The RM of Stanley is investing $30,000 into erecting shelter belts in the municipality. Council allocated this money in its 2017 budget to help provide an incentive to farmers/land owners to plant shelter belts.

"When we drive through the RM, we see a lot of the old shelter belts being taken out and they aren't being replaced as quickly as maybe they should be," said Reeve Morris Olafson. "The idea is lets get back to planting trees. Trees are a good. There's nothing wrong with trees if they are placed properly. I think we need to maintain some trees. If you go up on the countryside you can see up to three or four miles in one stretch and there isn't a tree. That's where our snowbanks and water retention comes from."

The incentive offered by the RM is where the farmer/landowner will plant a shelter belt and once it's planted the RM will provide $500 for every half mile of trees planted. This is an application based program and is currently available. If the RM does approve the application, then the landowner buys and plants the tree's, after which the RM will provide a the cash incentive per half mile of trees.

Olafson is expecting to have the entire $30,000 used up this coming year, which could lead to council looking at setting aside money in next year's budget for this program again.

"It just slows the wind-down and also adds some water retention," explained Olafson. "Like this year, we've got a lot of water, but other years there's not. Lots of the time the only place that you have anything is beside a tree where there was some water retention."