Breathtaking landscapes, rare flowers, butterflies and friendship were all part of the two-day Petroglyphs Lifeways and Land Festival taking place in St. Victor on June 2-3. The event, which attracted a sizeable crowd, was organized by the Friends of the St. Victor Petroglyphs, a group dedicated to education and preservation of the petroglyph site. The petroglyphs are unique carvings located on horizontal caprock of the sandstone cliff. It is a sacred site for First Nations people populating this area.
Day one began with a driving tour of the Missouri Couteau Escarpment guided by Dave Munro. The Coteau is a narrow band of prairie upland that stretches from southern Saskatchewan to Â鶹´«Ã½AV Dakota characterized by hummocky, pothole-dotted grassland underlain by thick glacial sediments. Part of Saskatchewan’s driest ecosystem, the Coteau has diverse and well-adapted wildlife and vegetation. The group ascended over 1,000 ft to over 3,000 ft elevation to view the magnificent scene below. Munro explained the water courses like the spring beds, ancient glacier patterns as well as helped to identify plants found on the hillsides.
For the organizers, this was a unique opportunity to educate the public about the importance of the St. Victor Petroglyphs and surrounding environment and its preservation. Saskatchewan’s tourism and heritage departments have paid little attention to the site which offers few facilities for tourists. The Friends hope to one day have an interpretive centre.
