By Amber Sugai, Blood Tribe Communications Officer
On May 6, 2026, the 14th Prairie Conservation Award and Endangered Species Conference was held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The Blood Tribe Land Management received the Prairie Conservation 2026 Award, making the Blood Tribe the only First Nation to receive this award.
Every three years the Prairie Conservation Award is awarded to those who have shown a long-lasting impact on protecting prairie habitats and species at risk. The Blood Tribe Land Management Department (BTLMD) received this year’s recognition based on their Environment Protection Division.
Blood Tribe Land Management Environmental technicians have been working on several initiatives, one of them being Kainai skahkoyii Land Initiative. This initiative documents grassland health and documenting the species that depend on the cultural resources in those habitats.
This aligns with the BTLMD vision as the department envisions a future where land is respected as a living entity, ecosystems are resilient and abundant, and Blood Tribe members are connected and empowered to care for their land as well as each other.
“The significance of receiving the award is that we are in a way leading as a first nation and prairie conservation, getting the recognition for all the projects and all the work has not gone unnoticed,” said Alvin First Rider, Land Management Environmental Technician Manager.
Elliot Fox, Blood Tribe Councillor, Alvin First Rider, and Truman Big Swallow attended the conference and accepted the award. Truman Big Swallow, Land Management Environmental Technician, is proud to see First Nations environmental knowledge receive this much deserved recognition.
Our knowledge is not just background noise, that it has a deeper meaning and that it is on par with western science. Big Swallow says the award is giving the recognition of all the efforts they have done in terms of protecting endangered species and native grasslands in Treaty 7 territory.
“It helps with ecological protection but our cultural protection too, a lot of our stories are really tied into the plants and animals we have,” said Big Swallow.
First Rider and his team have been researching and working with different partners to develop a guidebook that reflects the Blood Tribe and all the plant communities on the reserve. With all this research that they have done the environmental technicians have been able to find rare lichens and rare species that depend on the grassland’s ecosystem, showing the importance of having large grasslands that remain mostly undeveloped without any human influence.
“It goes to show as a first nation community what we could do and how we could continue to support our ecological communities,” said First Rider.
The Prairie Conservation Award carries international recognition that is being recognized by the global conservation community that highlights how important grasslands are to the people.
First Rider says being able to accumulate all the work and preserve the grassland is because of all the predecessors, environmental technicians, the elders, the Iinnii (buffalo) rematriation, and fire introduction for grassland health.
All these projects go hand in hand in restoring ecological communities and ways to enhance them to ensure our future generations can enjoy our land.
CloAnn Wells Blood Tribe Land Management Director, is very proud of the staff and the achievements that are being recognized for all the hard work that they are doing.
“This is a positive step forward to show our members that we are being sustainable to the land and we are trying to conserve what grasslands we do have, by applying for these grants, by teaching, educating, and bringing awareness to our members of what land we have and how we can sustain it in a positive manner,” said Wells.
Stay Safe,
Blood Tribe Communications & Community Engagement
P.O. Box 60
Standoff, AB T0L 1Y0
Phone: 403-737-8130
Website: https://bloodtribe.org/
