Farmers and ranchers won’t be the only South Dakotans hit hard by the drought conditions found throughout the state.
“It’s definitely a concern,” Runia said of the drought.
The years 2002 and 2006 had similar climate conditions to what South Dakota has seen so far in 2017.
The counties in the Missouri River valley now boast the state’s highest pheasant production.
The problem is that central and western South Dakota counties tend to experience drought more often and more severely than counties to the east.
In bad years, that same habitat can still provide at least some of a pheasant’s needs.
One of the newest GF&P programs aimed at creating those types of habitats is the brood-plot program.
The program gives landowners free seeds for flowering plants than can be used for wildlife food plots.
The flowering plants provide two things: the first is a canopy for pheasant chicks to hide under and move through, and the second is a buffet of insects for the chicks to eat.
That amounts to about 2,500 of the roughly 10,000 food-plot acres for which GF&P provides seed.