Protecting our connection to the land

Ask any resident what it means to come from Saskatchewan, and you’ll likely hear similar responses: experiences of prairie skies with equally jaw-dropping sunsets and storm clouds, rippling fields of wheat and canola, northern forests with fish-filled lakes.

Our kinship with provincial landscapes runs so deep that it is often these images that shape us and our identity as Saskatchewanians. The land provides the basis for our stories and for our connection to each other.

For Saskatchewan farmers, it also sustains livelihoods. When worked over the course of many generations, a deep and personal attachment to land can form, along with a desire to ensure its protection.

Conservation easements are legal agreements between a landowner and a conservation agency. Since landowners continue to own and manage their land, these agreements can be the perfect instrument to balance interests in working the land with protecting important natural and cultural features.