Rare Plant Rescue (RPR) is a voluntary stewardship program for landholders with rare plants or rare plant habitat.
Launched in 2002, RPR aims to conserve rare plant habitat by building strong, respectful relationships with landholders and providing them with the information they need to make informed stewardship decisions. It is modeled after Nature Saskatchewan's successful Operation Burrowing Owl program.
Rural landholders with habitat supporting endangered and threatened plant species are informed of this natural heritage and invited to sign a voluntary stewardship agreement. RPR staff conduct rare plant surveys on participants’ land, and return periodically to monitor the status of any plant species at risk occurrences that are found.
As of 2024, 103 landholders and managers participate in RPR, and together are conserving 279,096 acres (112,949 ha) of valuable rare plant habitat while they continue to use their land as they always have.
Rare Plant Rescue is focusing on the following nine species protected both provincially and federally as threatened, endangered or extirpated (no longer found in Saskatchewan, but still present in other places.) Rare Plant Rescue also tracks the following seven provincially rare plants species as well as other rare plants (as determined by the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre): For further information please check out A Pocket Guide to Rare Plants Southern Saskatchewan Are you a Saskatchewan rancher with rare plants on your land? Are you interested in having a Beneficial Management Plan done up for your farm by a professional agrologist, and access to dollar-for-dollar funding to implement management actions (e.g. invasive species control) that are beneficial for your ranching operation and the rare plants on your land? And the best part…..it is completely FREE!!! If so, check out Rare Plants and Ranchers, our joint program with the Native Plant Society of Saskatchewan! Native grassland plants and ranching go hand in hand. The prairie ecosystem, including its native plant species, evolved under grazing pressure by bison and native ungulates. With the disappearance of bison from the landscape, domest ic livestock are now the dominant grazers in our prairie ecosystem, and grazing cont inues to be essential to maintain healthy native grasslands. And, as any r anche r will tell you, healthy grasslandsare required for a healthy livestock operation. The Rare Plants and Ranchers program, a joint init iative between the Native Plant Society of Saskatchewan (NPSS) and Nature Saskatchewan, offers a practical stewardship solution for ranchers with rare native plants on their lands. This program complements Nature Saskatchewan's Rare Plant Rescue (RPR) program, by working with RPR participants to develop site specific beneficial management plans for plant species at risk using an ecosystem-based, multi-species approach. Step 1: A Professional Agrologist with the NPSS will visit the participating landholder or land manager, to conduct an interview with them to obtain some context about the plant species at risk situation on the land, as well as details about the ranching operation history and current management strategies. Step 2: The Professional Agrologist will conduct range and riparian (i.e. wetland) health assessments on the quarter sections enrolled in the program, and collect data on the rare plant populations present and any invasive species or other threats that may be present. Step 3: The data collected in Steps 1 and 2 will be used to prepare a site-specific management plan for the landholder. In addition to the data collected, the management plan also includes specific Step 4: The NPSS provides the landholder/land manager with dollar-for-dollar cost sharing to assist them in implementing the recommendations outlined in the beneficial management plan. Step S: After the recommendations have been implemented, the NPSS and Nature Saskatchewan provide ongoing monitoring of the plant species at risk, in order to assess the effects of the recommendations on the plant populations and habitat, and landholders are given the opportunity to adjust management practices accordingly (adaptive management). There are many benefits associated with the Rare Plants and Ranchers program, including: If you are currently a participant in the Rare Plant Rescue program, all you have to do is call the RPR Coordinator at (306) 780-9417 or the Native Plant Society of Saskatchewan Office at (306) 668-3940. The program is FREE and we do all the work! If you are not involved in the Rare Plant Rescue program, you can still participate in Rare Plants and Ranchers if you have one (or more!) of the following plant species at risk on your land: If you are unsure if you have any of the above species or not, please contact us and we can help you out!
How does the program work?
management recommendations to benefit the plant species at risk on the land. These recommendations use the best available know ledge, follow specific recommendations included in the plant species at risk Recovery Strategies, and are developed in consultation with the landholders and plant species at risk experts to ensure the recommendations are mutually beneficial and practical for both the ranching operation and the rare plant populations. An example of a recommendation might be controlling the spread of Leafy Spurge (Euphorbia esula). While this would greatly benefit the plant species at risk by reducing competition from a noxious weed, it also directly benefits the producer by improving range quality for cattle. No recommendations that would be detrimental to the ranching operation are ever suggested, and there is no obligation by the landholders to implement any or all of the recommendations.What are the benefits?
How can I participate?
If you would like to participate, or if you have questions about the program or plant species at risk, please call the RPR Coordinator at (306) 780-9417 or the Native Plant Society of Saskatchewan Office at (306) 668-3940.
