This past weekend was the Campout for Conservation put on by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) at the Old Man on His Back Ranch.

The NCC bought the 13,000-acre property in 1996. They take care and manage the property as they run a heard of 80 bisons.

The Campout is an opportunity for the NCC to get some help managing the 13,000-acre property says the Program Director of Southwest Saskatchewan for the NCC, Michael Borak.

"Being a small organization in Saskatchewan we don't have a lot of time, money and manpower to take on all the things we would like to, so tend to use this event as a bit of an opportunity to get a whole bunch of hands to get some things done."

Borak talked about what they were able to accomplish with the help of the 27 volunteers that came out.

"The main purpose kind of shifts every year and this year we kind of focused on capping some of the fence posts to try and stop small songbirds from getting falling in and getting trapped in the hollow posts.
I believe we capped 793 fence posts in total and then we also did a few task in and around the site to help us with our day to day operations, we stained the deck on our interpretive centre just to help it withstand the weather, and put up a new shed."

Borak added that it wasn't all just work and no play.

"We took quite a bit of time just to enjoy the sites and sounds out there, we also did a couple of guided nature walks and hikes around the property to look a few different sites and sounds, we did a tour of our bison-handling facility, we had the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada to watch the meteor shower, and they brought a telescope and they showed some volunteers Saturn and Jupiter. Old Man on His Back's actually one of two nocturnal preserves in Canada designated by the Royal Astronomic Society of Canada."

The Campout for Conservation is held every year on the second weekend in August.