Today marks World Environment Day, and the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is celebrating by launching a plan to conserve and care for what it says is one of the world’s most endangered and least protected ecosystems, that being Prairie grasslands.

The Prairie Grasslands Action Plan aims to conserve more than 500,000 hectares of the endangered ecosystem and $500 million in support of that over the next seven years.

Acting Regional Director for the NCC, Cameron Wood, said the plan takes the work that Nature Conservancy Canada is doing across the Canadian prairies, and accelerates it to ensure sure the valuable resource sticks around well into the future. He describes grasslands as the unsung hero in nature.

What this means for Saskatchewan is conserving over 1,100 hectares of prairie grasslands in the Cypress Uplands.

Grasslands can store carbon in the soil, help to filter water sources for drinking water, and support local economies in Saskatchewan. They also provide biodiversity and wildlife benefits; wildlife commonly found in the area include pronghorn antelope, mule and white-tailed deer, elk and cougar and species at risk such as burrowing owl, chestnut-collared longspur, common nighthawk and ferruginous hawk.