The government of Saskatchewan and Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation have come to an agreement and transferred approximately 70,000 acres of land to the provincial RAN network.

What is RAN? Executive Director of the Federation, Darrell Crabbe, explains.

"There's been a land recognition program in Saskatchewan for many years now called the Representative Areas Network, and it's part of a challenge put forth by the federal government to have all of the provinces and territories to put aside or put protective levels on all of the different eco-regions that they have in their province or territory."

The original plan for 'RAN' was to have 12% of the land protected, but the hope now is to have up to 17% by 2025.

While it's fairly easy to have land in the north of the province protected and added to the network, since it's already controlled by the provincial government, it's a bit tougher to do in the south.

The Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation currently owns between 73-74,000 acres right now in the central and southern parts of the province, and Crabbe says that part of the agreement involves that land.

"We've entered an agreement to allow our lands to be considered [for RAN], and in return, we negotiated that the Saskatchewan government transfer about 80,000 acres from the Ministry of Ag to the Ministry of Environment. In that first initial transfer, they are also going to be providing the Saskatchewan Fish and Wildlife Development Fund with an additional 66,000 acres of land to manage."

The Fish and Wildlife Development Fund lands are managed through a board, with representatives from Nature Conservancy of Canada, Ducks Unlimited, SWF, and the Ministry of Environment, which is administered by the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation.

The agreement will see land along the forest fringe and eastern part of the province added to the network, which is primarily wetlands with little to no agricultural value. This is just the first of hundreds of thousands of acres that will be classified, and accessible to residents.

There are cases where grazing and hay leases will be allowed on the newly added land to maintain ecological health. A lot of other uses will come from it as well to help generate income.

Crabbe says this both benefits the agricultural, and conservation community.

Last week in a news release, Environment Minister Dustin Duncan said: "Co-operation with partner organizations and other ministries allows us to enhance the network's valuable contributions to ecological integrity, wildlife habitat, and as benchmarks to assess the environmental impacts of human activities."

"We applaud the Saskatchewan government for supporting this extremely proactive initiative, recognizing the societal and ecological values of these lands," says Crabbe, "We are optimistic that this transfer will pave the way for future reallocations."