for the grazing and breeding of livestock. The program uses cattle grazing as the primary tool, supported by the latest range management science, to maintain a healthy, diverse landscape, which is representative of the natural functional prairie ecosystems.
The Community Pasture Program is designed to help producers strengthen their operations by providing pastures and a breeding service. Allocation of grazing space is based on a number of factors, the most important being an assessment of need. The formula used to allot grazing space is designed to benefit small producers by allocating grazing privileges in inverse proportion to land owned, leased or rented by clients. Approximately 2,500 producers use the pastures each summer, grazing about 220,000 head of livestock and utilizing over 3,000 bulls in the pasture breeding program. Fees are charged for all services provided on the pastures.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) will continue working with the governments of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, which own over 90 per cent of the pasture land, to transition the land to users with a more direct interest and to phase out federal involvement in management.
This transition will occur over a six-year period to ensure that the process optimizes future economic and employment opportunities for the affected rural communities.
To receive a Special Edition Living Skies Geocoin, you must have logged, as "found" at least
45 of the “Prairie Storms Adventure Trail” caches. Please send an e-mail to
prairiestorms@livingskies2014.ca and we will check your profile and contact you for mailing arrangements. There are approximately
30 geocoins available.