The Species at Risk Partnership on Agricultural Lands (SARPAL) is a federal initiative supporting voluntary stewardship actions on commercially farmed lands. The focus is on habitat for Species at Risk (SARs) and associated critical habitat (ECCC 2015). SARPAL is administered by provincial or regional organizations; in Saskatchewan, SARPAL is a new program administered through a joint partnership between the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association (SSGA) and South of the Divide Conservation Action Program, Inc. (SODCAP). Projects funded through the Saskatchewan SARPAL program include grass banking, habitat management agreements, habitat restoration, niche product branding, results-based agreements, and term conservation easements (SSA 2015; SODCAP 2015).

The program is based on feedback from producers and the Ministry of Agriculture, resulting in two main arrangements: results-based conservation agreements, in which direct financial payments are dependent on the results from stewardship actions and an economic evaluation of stewardship activities, and habitat management agreements, in which the producer receives direct financial payments based on the perceived or actual up-front cost of an activity. Habitat management agreements focus more on avoidance of certain activities that may be detrimental to SARs or on implementation of management activities that accommodate the needs of SARs, and are tailored to each circumstance. Agreements vary in length, possibly lasting for a decade or more. Some programs are still in development, and partners will be conducting an economic evaluation of costs to producers, and cost-effectiveness of programs.

Technical assistance is provided to producers in addition to financial incentives. Because the program is being administered regionally in southwest Saskatchewan, certain SARs are targeted under this funding. Although monarch butterflies are not included as a target, prairie species, including the Mormon metalmark butterfly, are the focus, and activities such as reseeding cultivated land to prairie habitat or changes to grazing plans have the potential to benefit native pollinators such as the monarch (Harrison 2016). In Ontario, bobolink and badger are target species. (Van Vliet 2016).

• Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). 2015. Archived – Species at Risk Partnerships on Agricultural Lands.http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=989909.
• Saskatchewan Stockgrowers Association (SSGA). SARPAL. http://skstockgrowers.com/sarpal/.
• South of the Divide Conservation Action Program, Inc. (SODCAP). 2015. South of the Divide Conservation Action Program, Inc. sodcap.com/.
• Laura Van Vliet. 2016. Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association, Program Assistant. Personal communication.
• Tom Harrison. 2016. South of the Divide Conservation Action Program, Inc., Executive Director. Personal communication.

Amount of the Incentive
In development, but varies depending on annual expenses and length of agreement.

Related Institutional Objectives or Targets
Organismes provinciaux

Keywords: best practices, direct financial payment, management, technical assistance