SASKATCHEWAN'S
REPRESENTATIVE AREAS NETWORK (RAN)

Saskatchewan has a conservation program called the Representative Areas Network (RAN). It was created by the provincial government in the 1990s to protect natural areas across the province so that nature in Saskatchewan will always exist in a natural, healthy state. The RAN is Saskatchewan's contribution to a global effort by numerous countries to address the serious concerns surrounding Earth's depleting biological diversity.

The goal of Saskatchewan's RAN is stated by government: "to conserve Saskatchewan's native biological diversity and natural resources by protecting and managing a system of areas which represent the full range of our native ecological systems. Included within this goal is the maintenance of three basic levels of biodiversity: genetic, species and ecosystem". The goal is a good one. CPAWS supports it whole-heartedly.

The RAN in Saskatchewan is a network of old and new protected areas. Provincial Parks, National Parks, ecological reserves, parkland reserves, wildlife habitats lands, etc -- these make up the RAN and are protected under some form of provincial or federal legislation. New sites are currently being identified.

In order to have a good cross-section of healthy protected ecosystems, ecological representation and ecological integrity must be the guiding factors in choosing and managing sites. In other words, sites must capture many different types of ecosystems. And sites must be big enough and healthy enough to allow the wildlife and natural processes (e.g. fire) to continue. Furthermore, a network of protected areas must be linked in some way to ensure that movements of wildlife are able to continue.

Unfortunately, much of this is not happening. The process for selecting new RAN sites in Saskatchewan is flawed because site selection is being driven by economics and severely limited by industry demands (e.g. mining, forestry, oil and gas). Many (not all) of our new RAN sites probably will not be capable of supporting wildlife species over the long-term and species will likely begin to disappear. Reasons for this vary, but to name a few:

• sites are typically too small to ensure that natural processes (like fire) are maintained,
• sites do not adequately represent natural ecosystems, sensitive or rare places
• sites have no buffer zones around them to protect the inner cores from outside impacts,
• sites are unconnected from one another, and as such, do not allow for the flow of wildlife movements between sites.

Management for many of our RAN sites includes activities and developments such as road-building, golf courses, poisoning of wildlife, mining exploration, etc -- all of which destroy ecological integrity. In some areas, such as our provincial parks, roads and campgrounds are needed so that people can visit and enjoy nature. But developments must be strictly limited, localized (or perhaps placed outside of the park), and carefully planned so that the ecological integrity of the area is preserved. If that is not possible, then the area under question should not be touted as part of a network of lands whose first priority (goal) is to preserve native biodiversity. Other areas that can be managed for ecological integrity should be protected instead.

There is much work to do to conserve some of our native lands. Saskatchewan's RAN program has great intensions -- indeed, a well-chosen network of protected areas benefits every living creature on this planet, including people. CPAWS is working to towards achieving a good RAN by helping to establish quality-protected areas and by addressing the current flaws in the RAN process. The human issues surrounding site selection and protection are numerous, complicated and often difficult to resolve. But they are important and worth the effort.

LEARN MORE:

Government Protected Area Programs Learn about the RAN, government commitments, and the state of protected areas in Saskatchewan.

Connecting Ecosystems Linked protected areas are vital to preserving ecosystems.

Biodiversity Planet Earth is undergoing a rapid loss of species.