Conservation

CUSTER (AP) -- The Nature Conservancy says it has sold a 1,125-acre ranch in Custer County to a private buyer with safeguards to ensure the land remains in native prairie and maintains its ranching tradition. The Lame Johnny Creek Ranch is nestled between Custer State Park and Wind...

HURON -- USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) State Executive Director Craig Schaunaman has announced that FSA is accepting Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) offers under the Highly Erodible Land Initiative (HELI). South Dakota was allocated 9,600 acres under this initiative. Signup...

SIOUX FALLS (AP) -- Agricultural producers and landowners in South Dakota can submit their bids to enroll eligible land in the federal Conservation Reserve Program. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency will accept CRP offers nationwide until April 6. ...

A meeting tonight in Mitchell is designed to gather information on revising a state conservation plan. The meeting will be from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Highland Conference Center. Bill Smith, conservation program administrator for the South Dakota Department of Agriculture,...

PIERRE -- The state House of Representatives argued a long time Wednesday about perpetuity. Specifically, House members debated whether landowners in South Dakota should continue to be allowed to engage in perpetual conservation easements on their properties with the federal...

PIERRE (AP) -- Gov. Dennis Daugaard has re-appointed three individuals to the State Conservation Commission. David Fischbach of Faith, Alan Vedvei of Lake Preston, and Thomas Glover of Burke will serve terms that expire on Jan. 1, 2015. Fischbach serves as the Area III representative...

CHICAGO -- U.S. winter-wheat acreage rose for a second straight year, climbing more than analysts expected, as farmers in the Great Plains boosted planting on ground left bare from last year's drought. About 41.947 million acres were seeded from September through November, up 3.2...

WESSINGTON SPRINGS -- Jerauld County Conservation District Workshop will begin at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 11, at Springs Inn, Wessington Springs. Registration begins at 10 a.m. with the sessions beginning at 10:15 a.m. Topics covered include Cost Sharing Available with Ben...

PIERRE - The state Board of Minerals and Environment has received an application to designate four sections of land on Terry Peak in Lawrence County for possible additional protections. When the board can hold the hearing on the request from Dick Fort, president of ACTion for...

An environmental group said Wednesday that the Obama administration's proposed 2010 fiscal-year budget would cause South Dakota to "lose" about $5.3 million in funding for a popular conservation program. Whether the money would actually be "lost" is open to interpretation, because...

A Dakota Wesleyan University student recently completed an 1,800-mile journey from his Oregon home to Mitchell and spent only $10 for diesel fuel. John "Dylan" Moro, 25, of Joseph, Ore., drives a 1976 Mercedes, converted to run primarily on vegetable oil he receives from a local...

CHAMBERLAIN -- Hundreds of fish were reported dead recently on the Missouri River's Lake Francis Case, but authorities say the cause was probably natural. State Game, Fish and Parks officials were made aware Friday of a large fish kill in the White River confluence area, said Geno...