Executive Director Gord Vaadeland on May 11 at the Rock Trout Caribrew event. Photo by Chelsea Laskowski.
A wilderness protection group is doing something unique to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday, while giving a nod to First Nations history in the province.
The Saskatchewan branch of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS-Saskatchewan) has teamed up with Prairie Sun Brewery to create a beer called the “Caribrew.”
Executive Director Gord Vaadeland said the beer is meant to raise awareness to the plight of the Boreal Woodland Caribou.
“We wanted to give it a peaty flavour because caribou exist in areas where there’s a lot of peat and that’s sort of their habitat. So we wanted to sustainably harvest some peat moss from an actual caribou habitat area so the brewers went up and worked with First Nations in Reindeer Lake,” Vaadeland said.
The peat is then smoked to add flavour, and the end product aged in a whisky barrel.
Heather Williams and Cameron Ewen harvest peat for the Caribrew. Photo courtesy Prairie Sun Brewery, Facebook.
A Mistawasis representative, Anthony Johnston, was at CPAWS’s Thursday release party of this scotch-aged version of Caribrew to welcome the group to Treaty 6 territory in Prince Albert.
While the music-filled event was a festive occasion, Vaadeland said they take their work in protecting caribou habitat very seriously.
He said in CPAWS’s 50-plus years in the province, protecting half a million square kilometres of public land, they have found a “one size fits all approach” doesn’t work when dealing with different regions.
“We’re looking at working with governments and industries to look at ways to protect their habitat in a way that also allows the economic interests of local communities to continue, but not in the way that it has in the past in a way that’s put caribou at risk,” Vaadeland said.
“We’ve found that through doing that we can actually do a better job protecting caribou habitat because we can be very specific to certain areas as opposed to using mass prescriptions, one prescription across the country.”
Cover charge for the event was a quarter, with the hopes that people would pay attention to the woodland caribou depicted on the coin.
“This is an iconic Canadian species that’s a big part of our history and it’s at risk of extinction right across Canada,” he said.
“You hear about it with white rhinoceroses or different species in other locations and it seems like a big deal, and here it is in our back yard.”
A national contingent from the CPAWS went up to Cumberland House and the Saskatchewan River Delta on Friday to explore the area’s wildlife.