Farmer says Sask. wildfires could affect soil and crops for years

The initial fires may be out, but one farmer says it will take years for the land to recover from the wildfires that ripped through southwestern Saskatchewan last month.

The fires were fanned by winds measuring up to 130 kilometres per hour, and damaged about 34,000hectares of land, including land belonging to grain farmer Russell Job.

"It took us back to the '70s, like when we used to have dust storms all over Saskatchewan and stuff like that," Job said.

Job, who farms near the community of Burstall, Sask., lost about 60 acres of canola, as well as some grain stored in bins. All of that is covered by insurance.

You're hurting your bottom line. You're doing what's right for the land.-Russell Job, farmer

He's more worried about the damage to the land.

Job said farmers in the area havebeen working the landfor years, so there would be enough roughage in the soil to prevent erosion.

"It took all that away plus a whole lot of the nutrients that were there and stored up," he said.

The fires burned off much of the stubble in the fields, leaving the land bare and at risk of soil erosion.

Now, Job said he expects to have to plant durum wheat the next few years, rather thanbetter money-making crops like peas and canola.

He said durum leaves behind a stubble to help hold the soil in place.

"You're hurting your bottom line. You're doing what's right for the land, but you're not going to make as much money doing this way," he said.

There will be some benefit next year, according to Job, from increased nitrogen in the soil from the fires.

But he's worried about the years that follow. Job describedthe area as a dustbowl.

"There's a lot of places where there's loose sand there. Kind of like you see in the desert sand, I guess. It doesn't take a lot to make it blow," he said.

Ulrike Hardenbicker, an associate professor in the department of geography at the University of Regina, specializes in soil erosion.

She said losing the stubble on one's field could certainly lead to erosion of the soil by water and wind, impactingthe soil's quality.

"Farmers leave the stubble so they can catch the snow, because southwestern Saskatchewan is one of the driest areas, so then we have the water for the next year," Hardenbicker said.

However, she's not predicting the higher erosion to last too many seasons.

"I think it will not harm in the long run," she said.