Rivers Provincial Park
Photo by M. Kowalchuk

Acknowledgements

how it began

Inspired by our prairie neighbours to the west and driven by a passion for Manitoba's native prairie grasslands, a small group of enthusiasts decided to initiate a campaign to have Manitoba declare an official Provincial Grass Emblem.

our goal

It is our goal that, by 2010, in time for the 9th Prairie Conservation and Endangered Species Conference, which will be held in Manitoba, Manitobans will declare a provincial grass for Manitoba and put it forward to the Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism for official adoption as an ammendment to The Coat of Arms, Emblems and Manitoba Tartan Act.

the process

The process of selecting a species for our provincial grass emblem provides an opportunity to raise awareness of prairie ecosystems in Manitoba and their value – to biodiversity, to the economy, and as part of our heritage. We will engage the public through the nomination and selection activities, which we are complimenting with educational materials e.g. grass species profiles and articles in the local media.

The other Canadian Prairie Provinces have already declared provincial grasses – Needle-and-thread in Saskatchewan (2001) and Rough fescue in Alberta (2003).

We narrowed down the list of charismatic prairie grasses in Manitoba down to a selection of nine. We asked numerous prairie experts to rank these nine species down to a list of four that we would present as candidates for voting in this campaign. Please read the letter to experts.

We launched this website, and now it us up to the public to vote for an official prairie grass emblem for Manitoba. We hope that the response to this process demonstrates support from the public for this campaign, and for Manitoba's Prairie Grasslands.

We wrote letters to the Minister of Culture, Heritage, Tourism and Sport, the Minister of Conservation and to the Minister of Agriculture to notify them of the campaign and to seek their support. Please read our letter to the ministers. We were pleased with their reponses. Please read the responses from the ministers.

The campaign was officially launched to coincide with Earth Day! It was a pleasure to speak to everyone who stopped by the display at:

• Winnipeg - Apr. 25 at Living Prairie Museum
• Winnipeg - Apr. 26 at Robert A. Steen Community Ctr.
• Winnipeg - Apr. 26 at FortWhyte Alive
• Brandon - Apr. 19 at Princess Park

Thank you to the event organizers for allowing us to promote the campaign at these events!

Look for the campaign display at other local events as well. Contact us if you would like to see the display at your event.

acknowledgements

The campaign committee wishes to thank the following people and agencies for their gracious support (in no particular order):

• Shirley Froelich (Prairie Originals) for providing photographs
• Living Prairie Museum for providing meeting space
• The Critical Wildlife Habitat Program for providing a booth display space at the Manitoba Conservation Districts Association annual convention
• The Nature Conservancy of Canada for providing maps and other support
• Fort Whyte Alive for providing display space at their Earth Day event
• others we haven't had the chance to list here yet

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