Bighorn sheep in Badlands National Park

 
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America’s prairies, iconic grasslands that conjure up images of cowboys, Native Americans, wild horses and bison, are some of the most endangered ecosystems in the world. As they disappear, so does an American way of life, a western spirit of freedom, wilderness and connecting with nature.

The National Wildlife Federation and South Dakota State University hosted a landmark event, America’s Grasslands: Status, Threats and Opportunities, in South Dakota to raise the national profile of  our declining prairies. Participants came from all over the country, even representatives from South Africa, Mexico and  Canada, to discuss the challenges for grasslands in North America.

As  prairies vanish, often sacrificed to expand agricultural development, especially corn ethanol production, wildlife habitat also disappears across the Great Plains and other regions.  “Plowing up our nation’s last remnants of native grasslands to grow more corn for ethanol is like burning the Mona Lisa for firewood,” said Julie Sibbing, director of agriculture programs for the National Wildlife Federation. Western Meadowlarks, black-tailed prairie dogs, tall grasses and wild prairie flowers are just some the important species that are trying to survive in this shrinking ecosystem.

Protecting America’s prairies also protects an essential part of America’s western outdoor and ranching heritage. The National Wildlife Federation is working on policies for the upcoming Farm Bill to make sure grasslands are protected.

Evacuations in Dakota Dunes, SD (via David Curry)

I grew up in Elk Point, South Dakota, not far from the Missouri River. As major flooding events continue on the northern central Plains, my parents, other family members, and friends have been working non-stop the last few days to help evacuate people in neighboring towns now threatened by the rising river. My parents are even hosting two evacuees from the town of Dakota Dunes in the house where I was raised, forced from their own homes and officials say they may not be able to return for two months.

It’s jarring to read news coverage of the flooding threats and find a family friend interviewed by a local TV station. As I was keeping up to date with the latest updates on the flood, I saw our friend Lisa Leopold telling KTIV in Iowa’s Sioux City, “We want to save our stuff. Not that the stuff means anything, at least we have our health, but we need to clear it out.” When I called my dad to tell him about the interview, he was still at the Leopold’s home lending a helping hand.

A combination of heavy rains and above-average snow melt in the upper Missouri River Basin in eastern Montana and western North Dakota is resulting in significant flooding along parts of the Missouri River in the state of South Dakota and into parts of the Nebraska and Iowa.  The high water levels are requiring historic reservoir releases from six major dams along the Missouri River, including Gavin’s Point Dam in Yankton, SD, just upstream from Dakota Dunes:

Water is already surging at all six of the dams along the river, breaking records at each one. According to Grode, runoff waters are highest at Gavins Point, located near Yankton, S.D. The flow there reached 10.5 million acre-feet, breaking a previous record of 7.2 acre-feet, set in 1995.

While Grode says the dams are all “very safe,” the levee system is more vulnerable – and will likely be stressed throughout the year, he warns. Tributary systems that feed into the Missouri River are also expected to flood.

A levee breach near Hamburg, Iowa, on Sunday resulted in a mandatory evacuation of residents. Corps officials have not yet determined what caused the breach. The National Guard dropped 22 thousand-pound sandbags on the levee, as an emergency measure to keep the water from flowing through the breach. Flooding will stretch two miles inland, officials predict.

Rising river levels have resulted in sandbagging efforts and road closures in virtually every state bordering the river. In Fort Calhoun, Neb., about 20 miles north of Omaha, a nuclear power plant declared an emergency and shut down. The Omaha Public Power District, which operates the plant, said it does not expect any release of radioactive material.

This year has certainly been one full of extreme weather including deadly tornado outbreaks such as tornadoes in Joplin, Missouri and Alabama, as well as major flooding along the Mississippi River.  This trend of extreme weather is projected to continue given that experts are forecasting an active hurricane season.

As our global temperatures continue to rise at a rapid rate in response to man-made climate change, more extreme weather events like the floods we have seen and will continue to see this year will be more commonplace. Learn more at NWF.org/ExtremeWeather.

This particular flood of the Missouri for me hits too close to home. Given my love for meteorology, my family, and friends, I wish that I could be back at home to help out.

Mallard ducks (from Flickr's ViaMoi)

There’s been another massive bird die-off, this time in South Dakota. But while the blackbird & fish deaths in Arkansas that captivated the nation turned out to have most likely been a result of natural causes, this event is more frustrating – the deaths were man-made and preventable.

The U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center reports wildlife authorities have collected about 7,000 dead Mallard ducks near Pierre, South Dakota – and they’re still counting. The Minneapolis Star Tribune published a gut-wrenching photo yesterday of a pond filled with dead ducks. (The South Dakota Department of Game, Fish & Parks did not respond to our request to reprint the photos here; the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service said the photos are not in the public domain.)

Officials are attributing the deaths to aspergillosis (PDF), a respiratory disease caused by a fungus. The disease is deadly to birds. Mallards are often susceptible during bad weather when they may feed in waste grain and silage pits that aren’t properly covered. They can inhale spores when feeding on old moldy grain such as corn, which is the prime suspect in this case.

And there’s a worry the disease could spread:

The [U.S. Fish and Wildlife] Service was concerned that an eagle die-off might also occur in the area because the big birds — hundreds had been wintering there — were seen feasting on the dead ducks.

“The sad part of this is that it is totally preventable with good farm management,” Dr. Doug Inkley told me. He’s the National Wildlife Federation’s senior scientist. “It’s ironic that this ongoing die-off caused by mankind utterly pales in comparison to what the future holds for Mallards and the many other waterfowl species that depend upon America’s prairie pothole region for  breeding.

America’s waterfowl are more vulnerable thanks to a 2001 Supreme Court decision weakening the Clean Water Act. A narrow reading of the Court’s decision meant that “isolated, non-navigable, intrastate waters” like prairie potholes – depressions that often fill with snowmelt and water in the spring - would no longer be afforded Clean Water Act protection just because they are used by migratory birds.

This puts prairie pothole wetlands at immediate risk to plowing and development. And that’s not the only threat they face. “With global warming, hundreds of thousands of prairie potholes are expected to either dry up completely, or dry up so quickly in the spring that they will no longer provide the essential habitat for millions of waterfowl to breed,” says Dr. Inkley.

What can you ask your member of Congress to do to protect these birds?

• Enact legislation to restore protections
• Develop a new energy future, one that relies on clean energy and breaks our dependence on polluting coal & oil, to curb the carbon pollution that is driving global warming

While bird die-offs like this are tragic, it’s reassuring to know we can protect these species from much greater, long-term threats – but only if we act now.

The Constitution Tribune reports:

Pallid sturgeon, which are distinctively almost snow white and Federally “endangered”, and lake sturgeon are the only two species of larger fish (the rest are minnows, darters and cavefish) that are classified as endangered under Missouri Wildlife Code 10-4.111 and anglers are not allowed to possess them. Anyone catching a pallid sturgeon is required to immediately release it.

The Missouri River Recovery Team project, a cooperative effort involving MDC and their Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa counterparts plus the Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and the U.S. Geological Survey, involves capturing pallid sturgeon in several locations in the Missouri River, one of the few rivers still containing any of this rare species.

See full article >>

In addition, it lays out a detailed road map of supporting policies and regional partnerships to achieve the following, amongst other things:

• 25 by 25 in renewable energy and fuels (25% by 2025).
• 2% energy from efficiency by 2015 and 2% per year thereafter.
• Carbon pipeline sited and permitted and carbon storage regs by 2012, all new coal plants to capture and store CO2 by 2020.

Six governors (from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, Kansas) and the premier of Manitoba signed the accord. The governors from Ohio, Indiana and South Dakota signed on as observers. There was a strong bipartisan message, and a strong message particularly from Iowa Gov. Chet Culver about how important it was for Presidential candidates to address this issue.