The Rural Municipality of Excel No. 71 ( 2016 population: ) is a rural municipality (RM) in the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

of Saskatchewan within Census Division No. 3 and Division No. 2. It is located in the south-central portion of the province.

History

The RM of Excel No. 71 incorporated as a rural municipality on January 1, 1913.

Geography

Communities and localities

The following unincorporated communities are within the RM. ;

Organized hamlet In most cases in Saskatchewan, a Hamlet (place), hamlet is an unincorporated community with at least five occupied dwellings situated on separate lots and at least 10 separate lots, the majority of which are an average size of less than one acre. S ...

s * Ormiston ;Localities * Crane Valley *

Maxwellton Maxwelltown ( gd, Ceann Drochaid, IPA: �kʰʲaun̴̪ˈt̪ɾɔxətʲ was formerly a burgh of barony and police burgh and by the time of the burgh's abolition in 1929 it was the most populous burgh in the county of Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. I ...

* Readlyn, dissolved as a village, December 31, 1955 * Verwood, dissolved as a village, December 31, 1954 * Viceroy, dissolved as a village, May 10, 2002

Dryboro/ Burn Lake IBA

Dryboro/ Burn Lake (SK 029) is an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) of Canada within the RM of Excel. The IBA is located west of Ormiston and covers an area of in the

Missouri Coteau The Missouri Coteau, or Missouri Plateau, (french: Coteau du Missouri) is a large plateau that stretches along the eastern side of the valley of the Missouri River in central North Dakota and north-central South Dakota in the United States. In t ...

region. Dryboro and Burn Lakes are part of a larger complex of connected intermittent

salt lake A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per litre). ...

s in a semi-arid landscape surrounded by hilly terrain that is part of a

federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration The Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA) was a branch under Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), a department of the Federal Government of Canada. The Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration was established by an Act of Parliam ...

. The lakes are an important habitat for the endangered

piping plover The piping plover (''Charadrius melodus'') is a small sand-colored, sparrow-sized shorebird that nests and feeds along coastal sand and gravel beaches in North America. The adult has yellow-orange-red legs, a black band across the forehead from e ...

and are protected from development up to the high water mark. Other birds found in the area include the

Baird's sparrow Baird's sparrow (''Centronyx bairdii'') is a species of North American birds in the family Passerellidae of order Passeriformes. It is a migratory bird native to the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Description The Baird's sparrow can be ident ...

Sprague's pipit Sprague's pipit (''Anthus spragueii'') is a small songbird (passerine) in the family Motacillidae that breeds in the short- and mixed-grass prairies of North America. Migratory, it spends the winters in the southwestern United States and norther ...

, chestnut-collared longspur, clay-coloured sparrow, and the horned lark.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, the RM of Excel No. 71 had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. In the 2016 Census of Population, the RM of Excel No. 71 recorded a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change from its 2011 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2016.

Government

The RM of Excel No. 71 is governed by an elected municipal council and an appointed administrator that meets on the first Tuesday of every month. The

reeve Reeve may refer to: Titles *Reeve (Canada), an elected chief executive of some counties, townships, and equivalents *Reeve (England), an official elected annually by the serfs to supervise lands for a lord *High-reeve, a title taken by some Englis ...

of the RM is Arnold Montgomery while its administrator is Jan McDonald. The RM's office is located in Viceroy.

Transportation

The Red Coat & Rail Ltd. operates a short-line railway through the rural municipality. It is primarily used for the transport of agricultural products.Sask Biz
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References

{{Authority control E * Division No. 3, Saskatchewan Important Bird Areas of Saskatchewan