Beneficial Management Practices for Saskatchewan

Species at Risk:

Swift Fox Endangered

• Buffy-yellow with black

tip on bushy tail

• Black patches on muzzle

• Size of a house cat

• Omnivourous

• Require short native grasses, flat terrain & sparse vegetation

Helene Careau

• Located in southern Saskatchewan

• Extirpated from Canada in early 1900’s

• Declined due habitat loss, trapping, hunting, disease, vehicle collisions and predation

• Reintroduced from 1983 to 1997

• Status: Endangered

• Census in 2005/2006 counted 20 foxes

Beneficial Management Practices

Habitat Size

• Retain fragments of primarily native prairie in patches of 14,000 acres or more

• Retain smaller fragments of native prairie that are within ~50km of larger blocks of native grassland

Grazing

• Manage for primarily Healthy range with 50-60% carry over

• Promote vegetation that varies in height and density across the landscape through grazing regimes or livestock distribution

Woody Vegetation

• Do not plant tree of shrubs on or adjacent to native grassland

• If removing woody vegetation for range improvement in native or tame grassland, use methods that do not result in long-term harm to herbaceous vegetation

Converting Cropland to Perennial Cover

• Convert cultivated land to non-invasive perennial species that do not grow taller than 25-30cm in height

• Seed a pure grass mix or grass mix that includes a prostrate form of legume

• Seed finer grasses in forage mixes

• Seed herbaceous species that grow will in a stand with others

Roads

• Minimize number of roads constructed through native prairie

• Limit traffic speed on roads through swift fox habitat

• Avoid constructing built-up, graveled or paved roads

• Re-vegetate linear developments with native or fine, mid-height tame vegetation

Rodent Control

• Shoot or fumigate rodents rather than poison if rodent control is necessary

• Place strychnine bait directly in rodent burrows

Predator Control

• Shoot rather than trap or poison if coyote control is deemed necessary

• Reduce coyote population to one breeding pair per 10 to 20 square miles if deemed necessary but do not eliminate population

• Do not reduce American Badger population

Disease

• Vaccinate domestic dogs against canine distemper and parvovirus