Land Use

Natural gas fields are located in the southern part of the province which tend to consist of grass and crop land as well as in the west central part of the province which consists of forest belts and farmland. There is also gas exploration and production in some areas which are considered to be environmentally sensitive, such as the Great Sand Hills in southwest Saskatchewan.

Most drill sites and wellhead sites occupy an area of less than one hectare. Although the size of each site is small, these sites and the roads needed to access and service them can take prime farmland, ranchland, and native prairie out of production. It also breaks up the landscape into fragments, which make it difficult for some species to adapt.

Although pipelines, drilling sites and access roads are disruptions to the environment, the companies working in these areas are required to return the sites as close to their original condition as possible. Rules that are set out by the provincial government, which regulate the land use and operational activities at well sites, continue to be expanded.

An environmental review is often carried out prior to any construction. New construction techniques are always being evaluated to determine which methods cause the least amount of damage to the environment.

At SaskEnergy we believe in working with others such as...

Nature Saskatchewan - We have contributed financial and in-kind assistance to the Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre, the Last Mountain Bird Observatory, and an inventory of species at the Crooked Lake Fen, Maurice Street, Brandon Land, Rendek Elm Forest, Van Brienen Land, and the Turtle Lake Sanctuaries.

ABC Program - Action by Canadians is a climate change education and awareness program for employees. Over 300 employees participated in workshops in 2000.

R2000 Homes Program - We proudly support this residential buildings program that encourages the construction and purchase of healthy and energy efficient homes.

University of Saskatchewan - The University of Saskatchewan is home of the Canadian Agricultural Energy End-Use Data and Analysis Centre (CAEEDAC), one of several centres across Canada that are part of a leading edge program which aims at improving energy efficiency in all sectors of the economy. CAEEDAC focuses on expanding and improving the existing knowledge about energy consumption and efficiency at the end-use level in the agricultural sector.

University of Regina - We are currently working with the U of R to develop Modeling and Risk Assessment tools to determine the significance of Soil and Groundwater Contamination.

The Saskatchewan Conservation Learning Centre Inc. - This nonprofit corporation researches and demonstrates land management techniques which focus on the optimum utilization of the landscape for annual crop and forage production, practice appropriate soil and water conservation techniques and facilitate wildlife habitat enhancement.

Golder Associates - We are also working on pipeline reclamation research on natural re-growth of disturbed areas in northwest Saskatchewan.