The Species at Risk Partnerships on Agricultural Lands (SARPAL) project is a partnership between the agricultural community and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) to meet ECCC’s goals of preserving species at risk while recognizing the importance of the farmer’s role in this and their requirements for production. Some of the species at risk they work to preserve are the barn swallow, common nighthawk, bobolink, little brown myotis, monarch, wood turtle, butternut and bald eagle.

In New Brunswick, the Agricultural Alliance of New Brunswick (AANB) is collaborating with Nature NB and other partners to implement the SARPAL project. AANB became involved in the SARPAL project because species at risk, and biodiversity in general, is an important aspect of the Environmental Farm Plan (EFP). The NB EFP includes a sub-section dedicated to this topic and AANB is also in the process of including more information in its online EFP that would create targeted awareness in NB farmers.

In 2019, a team of Indigenous, conservation, agricultural and government organizations came together to start the SARPAL project in NB with a focus on developing a set of strategies to help find win-win solutions for wildlife and farmers. Some actions involve reducing predation of species at risk, especially swallows and turtles by reducing pests such as rats and racoons, and controlling the roaming of cats. Others involve leaving grassland habitat undisturbed by cutting some fields later; keeping good buffers, especially along streams with flood plains; using no-till seeding to increase plant litter on the soil and planting fall/winter grains rather than spring grains so as not to disturb bird nesting in the spring.

Lots of other actions can be taken as well, such as planting pollinator species, keeping treed windbreaks (fence lines) intact, grassed or wooded corridors between blocks and maintaining mature forest stands with snags, dead trees and cavity trees which can serve as nesting sites.

Since 2019, with funding through ECCC and Nature NB, AANB has worked to develop a Payment for Eco-system Services (PES) program. This has involved holding focus groups in each region of NB with a variety of farmers selected at random, but representing different commodities, farm size and production intensity. The purpose of the focus groups is to gather feedback from farmers regarding the proposed actions which would help AANB create an efficient program. An eventual program will coincide with the Federally-Provincially funded Resilient Agricultural Landscapes Program (RALP) soon to be launched by the NB Department of Agricultural, Aquaculture and Fisheries, in collaboration with Natural Resources and Energy.

AANB is also partnering with Nature NB on a campaign to increase the awareness of NB farmers about species at risk and conducted a survey to understand the level of awareness and understanding of species at risk in the agriculture community.

It’s an important project considering the benefits that protecting wildlife and their habitats provide to all life, including humans. Wildlife, including species at risk, provide many free services like crop pollination and natural pest control, while healthy forests, rivers, wetlands and buffer zones can help clean water, reduce flooding and help fight climate change.

“There is increasing urgency to deal with this issue effectively,” says AANB’s EFP coordinator Likhita Potluri. “Farmers recognize that there are increased demands by markets and society to indicate actions taken to protect biodiversity in the agricultural landscape. Many farms in NB are currently providing habitat for species at risk, but are not often being recognized for it. Developing strategies with all players present helps to provide a successful program while keeping farmers at the centre.

Funding will be available this year to encourage preservation of biodiversity and compensate against potential production losses, lost production capability or extra costs incurred to protect the habitat of species at risk and biodiversity in general.

“This is the very first time in NB that we will have annualized funding available to simply maintain beneficial aspects of the farm which are important for society,” says AANB’s EFP facilitator John Russell. “Let Likhita or I know if you have species at risk on your farm and need assistance.”

The SARPAL project is funded through Environment and Climate Change Canada, as well as the NB Environmental Trust Fund.

Additional information about the SARPAL project is available on the Nature NB website in English https://www.naturenb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/ENSARPAL_educationsheet.pdf and in French https://www.naturenb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/FRSARPAL_educationsheet.pdf.