GrainsWest Winter 2020

Winter 2020 Grains West 22 Board including management of “tax recovery” land that had been abandoned with taxes owing. Some of the land was sold to area residents but much remains under the board’s governance. The boundary encompassing the Special Areas is shaped like a jagged puzzle piece. From the Red River Valley in the west to the Alberta-Saskatchewan border, it also stretches from Highway 599 in the north to Canadian Forces Base Suffield in the south. Towns within the region are not covered by the Special Areas Act. Special Areas 1 once included land near Tilley and Cypress Country but the designation was removed decades ago. The board put tax recovery land back into production, setting up large community pastures with user fees and leasing portions to farmers with the proviso native prairie not be cultivated. “The board on the public land side does not allow any breaking of undisturbed, uncultivated native prairie,” said Jordon Christianson, Special Areas Board chair. The one exception is select leaseholders who have established forage crops on previously cultivated land have been allowed to apply to cultivate them. “There is a large component of the landscape not suited for farming; the best and most suitable use for much of it is perennial forage,” said Christianson. As a result, about one-third is cultivated, FEATURE On a short break from harvesting their pea crop, Fred and Liz Roberts visit with daughter Candy and her baby Cazzlyn Bachmeir. The family farms south of Cereal.