Rural Life & Outdoors

Overly wet weather has forced many South Dakota farmers to delay or cut back on planting of their annual crop. The delayed or reduced crops will require some farmers to seek financial help from insurance or federal assistance programs to keep their operations viable.

Even with record high gas prices, officials and operators within the South Dakota tourism industry are hoping for another banner year in terms of number of visitors and revenues. They say a post-COVID wanderlust, combined with South Dakota's deep roster of attractions and strong sense of hospitality, will override visitor concerns about fuel costs.

Inadequate enforcement by federal agricultural agencies is allowing some farmers in South Dakota and across the Great Plains to illegally convert wetlands into croplands. As a result, states are seeing a continuing decline in wetlands and ponds that are crucial for breeding and hosting of wildlife, including South Dakota’s lucrative pheasant population.

Hundreds of landowners in eastern South Dakota are watching closely to see where two proposed carbon-dioxide pipelines will be built between now and 2025. Landowners with prior experience with underground pipeline construction say the process is invasive to their land and their lives, can prevent future development of their land and carries the potential for leakage of a dangerous chemical.

Two proposed multi-billion dollar underground carbon dioxide pipelines that would run more than 500 miles in South Dakota have drawn strong landowner interest and opposition. But the pipeline projects have also brought to light a fundamental debate over whether carbon capture and sequestration technology is worth the immense investment and risks, and if it is the right approach to reducing carbon emissions and slowing global climate change. Part 1 of a two-part South Dakota News Watch series.

A record level of new federal funding will help the Lewis & Clark Regional Water System expand and provide more drinking water to southeastern South Dakota. The expanded system will be better equipped to provide clean water from the Missouri River to the greater Sioux Falls region, even with continued population growth and extended drought conditions.

The long-range staffing crisis within South Dakota nursing homes is playing out with devastating consequences in Ipswich, S.D., where the town's only nursing home will soon close and an inspection from 2021 revealed serious deficiencies in how residents were cared for and treated.

South Dakota’s native freshwater mussels clean the water in state rivers and streams, but agricultural pollution and habitat destruction appear to be reducing their numbers at the same time the invasive, non-native zebra mussels spreading throughout South Dakota are a new threat to aquatic populations. Experts wonder if state and federal wildlife and environmental protection agencies are doing enough to protect native freshwater mussels.

A pair of bills now under consideration by the Legislature would allow Native Americans from South Dakota to hunt, fish and visit state parks for free. Supporters of the two bills say passage would reduce financial barriers for South Dakota tribal families and be a show of reconciliation between the state and Indian tribes.

The daycare shortage in South Dakota is most acute in rural and reservation communities where working parents have few options and may have to go to great lengths to get child care and in order to remain in the workforce.