The Hannin Creek facility will be able to add a 3D archery range thanks to the grant from Cabelas (Submitted Photo/Dr. Hamilton Greenwood)

By Michael Joel-Hansen

Conservation and education

Candle Lake area camp set to get some upgrades

Apr 8, 2019 | 5:03 PM

A camp located near Candle Lake has received a generous grant.

The Hannin Creek Education and Applied Research Centre, which is jointly owned by the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation and Saskatchewan Polytechnic is a facility that serves a variety of people and groups.

“The Hannin Creek Centre has reached a really broad client base anywhere from provincial forest firefighters, post-secondary education, kids who are hard of hearing, conservation schools. We run a number of programs out there,” Dr. Hamilton Greenwood said.

Greenwood is a faculty member with the natural resource technology program at Saskatchewan Polytechnic in Prince Albert. He also serves on the board of directors for the camp.

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The grant is worth $40,000 and was given out by Cabelas Canada from the company’s outdoor fund. Greenwood said the program came onto their radar a while ago.

The money for the fund is collected by the company when people go through the checkout and are offered the chance to round up their purchase to support the fund.

Greenwood explained the camp has specific plans for the grant money, which includes what is called a 3D archery range.

“It gets kids back in the bush and looking carefully at their surroundings and teaches them basic archery skills,” he said.

Another piece of equipment is a mobile shooting trailer, which will allow staff from the facility to take equipment to rifle and skeet shooting ranges to provide education to kids about firearms safety.

“If we can breed that into them at a very early age by showing them the right ways to handle firearms and how to responsibly handle firearms, we’ve got kind of captive audience when they’re young,” Greenwood said.

The final piece of work Hannin Creek will be able to have done is the rebuilding of a bridge, which Greenwood explained will help by giving easier access to land located across the creek.

“It increases our access to some really great wilderness area,” he said.

In the big picture, Greenwood said the facility at Hannin Creek plays an important role in teaching people about the environment.

“Educating the general public and future practitioners in sound resource management programs is absolutely key if we want to be good stewards of the land,” he said.

Going forward, Greenwood said the board of directors which oversees the camp will be meeting in the coming weeks to look at the long term plan for the facility and what further work can be done to improve it.

“The next step may or may not be to go ahead and build some additional residences to extend the operation year of the facility,” he said.

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MichaelJoel.Hansen@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @mjhskcdn