BRANDON — The proposal to establish an ecological corridor from Riding Mountain National Park to Brandon, along the Little Saskatchewan River, has been rejected after landowners said they were worried about increased regulation.
The Assiniboine West Watershed District published a letter this week advising it has decided to reject $1 million in federal funding due to pushback that came to light during a series of town hall meetings.
“Due to extreme opposition, the board… has decided to decline the project entitled, “From Mountain to River, Riding Mountain National Park to the Assiniboine River,” said the letter, signed by watershed district general manager Ryan Canart.
The project was aimed at repurposing land owned by private citizens, municipalities and First Nations, to establish a greenbelt.
When it was announced in November, Winnipeg MP Terry Duguid, the government’s special adviser on water, said the project would protect water quality and help species at risk, such as the short-eared owl and redheaded woodpecker, as well as protect habitat for black bears and moose.
The Assiniboine district provides land management funding, resources and services to producers, municipal partners and residents, as per its website. Programs support practices to increase soil integrity, water quality and landscape longevity.
A former conservation worker told the Brandon Sun, farmers became suspicious of the plan, proposed by Parks Canada, because they feared it would be tied to environmental regulations on land use.
Parks Canada had suggested in several letters there would be no strings attached and the repurposed land would not be designated as protected.
“Any obligations would be clearly understood by the landowner before choosing to become part of the corridor,” wrote Parks Canada ecological corridors manager Christine Drake last week. “The project area will not be formally designated or recognized as an ecological corridor by Parks Canada as part of this funding.”
Farmers, however, took notice of specific terminology used by Parks Canada it its letters, said Manitoba Wildlife Federation senior science adviser Rob Olson.
He told the Sun that after meeting with farmers, he could sense they were worried about the potential for a future change to the plans.
“These guys are running significant businesses here, and they’re smart, and they read agreements and contracts for a living nowadays,” said Olson.
Olson also pointed to language that omitted mention of future land use, such as the land would not be formally designated as a corridor “as part of this funding.”
“Parks Canada, as the agency, is a protection agency. They’re not a private land management agency. So as soon as Parks Canada is chosen, it starts to send signals to people and (raises) concerns that maybe this is a protection program,” said Olson.
“Then you get into the documents, and they talk about things like compatible activities, the need for regulatory mechanisms, a real focus on species at risk… those are nerve-wracking words for producers.”
Parks Canada has not released a statement about the watershed district pulling out of the project.
Olson said Parks Canada devised a plan that hinged on repurposing land — mostly from private citizens — and passing it on to the local watershed district, which would be provided grant funding for the project to be implemented.
“I think the process and the paper broke all the rules that I’m aware of, in terms of how to work with (private residents) in the right way,” Olson said.
He added that farmers told him the engagement process was severely limited, and that they only received information from Parks Canada through the letters.
The federal government launched the program for ecological corridors in 2022.
— Brandon Sun