Going, going, gone.
Death by a thousand cuts
A text message came in. A shadow of sorrow replaced the smile on Sue’s face.
‘What happened?” Vera asked.
“It’s a message from my neighbour, Wendy.”
Sue reads, “They are destroying the sloughs and bush beside our farm. I have felt sick all afternoon. Amazing how something so beautiful can disappear in a couple of hours. They aren’t done yet.”
That text started a series of events - letters written to and from the landowner along with an invitation for an interview - they declined. Vera and Sue photographing and videoing the ongoing destruction, and sitting around the kitchen table to interview Sue’s neighbour, Wendy Paquin. Wendy has farmed for the last 45 years with her husband, and now their two adult children, in SE Saskatchewan, not far from Balcarres. Below is what Wendy shared with us.
Wendy begins,
“When they first started tearing up the sloughs and bush I thought, well, maybe if we send a letter off they will stop. How dumb or naive was that? They didn’t stop of course. They just carried on.
We could hear the tree limbs snapping from our yard. All the bush, willow, aspen and sloughs have been bulldozed since Christmas. We call the area they are bulldozing now Lauder’s Slough after the family that once lived there. From my kitchen window I can see piles of broken habitat, homes of the wildlife we saw daily….obliterated.”
How much did they actually gain?
“I just thought, wow, how many acres did they get? What they want to gain is not what we try to gain because we don’t have gigantic machinery and we aren’t looking to sell our land. We aren’t “improving it”, as they say. Which is not an improvement, of course, but it is what they think. We’ve gone over this destruction a few times in our family but we try not to now because it’s really getting us down. For us, what was gained and what was lost don’t even equate.”
What was lost
“There is a dirt road between their land and ours. For the most part, the neighbours here wish to see that road undisturbed as it houses a lot of wildlife and flora. Most importantly, it is home to grass nesting songbirds, sharp tails and partridge.
So one can’t quantify that habitat loss in actual numbers. I mean willow, aspen, poplars, dogwood, gooseberries, grasses, wildflowers, all good spring flowering plants for pollinators and of course, spring brings all these trees into bloom. Amphibians, reptiles, we hope there are still some amphibians left in there, grasses, brushes and the water help along dragon flies and other aquatic insects. Not to mention, we see badgers, occasionally a fox has a spot there.
We take note because we sometimes go down this road 10 times a day. Each spring we note the possible nesting birds. Sometimes it’s just birds passing through but shovellers, mallards, occasionally Canada geese and if we are lucky, a horned grebe nest there. In the driest of years, Lauder’s Slough barely dried out.
When I first came to the farm, there was a big bush a mile west of us, and there was a woodchuck who lived there. I had never seen a woodchuck in my life. The first time I saw it I think I took a picture. Oh, I was driving a little tractor and had my camera with me. I bet you couldn't find a woodchuck in this area now if your life depended on it. A woodchuck - how thrilling is that! ….seeing a woodchuck is a little thing but taken all together, bird and animal sightings add up to our quality of life.” (Check out our last post for a look at who lives in wetlands.)
Where are the prairie lilies?
“We had a friend for supper last night. He looks at the bottom of his beer glass where there is a picture of a prairie lily, and he says, “Where do you find these?” I know quite a few spots, I tell him, but you have to be careful because there is lots of poison ivy everywhere. I said how in the past there were so many more lilies. We used to go to a certain spot and we would see so many more lilies than we do now. Not just because of bush pushing, but the lilies used to be in all the ditches, too. “
What non farming people need to know
“Farmers are not all the same. We get tarred with the same brush because we use chemicals. We try not to use many but we still do. We try not to use pesticides unless it is an absolute emergency. We don’t push bush , but occasionally you might take a tree because you can’t get around that spot otherwise. We try to leave buffer zones of wild around our fields.”
If we keep going like this, there will never be a Saskatoon bush left
“Last year, I spoke to our own MLA, Travis Keesig, and I told him about other land being pushed around here and just how concerned I was. He just said, “Farmers will do the right thing.” What the?…that was his line. Can you believe it? I couldn’t even respond. I thought, “I am a farmer”. We try to do the right thing, but we all have economic thresholds and we all have pressures. But, really we have to have some guidelines. And if we don’t have guidelines then this is what happens. If we keep going like this, there will never be a Saskatoon bush left.”
Can anything be done to slow this destruction?
“Sometime way back, you weren't allowed to push bush anywhere near the Qu’Appelle Valley. Just think if that regulation could have stayed in somehow. But, people were telling farmers what to do and farmers didn’t want that. They wanted to develop their land, but couldn’t there have been some give and take somehow?”
Compensating farmers for keeping wetlands and bush
“What if farmers could be compensated? Compensated to put in something like alfalfa along that edge so they could still make that turn with their big machinery? They wouldn't have to worry about getting every square inch of that property and they could leave some of it for wild habitat. I would love to see farmers being paid to keep a buffer zone around their crops.
A few years ago my husband and I met a British farmer. Because it is a small country, I think they have a lot more appreciation for what they have in the countryside. Some of that is aesthetics, beauty, but what is happening here is aesthetics too. It is not just habitat. It is what we feel and see and appreciate and love.
He told us about all these programs they have which were ridiculously insane. You got paid for making sure that a robin could live on your property. But really, some of it made so much sense because in some cases you were paid not to farm a certain area, not to “improve it.” I thought that is such a good idea.”
Who should be looking after this?
“Last night our friend at supper said the Water Security Agency just kowtow to the government in a lot of ways. Even the environment ministry doesn’t have a great record - they don’t come out to see what is happening. Nobody comes out.”
The grief remains
“Everyone knows we aren’t able to change what has happened to those sloughs and bush down the road but we still have the grief - many of our neighbours feel this same grief. It's so hard for our kids, too. (They are not kids anymore.) They want to live here, too.
I thought about how it must have felt for the people who lived there all their lives. First Nations people, and how they must have felt. I’m not equating it with how we feel because it is not the same at all, but it is the sorrow of losing what you had. Some see it as a little thing, but it still brings alot of grief and mental anguish to the people who live in this Saltoun neighbourhood.”
It is shameful that we allow this to happen
“When I wrote the letter I didn’t want to make this person feel bad. But, she is a person of power. That power could be used to improve things or to keep some sloughs and bush and not just think about the monetary value.
I said it is shameful in my letter. I don’t want to shame them, but it's more that it is shameful that it is allowed to happen. We allow it to happen. Our governments allow it to happen. It’s shameful that we are going to lose all this. That’s the shameful part.
When you see it, you think that’s such a small little thing.”
“Death by a thousand cuts right?” Sue comments.
“Exactly!
I never remember dreams but I had this dream the other night - I was lost and I couldn’t make my way home. All the sloughs, all the bush was gone. I couldn't find my landmarks.
I really love the name of your project - “Where will the frogs sing?” That just busts me up.”
ABOUT WENDY - Actively involved in many aspects of the farm, Wendy is also the quintessential neighbor, helping out whenever she can. A seasoned traveler and supporter of the arts, Wendy is involved in her local horticultural and natural history groups.
Wendy’s news is sad indeed. Saskatchewan won’t have a wetlands policy until the fall of 2023. So we have been promised. I am on the board of a volunteer group Calling Lakes Eco Museum who work to conserve all wetlands though primarily in the Lower Qu’Appelle watershed. We are an advocacy group and have met with the City of Regina, Sask Water Authority, representatives from the Co op Upgrader to question and express concerns. It is helping as we now get regular water inspection reports and they know that we are watching and reporting concerns to the press. We write our MLAs and the Premier asking questions needing a response. I suspect there will be a frenzy of slough clearing before the protection policy is passed this year.
This is heart breaking, and my heart cries each time I am out driving and I see this same sort of utter destruction...
I feel impelled to send my condolences to all of you who are moved by this action, to all who have eyes that can see what this has done to destroy so much life and so much potential for joy.
Growing up on the farm, beside the grid road passing our farm, was quite a large bush patch that I would often explore. I loved that place, it was a part of me. Years ago (when I was young) I would come back from university to the farm to visit and early each morning I would head down the road for my walk. This particular visit when I went out walking, the bush was gone...simply vanished...I felt like a piece of my childhood had been stolen!
If I felt that way, imagine how the thousands of creatures large and small felt when their home was taken from them! No questions asked, no permission given, no sharing, just taken. That walk was never the same.
Is this reality not mirrored in the way we treat one another and all creation in so many ways and places in our world? I feel like we need to understand this link before we will ever see true peace. When will we ever see the truth that all is gift and possession is only an illussion...I am grateful for Sue Vera, Wendy who have eyes that can actually see, who have ears that can hear, and who have mouths to speak for those who cannot be heard by so many. I want to say I am with you holding this grief. May the creation you love so deeply send you a sign of its persevering presence into your hearts this day.