New president of Sask Wildlife Federation hopes to improve hunting and fishing access in the province

Newly elected as president of the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation, Regina’s Travis Schaeffer, 43, is hardly a stranger to the organization. He’s been a member since childhood, but started actively participating in his early twenties when he took on the role of records chair with his local branch. And having served on the SWF board as a Region 4 director for the past seven years, he’s certainly familiar with the federation’s issues, goals and challenges.

Schaeffer says he accepted the nomination at the federation’s annual general meeting in February because he wants to help ensure he and others can continue to hunt and fish for many years to come. “I enjoy those activities so much,” he says. “I want to make sure we have healthy wildlife populations.”

According to Schaeffer, some of the biggest issues facing anglers and hunters in the province today are habitat loss and the new trespass legislation, which is making it very difficult for residents to find places to hunt. “We’re losing a lot of habitat, especially in and around the southern part of Saskatchewan,” he says, making it important to keep building the SWF’s Habitat Trust Fund.

Since it was established in 1978, the fund has so far secured more than 32,000 hectares of habitat, and to keep growing, it will require a lot of promotion and outreach, Schaeffer says. “We need to get landowners to see that habitat is vital not only for wildlife, but for the environment as well.”

As for helping to create more access for hunters, Schaeffer is studying ways the SWF can use technology to match hunters with landowners. Due to the trespass legislation and privacy regulations, it’s currently extremely difficult for hunters to even ascertain who owns certain properties in order to seek permission.

With his background in geographical information systems, Schaeffer says he might be able to help the federation partner with other organizations, such as the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, to come up with a system to make it easier for hunters to connect with landowners. Says Schaeffer: “There are programs that exist in other jurisdictions, and maybe we can take pieces from what’s working in those and use them to build our own.”

Learn more about the SWF’s programs and positions at www.swf.sk.ca.