Prairie Fest invites families to explore the grasslands of South Dakota

A gathering at Good Earth promises budget-friendly play while learning about the power of the prairie. You're listening to SDPBs In The Moment. I'm Lori Walsh. The South Dakota Grasslands Coalition is hosting a family-friendly prairie fest at Good Earth State Park in southeastern South Dakota. The August 22nd event is billed as one last summer adventure. and an opportunity for budget-conscious families to enjoy the outdoors before returning to fall routines. There is a serious side to grassland education, of course. South Dakota is losing grasslands every year at a higher rate than reestablishment. Some years, grassland conversion outpaces deforestation in South American rainforests. Laura Kaler is director of the South Dakota Grassland Initiative. I talked with her via Zoom. So the South Dakota Grasslands Initiative started a few years ago. It was an idea brought forward from the South Dakota Grassland Coalition. And the South Dakota Grassland Coalition is an organization in our state that's been around for, I think, 30-some years. It's really focused on supporting the grasslands and supporting producers. So helping producers be as efficient and effective grazers as they can. And then... All the benefits that come with that for the grasslands. And within South Dakota, there's a lot of partners that work together within the South Dakota Grassland Coalition, and our state's really known well for its partnerships. Nationally, or actually internationally, this new... group of sorts was starting called the Central Grasslands Roadmap Initiative. And the Central Grasslands Roadmap was focused on how do we bring partners together from Canada through Mexico to address the issue of grassland loss in the Great Plains. And how can partners focus in on that topic? And so in South Dakota, with the coalition already having this great network of partners, it seemed like a great state to talk about how do we bring the concept of the Central Grasslands Roadmap onto a state level scale where we can do a little bit more action on the smaller scale. And so the South Dakota Grassland Coalition launched the South Dakota Grasslands Initiative, which is just that. It's the how do we bring together the... academia the NGOs the businesses the agencies all of those different types of groups making sure we've got tribal perspective brought in as well and

concentrate on what are the gaps to support the grasslands in our state and how do we address those gaps more efficiently by working together. Yeah. Talk about that place of strength in the form of partnerships. What does that look like? What have you noticed is already going well because of those long-term partnerships? So when we got started with the South Dakota Grasslands Initiative, we had a bunch of meetings around the state where we could have some in-person conversation focusing on what are the gaps. We knew what we were doing well, but what were the gaps that we thought could best be addressed through collaboration? And from there, some of the different themes that rose to the top and where we've kind of developed work groups to address would be things like... educating the general public on grasslands and helping support producers. So one example would be that we recognized it would be great if we could have some grab and go resources for people teaching about the grasslands. So we had a work group that developed these kits that are available around the state. They're actually totes with different activities for a K through 12 education on hands-on. learning about grassland ecology. And as we developed those totes, it was really great to have these diverse teams where we had the biologists providing kind of the information on the bird species and the grass species. And we had some people that were more involved with education, giving us feedback on how to make it most engaging for the youth. We had others doing some graphic design skills. And so bringing in all of these different... backgrounds and perspectives is really important. The importance of diversity and backgrounds is also important for the grasslands, which are fantastic because of the diversity that they represent. We've got people that are focused on the importance of grasslands for upland game birds. We have those that are focused on the importance of grasslands for water quality. For grazing, of course, in our state agriculture is the huge reason that we need our grasslands. And so by bringing together all of these different voices, and recognizing that we are all more successful by having these grasslands in our state, we can all benefit. Are we quantifying grassland loss in South Dakota? So the Grasslands Initiative isn't, but some of the partners absolutely are looking at that. In South Dakota, our state actually used to be about 98% grasslands. So other than the Black Hills, the entire state was grasslands. And today we're about 50% of the state remains in grasslands. We've lost most of it to conversion, development, and woody encroachment. So as the amount of grasslands we have in our state has shifted, the ecosystems have shifted, and our ability to use those grasslands for those purposes of agriculture, outdoor recreation, tourism, water quality, and all the trickle-down impacts of losing those grasslands is felt in all the different industries. And so while we recognize that those other uses, the conversion and development.

are important to our state as well. We're focused on what can we do to support the grasslands that we have so that they're high quality and able to do the job that we need them to do. Are grasslands being converted still? Absolutely. There's different reasons for it, but we are continuing to lose grasslands every year at a higher rate than they are being. reestablished and once we lose our native grasslands even if they're planted back with native seeds they will never be restored to the same quality and system that they were. Grasslands are amazingly resilient. They can, they actually come back from fire doing better than they were before. Of course, they can do well in floods or droughts. Native plants have these really deep roots that are just made for this environment where we do naturally have droughts every now and then. And the grasslands can bounce back from all of that. But, Once they're converted, that becomes a little trickier to come back from at the same level as they were as a hundreds-of-year-old grassland. How hard is it to maintain if you're a private rancher? Is there a pressure to convert to a row crop when you have, I mean, are there economic pressures or what's going on? The greatest pressure that we hear about is economic, especially as you go in different regions of the state. Some of it's just a personal preference that the individual operating the land wants to convert it because they prefer to farm, and that's one thing. But we hate to hear about the producers who wanted to keep it in grass, but economically just couldn't do it. There's a lot of policies and programs that are in place that incentivize converting it to crops. There's some programs that are out there that are fantastic programs from partners that do help people who have crop ground and want to put it back into grass, but there's still a lot of temptation out there to take your grass and... convert it into cropland where you have more safety net programs there. So talk about that education piece because you've got this event coming up where you can help the general public understand the ecosystem and why it's important. There are key takeaways that people should think about when they think about South Dakota grasslands. I think it's just recognizing that South Dakota grasslands are valuable. It's too easy to look out the window. We talk about it with these flyover states that you look out and you think this open space is just nothingness rather than really walking around in the grassland, recognizing the diversity of plants and the animals that are there and the bugs and this really healthy, great soil that exists because of the grasslands being there. It's also easy to say that grasslands are just for ranchers or grasslands only matter to people who like to pheasant hunt without thinking about...

how the grasslands impact everyone, especially when we're talking about things like water quality. That is where grasslands are really vital to our state in the different spots where you'll see them, you know, both in the field setting, but also as buffer strips and along the riparian areas, grasslands have a lot of importance to all South Dakotans in our state. How does this show up in your daily life, in your operation, when you walk around? What are you seeing that you might not see in another converted field? I am surrounded at my home by grasslands, and I often think about just how lucky I am in that when I look out the window at certain times of the year, I get to see prairie chickens lucking. I get to see all of these different songbirds, and I can just sit out there with my Cornell app, turn it on, and... I started identifying all the different birds making noise around me. Being able to walk through our yard, which really isn't a yard, and it's just native plants, and being able to see all the different bugs and bees coming into the different forms throughout the year. And then being, of course, able to see the livestock, my cattle and neighbor's cattle out there just doing exactly what this land is meant to do, which is being grazed. And it's really fun to see as... You work with partners such as the Grassland Coalition to learn more about your grazing management, how you can see what better quality grasses you have and how you can be a better grassland manager. And then from that, you start to see more birds, more wildlife, more bugs. And it's just a really neat thing to think that as the steward of the land, you're doing the best you can to maintain that. We talk a lot about South Dakota farmers feeding the world and the vital role of that. Is there also a vital role outside of South Dakota for the grasslands that impacts the rest of the nation or even the planet? I would back up and say our grasslands are vital for feeding the world. One of the big issues that we're facing right now nationally is a declining beef herd. While the size of cattle are getting bigger to help compensate for that, the number of cows out there that are having calves that are going into the food system is declining. And the way that we're going to boost our cow calf numbers is by building our grasslands and having more grasslands that are affordable for producers to be able to raise their lives stock on. Tell me a little bit about the event and what you're hoping people can come out and do and participate in. So the Grasslands Initiative is one of the partners that's working with the Grassland Coalition to put on Prairie Fest, 2026. It's just going to be a really exciting day to celebrate and learn about the grasslands. It'll start off with a few early bird sessions. So if you're a morning bird, come on out for the bird mist netting, the bird watching tour. There's also going to be a prairie tour.

And if you're not able to wake up that early, just stop out at any point during the day. It'll run from 9.30 to 2.30. We have about 15 different exhibitors that will be set up outside with different interactive activities. So the event is really designed for families and people who are just individuals that want to get out and see something and learn something new. So you can go through the different interactive exhibits. There'll be live music. You can bring your own picnic and sit outside and enjoy Megan and the Birdwatcher, who's a folk band coming over from Minneapolis area. And we'll also have some food trucks. We'll have different types of food, ice cream, coffee right there on site. And the other exciting thing is that we were able to... have the Grassland Coalition cover the cost of state parking passes. So if you don't have a state parking pass, they'll cover you for the day. And so there's no barriers to coming in and enjoying and learning with us. You also have a podcast. We do. We have a series called Partners on the Prairie. So the South Dakota Grassland Coalition is this network of partners. And one of the ways that we can work together for better is by understanding who's doing what and who each other are. So the podcast series highlights the different partners and gives everyone the opportunity to share a little bit about themselves in kind of a bite-size, if you will, podcast that's meant for, you know, quick commute. You can plug one in and learn about how presentation sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary or Ducks Unlimited or Fessons Forever all play a different role in this grassland conservation work. Anything else you want to leave us with? A recent study done by the Central Grasslands Roadmap collection of all of these different partners coming together and focusing on where is the general public at understanding grasslands? Like I said, so many of us just look out the window and until you really start to understand the grasslands, it's so easy to overlook them. And 47% of Americans self-identified and then through some questions confirmed that they have little to know knowledge of the grasslands. And they often think of grasslands as just being kind of unimportance. And really, they're one of the most at-risk ecosystems. Some years they're declining more rapidly than the rainforest in South America. But we don't hear about this important ecosystem that's right here in our backyard. Is there a data center conversation happening around grasslands right now? I would think there'd have to be. Starting to become more of a topic, but there's other areas that are kind of the bigger areas of grassland loss is a little bit more the focus right now. Prairie Fest is a family celebration of Dakota Grasslands. It's Saturday, August 22nd from 9.30 to 2 p.m. at Good Earth State Park near Sioux Falls. Admission to the park and the events are all free. Laura Kaler is director of the South Dakota Grasslands Initiative. That's our conversation for today. I hope that it served you from all of us here at SDPV. I'm Lori Walsh. Thank you for listening.