A donation of $5,000 made last month by the River Ridge Fish and Game to the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation鈥檚 Habitat Trust program brings the total of the branch鈥檚 contributions to the program to $48,000.
The donation was presented to Heath Dredger of Yorkton, president of the SWF, during the SWF鈥檚 88th annual convention held February 16 to 18 in Regina by Kathy Thomas, president of the River Ridge group, which is based in Canora.
During the convention, a total of $173,000, including the River Ridge donation, was raised in 15 minutes because a great number of wildlife clubs participated in a parade of cheques, Thomas said last week as she talked about having attended the convention.
鈥淭his money comes from two fundraisers that we hold,鈥� Thomas said. They are the annual gun show, which this year is being held June 10 and 11, and the annual awards banquet, which is being held at Rainbow Hall on Saturday.
鈥淚t is because of the generosity and support of our community that we can make these donations,鈥� Thomas said, adding that in 2016, the SWF was able to purchase 1,440 acres of land for the habitat Trust.
Just under 300 delegates from all over the province attended the convention to discuss issues that are important to the future of wildlife and habitat, she said. 鈥淭he motto of this year鈥檚 convention was 鈥極ur Province, Our Role, Our Future,鈥� and with over 32,000 members, we are a force to be reckoned with.鈥�
Thomas said that among the highlights of the discussions at the convention were: aquatic invasive species, wild pigs, big game draws and fish and wildlife development fund lands.
鈥淶ebra mussels are at the Saskatchewan borders to the east and south,鈥� she said of the invasive species. Conservation officers checked 770 watercraft and 25 were found to have been contaminated: 14 from Manitoba and 11 from the US.
Thomas shuddered when she attempted to explain the harm the mussels would inflict if they are ever able to invade the pipes of a municipal water supply system.
Most wild pigs in Canada are a mix of wild boar and domestic pigs, she said. Pure wild boars have an average of four piglets to a litter, while these Canadian wild pigs can have up to 13. In the 1990s there were only two locations in the province with wild pigs, now much of southern Saskatchewan has them.
Regarding big game draws, Thomas said that in the last 10 years, applicants have tripled to 89,000 for the 16,000 licences that were available.
Fish and Wildlife Development Fund Lands are properties that were purchased as a cost share with the SWF and the government, she said. Last year the government gave the SWF control over the majority, with the remainder under the control of Ducks Unlimited and Nature Conservancy of Canada.
As a result, these lands have gone from being unoccupied Crown lands to occupied Crown lands and the SWF is in the process of changing the signs to say: 鈥淔oot access only,鈥� she said.
