A new documentary explores progress and place in fracking country.
South Dakota
Posted inArticles
‘Flash drought’ threatens crops and cattle
Exceptionally dry conditions in the northern Great Plains are devastating farmers and ranchers.
Posted inJanuary 23, 2017: For Which it Stands
Nature’s disappearing vocabulary; bobcat decoys; setting the “barr” for climate data
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
Posted inDecember 26, 2016: Obama and the West
An inside look at the national parks
Hard-won photos of the National Park Service’s ‘Treasured Lands.’
Posted inArticles
Want to move to a charming rural town? Ask about the sewage disposal system
Wastewater inundation causes a commotion in South Dakota.
Posted inArticles
How the West nurtured eco-minded agriculture
The ranchers of the Western Plains’ shortgrass prairie started a movement to find a less destructive way to farm.
Posted inArticles
Raptors are our fierce allies. Shame on those who harm them.
Note: the opinions expressed in this column are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of High Country News, its board or staff. If you’d like to share an opinion piece of your own, please write Betsy Marston at betsym@hcn.org. Birds of prey soar over the human imagination like no other creatures […]
Posted inGoat
Discovery: Good ol’ tallgrass was formed by good ol’ bacteria
It’s always tempting to reflect on how wonderful the West used to be. You know what I mean: Conservationists and Natives lament that the first invasions by white settlers wrecked everything, and ranchers and loggers long for a return to the era before 750-page environmental-impact statements. Who among us hasn’t conjured up wistful images of […]
Posted inNovember 11, 2013: Cosmic Prospecting
Cosmic Prospecting in Lead, South Dakota
What happens when an old mining town recruits a physics lab and pursues Big Science?
Posted inFebruary 18, 2013: Farming on the Fringe
My Dakota: A photo essay and conversation
We recommend you select the gallery option to view these images. In 2005, photographer Rebecca Norris Webb decided it was time to head West with her camera. She’d lived in New York City for 15 years, and spent six years working in the cramped interiors of zoos and aquariums for The Glass Between Us, her […]
Posted inWotr
Tuning out and finding local
Global thinking has its good points; it may broaden our viewpoints or remind us that we could be Haitians or Tunisians. But in the West, the most visible representatives of the global economy are the super-stores where forklifts rearrange cartons of goods made somewhere besides America. Here in South Dakota, we specialize in local experiences, […]
Posted inWotr
Dressing for success in the mosquito-ridden West
Rain in the West is always an occasion for celebration, and this year in South Dakota we’ve had a lot of moisture to celebrate. To complain about this would be against the code of the West; heck, the code doesn’t let us complain about stuff like broken arms or legs, either. Several neighbors casually mentioned […]
Posted inWotr
America needs clean water – and mining law reform
Back in the early 1870s, Gen. George Armstrong Custer was among those excited by the rumor of gold and glory in the Black Hills of South Dakota, my home state. A lot has changed since then, but the same law that presided over gold mining in Custer’s day — the Mining Law of 1872 — […]
Posted inDecember 11, 2006: Old but Faithful
Dina’s Place
Dina takes me down to the river, to a place behind her house on the reservation. “I want to show you my secret spot,” she says. “C’mon.” The Big Sioux River smells like piss some days, or a wasting body. In my second summer working for the tribe, I have come to know the river’s […]
Posted inSeptember 27, 2004: Life After Old Growth
Forgotten borderland
From space, the Black Hills of South Dakota take the unmistakable shape of a heart, marking a region that some consider the spiritual center of the world. But driving into Bennett County, S.D., is more like entering a legal Twilight Zone. This checkerboard of private, tribal and federal land seems to belong to everyone — […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
The Greening of the Plains
A conservation movement is stirring on the Great Plains, but farmers are stuck with a stark reality: It pays to plow up virgin ground
Posted inMarch 15, 2004: The New Water Czars
The charm of a dying place
I grew up in South Dakota, but spent my summers in Portland, Ore., with my mom. As an adolescent, I enjoyed how my city experience pushed me ahead of the curve when I got back home for school. I had my classmates beat by at least a year on the overalls-with-one-strap thing. It wasn’t all […]