Partner Spotlight
At the Canadian Prairies Prescribed fire Exchange, we know that meaningful change on the landscape doesn’t happen alone-it happens through partnership. Our partner Spotlight page celebrates the incredible organizations working alongside us to advance the safe and effective use of prescribed fire across the prairies. Each partner brings unique expertise, passion, and commitment to our shared mission of building fire-resilient landscapes and communities through knowledge sharing and hands-on collaboration.
We are proud to shine a light on these champions of change and invite you to explore their stories -a testament of what we can accomplish when we work together.
Association of Manitoba Community Pastures
The Association of Manitoba Community Pastures (AMCP) is a not-for-profit producer-led organization unparalleled in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. AMCP is committed to enhancing and supporting the livestock industry by providing high-quality grazing balanced with sustainable rangeland stewardship.
This is achieved by;
Pasture Managers and Riders working directly on site to ensure animal care, range management, and pasture management.
Providing grazing lands throughout the grazing season: over 42,000 head of livestock are brought to the Community Pastures every year.
Democratic governance by livestock producers with firsthand knowledge of the industry. The Community Pasture program is designed to meet the needs of Pasture Patrons.
AMCP’s Community Pastures are located throughout Manitoba and into Saskatchewan:
Alonsa, Bield, Birch River, Cote-San Clara, Ellice-Archie, Ethelbert, Gardenton, Pansy, Langord, Lenswood, Libau, McCreary, Mulvihill, Narcisse, Spy Hill-Ellice, Sylvan Dale, Turtle Mountain and Wallace.
AMCP staff use established range management practices and principles to ensure strong and sustainable forage supplies. Well-managed grazing lands deliver many environmental benefits, including healthy forage production and resiliency, creating conditions for species-at-risk habitats, biodiversity, healthy soils, and good water quality.
To help manage brush encroachment, AMCP has been building a burn program with assistance from the CPPFE over the last 5 years. AMCP has been able to burn over 1500 acres within two of our pastures, Spy Hill-Ellice and Ellice-Archie.
Due to weather conditions over the past couple of years, the burn options have been restricted. However, AMCP completed an 850-acre burn in the spring of 2026. The burn primarily included reducing the growth of new Aspen growth and cleaning up old dead brush from insect infestations from several years ago. Along with the brush, the burn rejuvenated many of the grass meadows.
The biggest challenge that AMCP faces is the limited burn windows, along with manpower and availability of equipment. But with the partnership of the CPPFE and AMCP’s efforts, the equipment cache is growing, and the plan for the future is to be able to conduct multiple controlled burns with the short burn window each year.
We have started the planning for burns to be conducted in the spring of 2027. The hope is to complete a burn in the 620-acre Wallace Community Pastures, as well as a burn in the Turtle Mountain Community Pastures of 620 acres as well.
Behind Association of Manitoba Community Pasture’s success on the landscape is a dedicated team of individuals who bring both deep-rooted knowledge of livestock industry and a genuine commitment to sustainable land stewardship. Guided by producers who understand firsthand what it takes to balance grazing needs with long-term rangeland health, AMCP’s leadership has helped shape a program that serves patrons while protecting the land for generations to come.
Meet the people driving this forward: Ken Morrice and Zane Fedbjornson.
Read their Profiles on the Faces of Fire
Arriving on a site, ready for a prescribed fire experience.
Getting started and ensuring to keep the fire guarded
Wrapping up a burn with the team
Prescribed fire smoke, well managed and funneled like chimney smoke- just the way we like it!
Final look of a burn site, ready for new luscious growth of vegetation and pyric-diversity.
Contributor and Photo Credits: Ken Morrice
Wanuskewin Heritage Park
Wanuskewin Heritage Park is a National Historic Site that brings to life the history and culture of the Northern Great Plains First Nations peoples. Spanning approximately 741 acres immediately adjacent to the City of Saskatoon, the park was dedicated by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1987 and established by the Province of Saskatchewan in 1992 as a living memorial to the people who gathered on the site for over 6,000 years. This rich heritage includes nearly all recognized pre-contact Indigenous cultures of the Northern Great Plains, as evidenced by more than 20 archaeological dig sites across the landscape.
This profound archaeological history, combined with the continued affirmation by contemporary Indigenous nations recognizing Wanuskewin as an important spiritual site, serves as the driving force behind the park's mission: "to advance the understanding and appreciation of the evolving cultures of the Northern Plains Indigenous peoples." It also shapes their overarching vision "to act as a living reminder of the peoples sacred relationship with the land," and fuels their current pursuit of designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Restoring the Land: Cultural and Ecological Stewardship
Wanuskewin’s mission extends deeply into the restoration and management of the prairie ecosystem itself. Recognizing that Indigenous cultures and Northern Great Plains ecology are inextricably linked, the park integrates traditional land stewardship with modern conservation science.
Bison Reintroduction: As a cornerstone of prairie restoration, Wanuskewin successfully returned a heritage bison herd to the landscape, re-establishing a vital keystone species that helps maintain native grassland biodiversity and ecosystem health through natural grazing and disturbance regimes.
Prairie Restoration & Fire Management: Staff and partners actively work to restore degraded agricultural lands back to native mixed-grass prairie, utilizing traditional knowledge and modern tools including prescribed fire to enhance ecological function and suppress invasive species.
Cultural Landscapes: Stewardship efforts are guided by Indigenous worldviews, ensuring that land management respects the sacred relationship between the original caretakers and the territory, creating a living classroom for visitors and researchers alike.
Collaboration and Community Impact
Managing a nearly 741-acre urban-adjacent National Historic Site requires strong partnerships with conservation groups, researchers, and government agencies. By aligning ecological restoration with cultural education, Wanuskewin bridges the gap between historical preservation and modern environmental challenges. These collaborative efforts not only protect threatened Northern Plains biodiversity and crucial watershed areas but also provide immersive educational programming that connects thousands of annual visitors to the ecological importance of healthy grasslands.
Looking Ahead
Wanuskewin continues to stand as a beacon of reconciliation, environmental stewardship, and cultural resilience. As the park advances toward its UNESCO World Heritage aspirations, it remains a vital landscape where the past, present, and future of the Northern Great Plains converge, proving that healthy ecosystems and thriving Indigenous cultures rely on shared stewardship and a deep respect for the land.
Photo Credit, Contributor: Ian Hnatowich, WHP
The Wanuskewin Heritage Park
Arial View of The Wanuskewin Heritage Park
Nature Conservancy Canada
Strong partnerships are at the heart of healthy grasslands, and few organizations show that better than the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). As a founding partner of the Canadian Partnership for Prescribed Fire Exchange (CPPFE), NCC has spent decades advancing conservation, stewardship, and prescribed fire across the Canadian Prairies.
NCC's mission is rooted in protecting and restoring the grasslands that sustain prairie communities, wildlife, and local economies. Through its Prairie Grasslands Action Plan, NCC aims to conserve more than 500,000 hectares of grassland by 2030, working alongside ranchers, grazing associations, Indigenous Nations, industry, and government. The approach reflects a simple belief: thriving grasslands support thriving communities.
Beyond land protection, NCC actively manages and restores prairie ecosystems through prescribed grazing, prescribed fire, invasive species control, woody encroachment management, and habitat recovery for species at risk. These efforts maintain ecological function while supporting the long-term sustainability of working landscapes.
Fire as a Cornerstone
Prescribed fire is central to NCC's stewardship program. Since its first prairie burns in 1992, NCC has built one of the most experienced prescribed fire programs in the region, strengthened by collaboration with Parks Canada, The Nature Conservancy in Minnesota, and CPPFE. These burns restore grassland health, improve biodiversity, and reduce woody encroachment.
"NCC regularly conducts targeted prescribed fires to restore ecological function and improve the health of grasslands," says the NCC Prairie Region team. "Working with many partners allows us to expand our impact to the landscape scale and address challenges that no single organization can tackle alone."
A New Frontier at Lake Ranch
One project generating particular excitement is NCC's planned burn at the Lake Ranch Stewardship Project in Manitoba's Interlake region. It brings prescribed fire to a landscape of ridges, swales, and lakeshore habitat, with new challenges and new opportunities for restoration.
Milestones and Leadership
NCC's recent numbers reflect its commitment to landscape-scale stewardship. In the past year, NCC led up to 900 acres of prescribed fire across the Prairie Region and supported additional burns through CPPFE-led TREX events.
NCC's leadership extends beyond operational burns. It serves on the CPPFE Steering Committee, helped establish Manitoba's TREX program in 2023, and continues to support training and capacity-building across the prairie provinces. Many of today's prescribed fire practitioners have benefited from NCC's experience and its willingness to share knowledge.
"Organizations like CPPFE help facilitate collaboration, and these relationships create positive impacts across the landscape that none of us could achieve alone; Our hope for prairie fire ecology and grassland conservation comes from our partnerships,"-Kale Cohen
As a valued CPPFE partner, NCC shows how conservation, stewardship, and collaboration can work together to build healthier, more resilient prairie landscapes for generations to come.
Photo Credits, Contributor: Kale Cohen, NCC
