SaskatchewanEnvironmental advocates want to protect peatland in Saskatchewan’s north, saying it’s a climate-critical ecosystem threatened by mining.Proposed strategy includes ecosystem protection, research and local indigenous voicesAlex Kozroski · CBC News · Posted: Dec 11, 2025 1:41 PM EST | Last Updated: 5 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.Advocates say the peatlands in northern Saskatchewan should be left undisturbed and protected. (Kendall Latimer/CBC)Environmental advocates are looking to protect peatland in Saskatchewan’s north, saying it’s a climate-critical ecosystem threatened by mining.The Wildlife Conservation Society recently released a proposal for a national peatland strategy that calls on federal and provincial governments to adopt urgent measures safeguarding the ecosystems.Peatlands, also known as muskegs, are defined by their carbon-rich soil, created when organic matter decomposes. A Quebec company, Lambert Peat Moss Inc., has made a proposal to construct and operate a peat harvesting project on Crown land about 15 kilometres south of La Ronge.The project would extract peat to make agricultural products, pulling from four harvesting sites covering 2,619 hectares. It would include building access roads, staging areas and a drainage network.The company declined to comment on the project.Victoria Goodday, policy lead for peatlands with WCS Canada, said people deeply underestimate the importance of these ecosystems.“They contain a huge amount of carbon. Peatlands filter water, they clean the water, they prevent floods and droughts, they prevent wildfires,” Goodday told Saskatoon Morning Host Theresa Kliem.“When they’re kept healthy, they provide biodiversity habitat, and they store huge amounts of carbon and they also suck up carbon from the atmosphere. So they provide real benefits and services to us, and we need to keep them healthy.”LISTEN | A global NGO asks governments to do more to protect peatlands:Saskatoon Morning10:44A global N-G-O is pushing for change, asking governments to do more to protect peatlandsGuest host Theresa Kliem talks with Victoria Goodday of the Wildlife Conservation Society and Miriam Körner with For Peat’s Sake who says peatlands are under threat.According to the WCS, roughly 25 per cent of the world’s peatland are in Canada, storing 150 billion tonnes of carbon. The group’s proposed strategy includes a plan to introduce protections similar to those given to the province’s forests and wetlands, bring in Indigenous voices, and invest more into researching the ecosystems.“Restoration is made to be the default option. So instead of avoiding harm to these really precious irreplaceable ecosystems, industry is allowed to disturb them as long as they undertake restoration activities,” Goodday said.”But the problem is that peatlands are largely not able to be fully restored. As soon as you disturb them, carbon is released into the atmosphere that can’t be gotten back.”Miriam Körner co-founded For Peat’s Sake, a grassroots environmental group. Beyond the large-scale climate value, the peatlands are habitats for a great deal of flora and fauna, she said.Miriam Körner is cofounder of For Peat’s Sake, a group of concerned environmental advocates trying to halt a peat moss mining project in northern Saskatchewan. (Kendall Latimer/CBC)“The boreal forest, especially in the southern part, is very disturbed by industry. The muskegs are kind of the last refuge for a lot of wildlife,” Körner said.“This project has huge opposition and doesn’t have a social licence. So I’m very optimistic that this particular project doesn’t go ahead. But there is a project peat mining in the Hudson Bay area, by a different company. So peat is currently being harvested in Saskatchewan.”ABOUT THE AUTHORAlex Kozroski is a reporter with CBC News in Regina. He has also worked as a reporter for Golden West Broadcasting in Swift Current, Sask. He can be reached at alex.kozroski@cbc.caWith files from Saskatoon Morning
Conservation group proposes peatland strategy, fighting to prevent peat mining in northern Sask.
