Wildlife

We are fortunate to have such a diversity of wildlife species and native vegetation.

Because of the declining rural population, there are large tracts of land that seldom see human activity. This is a factor that helped ease the encroachment of humans upon wildlife habitat.

There has been a trend to return marginal cultivated land to grass and many farmers have planted field shelter belts, providing shelter and nesting grounds for wild birds.

This area is not a traditional range for heavy predators: however, there have been sightings of mountain lions and timber wolves. The most common wildlife sightings are: Coyote, Badger, Raccoon, Weasel, White Tail Deer, Mule Deer, Pronghorn Antelope, Red Fox, Cottontail Rabbit, Jack Rabbit, gopher, Lynx, Bobcat, many species of Hawks, Eagles, Turkey Buzzards, upland game birds and water fowl.

There have been rare sightings of Moose and Elk, and even beaver. There are no venomous insects or reptiles indigenous to our area, with the exception of rare sightings of the Prairie rattlesnake.

The most common reptile sightings are garter snakes, several species of grass snakes, very large bull snakes, toads, frogs, and turtles.

Nature

It is impossible to list here all of the native vegetation, other than to say the trees are deciduous, with exception of shrubs such as juniper and creeping cedar. There are many species of wild fruit trees; Chokecherry, Saskatoon, Pin Cherry, Buffalo Berry, Raspberry, Currants, Goose Berry and Rose Hips. There are many species of wild flowers and grasses. For detailed information see eNature.