The Society for Range Management is an international organzation for professionals and rangeland users who are concerned with studying, conserving, managing and sustaining the various rangelands worldwide. In South Dakota, the chapter is especially focused on supporting grassland education for youth. In this episode, Jeff Vander Wilt shares about the South Dakota SRM chapter, and their work.

Prairie Pothole Joint Ventures (PPJV) is one of two Joint Ventures that works in South Dakota to support healthy grasslands and bird habitats. PPJV Coordinator, Lauri Hanauska-Brown shares about the unique ways Prairie Pothole Joint Ventures is working to support community-based conservation.

SnapLands is a Colorado based ecological accounting and rangeland monitoring company that partners with managers intentionally seeking strategies to maximize long term profit and healthy ecosystems. Ryan White, CEO and founder of Snaplands, shares how landowners and producers can work with a company like SnapLands to improve their recordkeeping, productivity, and profitability of their land.

Based out of South Dakota, Ecdysis is a research 501c3 that works with farmers and ranchers across the United States and Canada to research how stewards of the land can be innovative to produce food and fiber while working with their environments. Jonathan Lundgren, founder and director of Ecdysis shares about their 1,000 Farms Initiative and work at Blue Dasher Farm.

South Dakota’s Ag Land Trust is a non-profit organization focused on providing South Dakota Farmers and Ranchers with a conservation organization that understands their business. They have a mission of conserving South Dakota’s agricultural heritage and working landscapes for the benefit of future generations through voluntary, incentive-based methods.

The mission of the South Dakota Grassland Coalition is to improve the stewardship of grasslands through sustainable and profitable management. Their board is made up of landowners who collaborate with partners to support their mission and were one of the instrumental groups in launching the South Dakota Grasslands Initiative.

On this episode, I'm joined by former board member, Rod Baumberger, current board member Bart Carmichael, and executive director, Judge Jessop to learn about the start of the Grassland Coalition and their continuing work.

This episode provides an introduction to the Xerces Society, and the work that they are doing to support pollinators. This episode highlights work that Xerces is collaborating with partners on to show how the forbs needed by pollinators are also beneficial to livestock. Rae also shares how listeners can get involved with the Bumble Bee Atlas.

Rae Powers is a Pollinator Conservation Specialist and NRCS Partner Biologist with the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation in South Dakota and Nebraska. Kaylee Wheeler with SDSU Extension also shares about a project that she and other partners are working with Xerces on.

The Bird Conservancy of the Rockies is a non-profit organization focused on conserving birds and their habitats through science, education, and land stewardship. On this episode Angela Dwyer, Program Manager, and Kristin May, Wildlife Habitat Biologist share how What's Good for the Herd is Good for the Birds