Outdoors

A South Dakota hunter walks the tall grass with his dog.

Federal government awards $23 million for Prairie Pothole Region

BY: - March 21, 2023

The federal government plans to spend $23 million to restore and conserve grasslands and wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region, which is known as the “duck factory” of North America and is home to migratory birds, fish and other wildlife. The money is part of the Department of the Interior’s $120 million in funding from […]

Cold Springs Creek in the Black Hills of South Dakota, where parcels of private land are being added to the Black Hills National Forest. (Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation)

Black Hills National Forest adds 239 acres through deal with elk group and landowners

BY: - March 16, 2023

The Black Hills National Forest is growing by about one-third of a square mile. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation acquired 239 acres of land from two landowners for a total of $1.1 million and conveyed it to the national forest. The land is high in the remote western area of the forest in South Dakota, […]

An antelope walks through dry grass. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

State caps non-resident archery licenses on public land

BY: - March 9, 2023

South Dakota will join most other states in capping deer and antelope archery licenses for out-of-state hunters on public land. The state Game Fish and Parks Commission unanimously approved the change Thursday at a meeting in Pierre. South Dakota had been one of the few states that allowed an unlimited number of non-resident bowhunters on […]

(Photo by Travel South Dakota)

SD’s pheasant predator bounties are wrong for Nebraska, experts say

BY: - February 9, 2023

LINCOLN, Neb. — Pheasant hunting in South Dakota generates an estimated $220 million a year in retail spending and causes an annual flood of 120,000 orange-clad hunters into the state. But a Nebraska state senator’s effort to try to replicate that kind of economic impact by increasing Nebraska’s shrinking pheasant population prompted opposition from biologists […]

Inside the state Capitol in Pierre. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

Bill would require trespassing hunters and anglers to pay landowners

BY: - February 7, 2023

A bill that would require hunters and anglers to pay a landowner for trespassing on their property, in addition to fines already enforced by the state, passed the South Dakota House Ag and Natural Resources Committee on an 8-5 vote Tuesday at the Capitol in Pierre.  The bill, sponsored by Rep. Neal Pinnow, R-Lemmon, aims […]

Dana Rogers, a spokesperson with South Dakota Bowhunters, testifies in a legislative committee on Jan. 2, 2023, at the Capitol in Pierre. (Joshua Haiar/SD Searchlight)

Bill to let landowners bag an elk every year gets grilled, dies in committee

BY: - February 2, 2023

PIERRE – The elk population is a “two-sided coin,” according to Jeremiah Murphy, a lobbyist for the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association. “It’s a trophy and it’s trouble,” he told legislators Thursday at the Capitol. A bill that tried to reconcile those two sides of the coin died in a legislative committee on an 11-1 vote. […]

A portion of the Black Hills National Forest near Mystic. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)

USDA to use outdoors recreation to boost economy around national forests, grasslands

BY: - January 30, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture began planning this month to develop outdoor recreation opportunities near national forests and grasslands, part of a broader Biden administration push to help communities reap economic rewards from the growing recreation sector. Three USDA agencies — the U.S. Forest Service, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and […]

A portion of the Pactola Reservoir in the Black Hills. (Seth Tupper/SD Searchlight)

New lifetime pass for veterans provides free entrance to national parks and other public lands

BY: - November 11, 2022

Starting today, on Veterans Day, military veterans and Gold Star families can get a free lifetime pass to the nation’s 400 million acres of public lands, national parks, wildlife refuges, and forests. Lifetime access for veterans was part of the  Alexander Lofgren Veterans in Parks Act, which passed in December 2021. The bill authorized free […]

Game, Fish and Parks Commission members (top row, from left) Russell Olson, Stephanie Rissler, Robert Whitmyre, Julie Barling, (bottom row, from left) Jon Locken, Travis Bies and Charles Spring. The commission's eighth seat is currently vacant. (Photos courtesy of GF&P)

Public-land hunters and anglers push for one of their own to fill vacant commission seat

BY: - October 31, 2022

Some public-land hunters and anglers feel underrepresented by the current Game, Fish and Parks Commission, and they hope to see a board member from a grassroots group – like the South Dakota Wildlife Federation or Black Hills Sportsmen Club – appointed to a vacant seat.  The GF&P Commission consists of eight members appointed by the […]