Within the span of one human lifetime, the prairies went from diverse wilderness to become the most altered and simplified environment in Canada. Gone is the vast sweep of natural, mixed-grass prairie. The pronghorn antelope almost became extinct. But here in the valleys, uplands and badlands of Grasslands National Park, a place that looks much the same as it did 100 years ago, a process is underway to re-establish the wild prairie and preserve its cultural resources. 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.