Saskatchewan center boosts its potential for education, stewardship and ecotourism
Lori Johnson can appreciate Canadians’ concern about endangered species in the Amazon or Africa. But she’d also like to see them focus that protective energy closer to home.
“In our school presentations, we tell kids that it’s as important to protect local habitats and animals as the more high-profile ones across the globe,” says Johnson, co-ordinator for the Saskatchewan Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre. “They’re just as important to the ecosystem.”
In February, with support from an Enbridge community investment grant, Johnson and her colleagues at the center took a step forward in their fight for homegrown species at risk. The $2,500 grant from Enbridge will support an expansion of the Moose Jaw-based facility, which promotes the conservation of burrowing owls and their prairie habitat through education, stewardship and ecotourism.
Today, the center provides interpretive displays, a native prairie garden, and mobile education, through its popular Owls on Tour travelling school program. The expansion, with a price tag of about $50,000, will create space for an indoor enclosure and a winter viewing area, so people can visit year-round.
And creating more opportunities to educate the public about the plight of the burrowing owl is critical, says Johnson.
For various reasons, Saskatchewan’s burrowing owl population has recently seen a worrisome decline. Biologists who monitor populations of the little ground-dwelling birds, which stand just 23 centimetres (nine inches) high, in nearby Regina report that the regional population has dwindled by 22 per cent per year over the past decade.
The bird has fared better in the Moose Jaw region, with biologists counting 30 pairs last year compared to 15 in 2010.
Enbridge began supporting the center in 2010 because it “offers such value to the community,” says Les Scott, a Regina-based community relations specialist. “It’s such a unique facility, and Lori and her team are working hard to make a difference.”
Enbridge is committed to enriching life in the communities near our projects and operations, supporting stewardship and conservation efforts. Our proposed $7.5-billion Line 3 Replacement Program, along our mainline right-of-way from Hardisty, Alta., to Superior, Wis., is expected to create more than 25,000 full-time equivalent jobs in Canada during its construction phase, many of those in Saskatchewan.
A non-profit organization, the Saskatchewan Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre receives no federal or provincial funding. Its operation hinges on donations and grants, which is why Enbridge’s support is so valued, says Johnson.
“Often, corporations give you one lump sum and then don’t want to hear from you again,” she says. “Enbridge has been consistent in their support of the work we do. And that partnership with Enbridge — their ongoing support — lets us have an impact beyond the walls of our center.”
