Folks across the province can tune into an educational session next week that will dive into the genetic legacy of bison and the near extinction of the keystone species in the 1880s.
The Saskatchewan Prairie Conservation Action Plan's September Native Speaker Series webinar is set for next Tuesday over the noon hour and is free to attend.
Caitlin Mroz-Sailer, stewardship coordinator for the Saskatchewan Prairie Conservation Action Plan, shared that Merek Wigness, a bison rancher and director of the Canadian Bison Association, will be the speaker featured in the upcoming webinar.
"This is one of our first webinars where we'll be talking about bison genetics," she said. "[It will cover] their comeback after near extinction, the challenges, the intermingling with cattle genetics, the difference between woods and plains bison, the legacy of bison conservation and how they've recovered from such a small, bottleneck population."
In addition to being a rancher and director, Wigness is also the vice president for the Saskatchewan Bison Association and has worked in plant research at Agriculture Canada for more than two decades.
"We don't have a lot of bison experts that can speak on this topic, especially going back to the history of bison," Mroz-Sailer added. "So it's an opportunity for people to talk to a bison rancher who has historical knowledge and years of experience doing agricultural research."
Anyone interested can register by visiting the Saskatchewan Prairie Conservation Action Plan's website. For more information, contact pcap@sasktel.net or call (306) 352-0472.