CYPRESS HILLS

A Plea for Second Thought: the Cypress Hills Grasslands

by Josef Schmutz
Centre for Studies in Agriculture, Law and the Environment, U of Sask.

	- Photo by Branimir Gjetvaj

Clayton Yarshenko reins in his horse. With a wave of his hand he points, saying, "See that - that looks just the way it did when my great-grandfather came here". Clayton's love for the land and for his traditional ranch is strong, a conviction that is shared by his ranching neighbours in five townships surrounding Cypress Hills Provincial Park. This guardianship for the grassland ecosystem, from which his family and his neighbours derive a livelihood, is being undermined by oil and gas exploration and development (click on images to enlarge and see description).

The majority of our province's natural grasslands have already been disturbed by cultivation and fragmented by roads. In contrast, much of the Cypress Hills area has never seen a plow, and ecologically it is in very good shape. There are few roads in the area. Ranchers commonly travel on prairie trails and on horseback. Like its neighbour to the southeast (the Grasslands National Park), the Cypress Hills area is a region of great natural beauty. The two prairie ecosystems, however, are different. Owing to its 50 million year-old landscape, rising 400-500 metres above the surrounding plains, capped with lodgepole pine, white spruce and aspen, the Cypress Hills area contains an abundance of wildlife species, including some plants and animals unique to the area. At least eighty provincial rare plant species and five endangered birds and mammals are found in the Cypress grasslands.

Why is industry so interested in this area? According to the Atlas of Saskatchewan, the Cypress Hills upland and north slope contain small pockets of natural gas. Three major gas fields in western Saskatchewan are now well "developed", and companies have their eye on the smaller pockets that are deep beneath the Cypress Hills (our highest point of elevation east of the Rockies). Industry is looking to the Cypress Hills region, including the North Slopes and in the Gap between the Centre and West Block of Cypress Hills Provincial Park, as an economically viable area to explore and develop.

- Photo by Branimir Gjetvaj

The subtle and not so subtle ecological impacts of oil and gas development are not widely appreciated. The most obvious changes are well sites, storage tanks, compressor stations, roads, power lines, gas flares, waste pits, traffic, noise, and lights. Less obvious, however, are pipelines that rudely disrupt above-ground and subsurface water flow and seepage, changing plant communities and affecting water quality. Impacts from roads go well beyond their narrow breadth and exert a variety of ecological impacts on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. For example, in Cypress, some rare snakes exist -- if one wanted to build an effective trap and block movements for the western hognose snake, smoothgreen snake or the yellowbelly racer, one need only build roads and use them! Recent research has revealed that roads increase mortality of wildlife from road construction and from collision with vehicles. Roads modify animal behaviour, alter the physical environment, alter the chemical environment, contribute to the spread of exotic species, and increase alteration and use of habitat by humans.

Local ranchers have identified important natural areas in the Cypress Hills area that they are fighting to preserve (see a map, 125K). The ranchers are supported by CPAWS, Nature Saskatchewan, the Saskatoon Nature Society, the Regina Natural History Society, the Saskatchewan Environmental Society, and the World Wildlife Fund. Ranchers and conservationists are not asking for a hands-off policy that may be perceived as a drain on the provincial economy. Rather, they are requesting that development and protection of the area be carefully planned. The grasslands need a complete moratorium on oil and gas exploration and development until a meaningful and comprehensive land use plan and an environmental assessment are completed for the region. Meanwhile, oil and gas development can take place on surrounding farmlands which have already been disturbed, leaving the undisturbed grasslands for traditional ranching and wildlife.

What do we trade for the oil and gas that might be found? Although economic considerations encourage the fast pace of oil and gas development in Saskatchewan, the irreplaceable grassland ecosystem of the Cypress Hills should also be a consideration, and cautiously managed with an eye for both the present and the future. Today, the fragile grasslands provide native plants for prosperous, low- input cattle production, thereby providing livelihoods to families that have lived and ranched in the area for three and four generations. At a more rudimentary level, the land- in its wild state, provides natural services that are important to everyone, such as cleansing the atmosphere. Tourism is a vibrant industry in the area, dependent on the natural beauty and health of the ecosystem. Whatever small pockets of natural gas there are beneath the Cypress Hills are not going to spoil. It is conceivable to leave them for now. Imagine the benefit to the people of Saskatchewan in the 22nd Century if we save some of our remaining resources for a time when petroleum will be most valued for medicinal or other specialized purposes.

Today's threats to the Cypress Hills remind us that now is the time to act in a fundamental and responsible way. The wealth of this land, in its unscarred and biologically diverse state, is beyond measure. Conservationists and ranchers, and all concerned citizens must make their voice heard in support of a natural place that provides not only a rare panoramic view, but leads us not only to ponder our historic roots, and also to look to our future. It is a place where nature is allowed to function almost unhindered. It is a place that heals the soul.

This article was originally published in the CPAWS Saskatchewan Fall Newsletter (2000) p. 6-7

LEARN MORE:

North Slope Saved! Report on the efforts of environmentalists and local residents, to protect the Cypress Hills Uplands from petroleum development.