Geoscience for Prairie communities
Castle Butte, Big Muddy badlands, Saskatchewan.
We are prairie people, inhabiting a dry grassland landscape - a mosaic of flat plains, rolling hills, steep-sided valleys, and forested coulees. Two centuries ago, this prairie was an ocean of grass, and home to First Nations peoples and millions of bison; today the grasslands are largely gone, the soil tilled into farmlands. Most of us live in cities and towns, but all of us are tied to our geological landscape - or geoscape - by the energy we draw from it, the earth on which our homes are built, the water we drink, and the food that grows from our soil and water. Rich resources lie hidden below the prairie surface and our modern life is fueled by energy from coal, oil, and natural gas. Water has always posed limits on prairie life; where it was sufficient, ranches, farms, and towns sprang up. Our agriculture is built upon Saskatchewan's soil, formed from mineral-rich debris left by retreating glaciers more than 8000 years ago. As custodians of this land, we are responsible for its care. By understanding our geoscape, we can promote its wise use: conserving water, energy, and mineral resources; minimizing the impact of natural hazards; and protecting natural ecosystems that sustain our life.