The shift to ecosystem management represents a fundamental change in the way we fulfill our mandate. It has wide-reaching consequences, affecting everyone at SERM and our stakeholders. This edition will detail how our commitment to ecosystem management affects the management of one of our greatest natural resources, the forest. Of course, forests are more than a bunch of trees.
Forests provide habitat for a range of wildlife species.
They help prevent soil erosion and regulate water cycling. Forests provide both jobs and recreation sites for people - a source of social and cultural benefits. SERM is responsible for sustaining the health and productivity of our complex forest ecosystems. Despite the prevailing image of Saskatchewan as a land of wheat fields waving in the wind, our province is much more diverse and complex than any one picture can depict. More than half of Saskatchewan is forested.