The Canadian Wildlife Federation wants Ottawa to stop turning over community pastures to the Prairie provinces because of concerns it has about species at risk.
In 2013, the previous Conservative government began a plan to transfer control of 900,000 hectares of community pastureland to Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta by 2018.
The federation says these provinces have not committed funding for managing species at risk on the pastures that were owned and managed by Agriculture Canada.
Carolyn Callaghan of the federation says these prairie grasslands are home to at-risk animals such as the greater sage grouse, swift fox, burrowing owl and black-footed ferret.
Callaghan says federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna needs to work with these provinces to ensure the areas that have already been transferred are protected.
The federation suggests the fate of the pastures should be part of discussions between Ottawa and the provinces on how Canada can meet its promise of protecting 17 per cent of terrestrial habitat across the country by 2020.
