South Dakota

American Bird Conservancy
Advancing Grassland Bird Conservation through Landowner Outreach (MT, SD)
Promote educational opportunities and land stewardship activities in the Northern Great Plains by offering workshops and providing conservation technical assistance, developing conservation plans, and assisting private landowners in enrolling in Farm Bill programs. Project will enhanced landowner knowledge of grassland conservation and soil health, implement sustainable wildlife-compatible management across the project area, and restore and improve management practices on 3,500 acres.
$188,813

Lower Brule Sioux Tribe
Conserving Pronghorn and Black-Footed Ferret Populations on the Lower Brule Indian Reservation (SD)
Modify fences to improve passage and habitat connectivity for pronghorn and continue efforts to conserve prairie dogs and recover black-footed ferrets on the Lower Brule Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Project will increase tribal capacity, improve 15 miles of fencing, and mitigate threats from sylvatic plague on 1,800 acres of black-footed ferret habitat.
$295,201

National Audubon Society
Achieving Grassland Conservation by Providing Technical Assistance to Landowners (SD)
Improve existing grassland habitat health and establish 5-10 year conservation agreements with landowners through the South Dakota Prairie Management Toolbox which provides cost-share and technical assistance for woody species removal, prescribed fire, and grazing infrastructure. Project will bring 10,000 acres under improved management and restore 1,500 acres of habitat.
$331,951

National Audubon Society
Increase Collaboration of Sagebrush Conservation (multiple states)
Strategically coordinate internal and external communication between a wide range of stakeholders committed to improving communications about the sagebrush ecosystem to elevate not only individual efforts but also the larger dialog about the value and need for sagebrush conservation. Project will bring 100 acres of sagebrush habitat under improved management, develop media resources for community stake holders and host field tour events that elevate on-the-ground conservation.
$29,636

Pheasants Forever
Responsible Recreation – “The Uplands are Open” (SD)
Encourage that outdoor recreation activities continue in a safe and responsible manner following CDC guidelines, while also encouraging our public lands remain open whenever and wherever possible.  Project will focus on public upland properties and utilize a full suite of online communication tools.
$300,000

Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory
Implement a Radio Telemetry Network in the Great Plains and Chihuahuan Desert to Monitor Grassland Birds (multiple states)
Implement a collaborative network of automated radio telemetry stations throughout the Great Plains and Chihuahuan Desert to monitor the annual cycle of grassland birds, including Baird’s sparrow, Sprague’s pipit and chestnut-collared longspur. Project will initiate this effort by holding webinars to recruit and train partners and develop a plan to track grassland birds across the region, install telemetry stations to track focal species, and deploy tags on focal species.
$250,000

Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory
Monitoring Grassland Bird Population Responses to Investments in the Northern Great Plains (MT, ND, NE, SD, WY)
Continue evaluating and quantifying the impacts of NFWF-funded conservation easement and grazing management projects on priority grassland bird species in the Northern Great Plains. Project will compare density, population size, and trend of priority grassland birds between NFWF projects and controls within the Northern Great Plains region.
$372,899

South Dakota State University
Identifying Native Grassland Habitat to Inform and Prioritize Conservation Investments (SD)
Complete an ongoing assessment currently underway to identify native, undisturbed, land tracts within priority grassland regions of western South Dakota to determine the extent of known tillage history to better inform and prioritize future conservation investments. Project will establish a publicly available baseline inventory of the potential extent of native grassland habitats in western South Dakota for the benefit of all endemic grassland species and communities.
$299,509

World Wildlife Fund
Securing Black-Footed Ferret Populations Through Sylvatic Plague Mitigation (MT, SD)
Establish a population of black-footed ferret protected from sylvatic plague in the Missouri-Milk River Grasslands, Montana and central South Dakota. Project will improve the status of 20 black-footed ferrets at two reintroduction sites, recover prairie dog habitat lost to sylvatic plague at a third site, and set the stage to establish a new ferret population on private lands.
$271,946