The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) has joined tech start-up SaskLander to help rural land owners manage their properties to reduce unsolicited trespassers through an online platform.
Amendments to the Trespass Legislation came into effect Jan. 1, 2021. The new amendments now transfer the onus of responsibility from the landowners to those wishing to access the land by requiring them to ask for permission before entering.
The SaskLander platform lets landowners add their property, review and manage permissions, schedule no access periods and more all online.
Bob Huber is a semi-retired rural landowner in the RM of Lipton, Sask. and said the app is a move “in the right direction” as trespassers have been a concern of his and other property owners for several years.
“There’s been no hunting signs put up and we’ve tried to manage our land, we’re also in the livestock business so we run a lot of livestock on our property and a lot of hunters in the past just ignore the no hunting signs and enter the property anyways,” Huber told CTV News.
According to SARM, trespassing can present as a threat for not only the safety of the property owner, but their livelihood as livestock can be lost to hunting accidents due to gates being left open by trespassers.
There is also high potential for the spread of noxious weeds and soil-borne diseases like clubroot.
While Huber is a supporter of the platform, he does have some concerns such as the amount of time and effort it would take for owners, who own large blocks of land, to enter onto the website and app.
“One other thing that concerns me is that it requires an internet connection to work and in rural Saskatchewan we have poor connectivity in a lot of areas of the province,” he said.
SARM said it’s an advocate for better connectivity in Saskatchewan and is working on ways to make sure the platform is accessible.
Those looking to access private land may not always see a “no trespassing” sign, know who the owner is or how to contact them, but with the online platform people can quickly search for the information they’re looking for.
“We’re trying to actually make people feel safer in Saskatchewan, we’re trying to curb the illegal activities, thefts, property crime and things like that,” said SARM president Ray Orb.
The SaskLander platform has 268 landowners registered online, accounting for 730 plots of land. The service is in its early stages and free for anyone to try.