At the Canadian Wildlife Federation, we are deeply involved in grassland carbon science.

Our interest is not only in mitigating climate change, but also on how efforts to store carbon affect biodiversity. We think that there is huge potential to conserve grassland wildlife as well as store more carbon. A win-win for the environment and society.

Enter the Living Labs.

The Living Labs project is a program to combat climate change sponsored by Agriculture and Agri-food Canada and undertaken by communities and researchers across Canada. As partners in the Central Grasslands Living Lab, we are focused on measuring how grassland management affects soil carbon storage. Together with prairie ranching and farming families, the University of Alberta, Saskatchewan Stock Growers Federation, Saskatchewan Forage Council, and many others, this is an amazing opportunity to move light years ahead in our understanding of conservation and climate mitigation.

The following two stories come from the 2024 Living Lab students who spent their summer on the Canadian Prairies contributing to this important work.

The Immersive Prairies

By Magnus Andersen
CWF field technicians, Magnus and Janna, with nets filled with insect samples for the native prairie grasslands Living Labs-Central Prairies project.
Coyote through the lens of a scope. © Magnus Andersen
Magnus with cattle.

The Ecosystem Management program at Sir Sandford Fleming College is designed to train field biologists, and as a recent grad, I was ready. The Canadian Wildlife Federation gave me that chance this summer. I really enjoyed studying insects under Entomologist Braden Evans at “Flemming”, and I wanted to see more of Canada, so the chance to join a field project studying prairie insects on the Saskatchewan prairie checked all of my boxes.

I flew from my Toronto home to Regina with my new colleague Sarah where we were met by project lead John Wilmshurst. Our three-hour drive to Fir Mountain was new — the long views and beautiful rolling hills were something I had only read about. Arriving at our field house on a ranch surrounded by cows and calves (and I do mean surrounded) was incredible, and it kept getting better. The next morning we drove through the ranch to find our first study sites; a Pronghorn ran right up to us, not the last time that this happened as Sarah recounts, and I truly began to appreciate the beauty of this vast landscape. Beautiful grasslands as far as the eye can see in every direction gave me a feeling that the crew and I could have been the only people on Earth. If you haven’t visited the prairies, I’d recommend it!

Over the following two months the crew (Sarah, a fellow Ontarian, and Janna, who grew up on a ranch nearby) and I became fast friends sharing meals, following the hockey finals, working and living together. We attended rodeos, even watching Janna compete in calf roping. We helped with cattle branding, fished for pike in prairie “sloughs”, and did things that I could have never imagined I could. I came to Saskatchewan hoping to advance my career and see something new. What I didn’t expect was to be exposed to a different culture in my own country. When I think back to this summer, collecting and sorting insects will feature. However, what will equally stand out are those moments of culture — western Canadian culture — watching a rodeo where my friend is competing, watching a cowboy ride up to us on the Prairies, being covered in cow poo during a branding, trying prairie oyster, watching calves play as the sun sets, falling asleep to the sound of coyotes howling. Most importantly I met a lot of kind people. This was an amazing and immersive experience, and I can only hope I’ll have the chance to do more of this in my future.

Magnus is a graduate of the Conservation Biology program at Sir Sandford Fleming College in Lindsay, Ontario. A keen fisher and guitar player, he spent his spare time while on the CWF Grassland Insect team hunting down southern Saskatchewan’s fishing holes and strumming tunes to the woeful howls of prairie coyotes.

A Warm Prairie Welcome

By Sarah Leppinen

CWF field lead, Sarah, swept up net filled with grass seed (needle-and-thread) along with insects this summer.
The cool, wet spring in Saskatchewan this year resulted in fewer grasshoppers than in previous field seasons. This one was happy to perch on a finger.
Fly resting on potentilla.

I first joined the Grassland Insect Project as a lab technician working at the Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids, and Nematodes in Ottawa. Last year, I was sorting through hundreds of jars full of insects from the field crew collecting samples from our sites in southern Saskatchewan. I helped to process these samples by pinning, labeling, and sorting specimens into an organized collection. During the winter, my supervisor asked if I would be interested in spending the 2024 summer field season in Saskatchewan—of course I said yes! I was delighted about the opportunity to explore a new part of Canada.

When the field season started, I was delivered to a small ranch house in the middle of nowhere southern Saskatchewan with two other field crew. Very quickly and easily, I settled into the prairie lifestyle: waking up in the morning to the birds singing, sharing my new home with cows and their calves, and enjoying the views of the beautiful rolling hills.

There were so many little memories that have merged to create an enjoyable and immersive experience. Fieldwork was quickly in full swing and along with that the ups and downs. Some days were surprisingly cold and other days really hot (38°C!). Other days were so wet that our truck nearly slid off the road. We dealt with incoming storms, ticks, sharp vegetation, and even a truck breakdown. But, thanks to our phenomenal crew, these challenges were minuscule compared to all of the wonderful times — the amazing wildlife, fun conversations in the truck as we drove to the sites, and the hard work sorting specimens. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the discussions we were able to have about topics big and small, easy and difficult. I learned so much through the actual insect-related work, but also through getting to know my colleagues with such very different backgrounds.

Working in the field not only brings me in contact with grassland insects, but also all of the other precious prairie wildlife.

Among my favourite experiences occurred while working in a community pasture. After a few hours of collecting samples, alone with my thoughts and the only person for as far as my eye could see — and that is a long way on the prairie. Out of nowhere, I heard a snort. I froze in my tracks, turning slowly around, expecting the worst; a bull, a wolf, I had no idea. There stood a Pronghorn, one of Saskatchewan’s most majestic animals, just 25 metres away, eyeing me carefully. Growing up in Ontario, I had not realized that such amazing animals lived in Canada. She was no more a threat to me than I was to her. I think she was just challenging me to a foot race, a race I would surely lose. But her presence so close to me felt like a warm prairie welcome, the same welcome I felt weeks before when this middle of everything felt like the middle of nowhere.

Sarah is an Entomologist based in Ottawa with years of experience working in the lab identifying insects and conducting pesticide tests on rainwater. This summer she took the leap to field work, leading our CWF field team collecting insect samples on ranchland in southern Saskatchewan. She may never look back.

Learn more about the Canadian Wildlife Federation’s work on native grasslands >