Earth hater Noem Peters apparently a chip off her mother's block; Goss cautious

In South Dakota the Chinese ring-necked pheasant is not wildlife but it is a canary in a chemically and genetically engineered coal mine.

As for pheasants, they don’t stand a chance. Although the South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Department claims pheasant numbers rebounded somewhat in 2014 and 2015, because of two back-to-back warm winters, the overall trend looks bleak. Why? Because urbanization and industrialization of rural Dakota isn’t slowing, it’s accelerating. Consequently, habitat is going to continue to fall under the plow, bulldozer and backhoe. And there is nothing, and no one, who is going to stop it, especially not Gov. Dennis Daugaard and his lame pheasant recovery task-force. [op-ed, Robert Schneiders]

But a shaky cease fire in the attempted extermination of native species to prop up the pheasant industry has taken effect after the state's former Republican governor put bounties on raccoons and skunks known to feed on prolific invasive zebra mussels. In South Dakota over a hundred native species are at risk to the Republican Party including the endangered pallid sturgeon, paddlefish, black footed ferret, northern long-eared bat, the black-backed woodpecker that feeds on bark beetles and a bird that actually walks underwater – the American dipper, just to name a few.

An increasing number of scientists believe the US Fish and Wildlife Service isn't doing enough to crack down on red states that flout or simply ignore protections for vulnerable species so now some 80% of original grassland ecosystems are gone. Ag producers have destroyed shelter belts to plant industrial crops that deplete aquifers and now drought is blowing toxin-laden topsoil into downwind states. Another early spring wildfire season began in Nebraska, eastern Colorado, western Kansas, the panhandles of Oklahoma, Texas and other Republican-held areas where moral hazard and poor ranching practices routinely decimate the high plains. In the last 10 years alone, the US lost more than 50 million acres of grasslands.

 

In 2013 the eldest daughter of Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem (KLAN) was injured in a vehicle rollover apparently after learning to drive from her mother.

Kassidy [Noem] Peters, development officer with Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, whose national office is based in Watertown, addressed the Brookings Rotary Club regarding the organizations’ mission and growing impact across the region. Since 1970, grasslands have declined by 53%, making them one of the most imperiled ecosystems on the planet. The program has also succeeded in opening previously landlocked public ground, creating new opportunities for hunters. Peters shared the story of a Kansas hunter who discovered the program through a podcast, made the drive to South Dakota, and has returned every year since. [Brookings Register]

The good news? Some 1.3 million invasive pheasants were put to death by hunters in the state in 2025 in addition to the intentional culling of about 30,000 farm-raised fowl at Gisi Pheasant Farm because of the H5N1 bird flu outbreak.

Creighton University's Ernie Goss follows the economies of ten midwestern states including South Dakota's where the manufacturing sector lost about 800 jobs over the last year or 1.8% of its manufacturing base, ag workers still face severe stressors and a mental health provider shortage affects at least 62 of South Dakota's 66 counties.

The state’s farm and ranchland price index fell to 47.8 from July’s 55.0. South Dakota’s August new hiring index dipped to 50.8 from 52.5 in July. According to trade data from the [International Trade Association], South Dakota exports of agriculture goods and livestock for the first half of 2026, compared to the same period in 2025, slumped by $30.1 million for a 39.8% fall. The greatest downturn in South Dakota ag exports were to Mexico with a 50.5% drop from 2025 to 2026. [Rural Mainstreet Index]