Bill Boyd, 61 of Eston, was sentenced in Kindersley provincial court on April 17, 2018, on environmental charges he pleaded guilty to in February. Boyd was fined a total of $35,000. In June 2017, Ministry of Environment conservation officers investigated a possible violation of The Wildlife Habitat Protection Act and Regulations, where protected native grasslands, located adjacent to private land, had been cultivated.
On July 7, 2017, conservation officers received a call to the Turn In Poachers line regarding potentially illegal work on the bank of the South Saskatchewan River, south of Eston. Officers investigated the report and found the two cases were related, as approximately five acres of protected native grasslands had been cultivated and a section of bank on the South Saskatchewan River had been excavated. On February 6, 2018, Boyd pleaded guilty to one charge under The Environmental Management and Protection Act, 2010, and one charge under The Wildlife Habitat Protection Act. He was fined $28,000 today on the first charge and $7,000 previously in February on the second charge. In addition to the fines, he was issued court orders to remediate the damage to the protected grasslands and the damage to the shoreline. The public’s assistance in solving crimes related to the protection and preservation of our environment and natural resources is invaluable. Every year, the public makes more than 1,000 calls to the Ministry of Environment’s Turn In Poachers (TIP) line. If you suspect wildlife, fisheries, forestry or environmental violations, call your local Ministry of Environment office, Saskatchewan’s toll-free TIP line at 1-800-667-7561, or call #5555 for SaskTel cellular subscribers, or report a violation online at www.saskatchewan.ca/tip. You may be eligible for cash rewards from the SaskTip reward program.
