Natural grasses are being returned to spots where they've been lost and foreign species introduced by man are being removed. Pronghorn numbers are on the rise. Grasslands is the only place in Saskatchewan where signs warn to beware of rattlesnakes and the only place in Canada where you'll find prairie dog towns. From a scientific perspective, Grasslands is the only place in the world where genetic code for the plants and creatures of the wild, northern, mixed-grass prairie is being preserved in, what is hoped will be, perpetuity. And it was here where the first dinosaur fossil in Canada was discovered in 1874.
Grasslands is a place for the mind and the senses.
Compensation arrangements continue to be made with land owners, many of whom still ranch in the area. In fact, it wasn't long after the bison left that the cattlemen arrived. James, whose real name was Ernest Dufault, was born in Quebec and moved west to pursue his dream of becoming a cowboy. Before long he was in Hollywood turning his novels into movie scripts and playing a central role in the creation of the mythical American cowboy. Family ranches that replaced the big outfits learned to keep no more cattle than they could feed with hay during a bad winter.