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Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
South Dakota records best pheasant season in 13 years, state parks department says
A male ring-necked pheasant. (Photo by Travel South Dakota) Hunters bagged more pheasants last fall in South Dakota than they have for 13 years, the state department of Game, Fish and Parks said Thursday. More than 1.3 million roosters were harvested during the 2024 pheasant hunting season, the department said, with another 380,000 harvested within defined shooting preserves. 'The 2024 South Dakota pheasant season was absolutely spectacular,' South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden said in a press release. South Dakota, the governor said, is 'truly the greatest state to pheasant hunt.' The state saw more roosters harvested in two weeks of October 2024 than any other state during their entire season, the release says. South Dakota's postseason pheasant harvest figures come from 15,000 random surveys of resident hunters and 13,000 nonresident hunters, the Mitchell Daily Republic reported Tuesday. Questions include the number of days hunted, areas hunted and how many birds were harvested are all part of the survey. Pheasants Forever launches new initiative to expand outdoor access in South Dakota More than a million birds have been harvested in each of the past five years in South Dakota, but Upland Game Biologist Alex Solem of the parks department told the Republic that 2024 stood out. 'Our over-winter survival was absolutely phenomenal,' Solem told the Mitchell publication. 'It was certainly evident just driving around this spring, tons of roosters crowing everywhere, lots of hens selecting those roosters for mating purposes. Pheasant hunting is an economic engine for South Dakota. Pheasants Forever, a private conservation organization, put the financial impact of the 2023 pheasant season on the state's economy at $281 million. The release from Game, Fish and Parks on Tuesday did not include a financial impact estimate of the 2024 pheasant season, instead focusing on bird harvest numbers. Hunters averaged approximately nine birds per hunter, said Kevin Robling, secretary for the parks department. 'Habitat and access have been a top priority for the department, and that has played a key role in both abundant bird numbers and ample locations for hunters to target them,' Robling said in the press release. Landowners and farmers partner through habitat programs to open conservation land, using programs offered by the State of South Dakota, the federal government, and multiple conservation groups. Pheasants Forever partnered with the state in 2023 to pay landowners additional stipends for enrolling land in conservation programs, with the goal of adding 10,000 acres a year. In the press release on the 2024 pheasant harvest, Robling pointed specifically to the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) on the James River and Big Sioux River valleys, which provides the benefits of the long-standing Conservation Reserve Program, but also ensures access for hunters. 'These CREP lands are directly in the primary pheasant range and provide high quality grassland habitat and access as well,' added Robling. The 2025 pheasant season in South Dakota will take place Oct. 18 to Jan. 31, 2026. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mount Rushmore fireworks to return next year, mixing a spectacle with fire risks and other problems
Fireworks explode over Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota's Black Hills. (Courtesy of Travel South Dakota) Mount Rushmore will host an Independence Day-themed fireworks display next year, bringing worldwide attention to the national memorial and South Dakota, but also bringing concerns about potential forest fires, water pollution, litter and other problems. South Dakota Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden announced Monday that the state has reached an agreement with the federal government to host a fireworks display at the mountain carving next year in celebration of the nation's 250th birthday. Rhoden said in a news release that he struck the agreement with Doug Burgum, the former governor of North Dakota and new secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, which includes the National Park Service. 'We are ready to throw the biggest birthday party ever for the United States of America,' Rhoden said in the release. State predicts no trouble at future Rushmore fireworks, despite clash in 2020 Fireworks have a complicated history at Mount Rushmore. The National Park Service began allowing shows in 1998 but ended them after 2009. Debris from the exploded fireworks lingered on the 1,278-acre memorial site, a chemical in fireworks was believed to be polluting the memorial's water supply, and officials had grown tired of deploying dozens of firefighters in the forest around the memorial to put out fires started by falling fireworks embers. There are also conflicting feelings about the fireworks in Keystone, the town at the base of the mountain. While some business owners welcome the fireworks displays and benefit from them, others have said the town is overwhelmed by the tens of thousands of visitors who converge all at once for the spectacle. In 2020, then-Gov. Kristi Noem convinced the Trump administration to reauthorize fireworks at Mount Rushmore and also convinced President Donald Trump to attend. The show that year sparked controversy for gathering thousands of people together during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, and for a protest that turned into a physical altercation with law enforcement. After that, the Biden administration ended the displays. Rhoden said he has invited Trump to next year's display. Rhoden's announcement did not say how much the display will cost or how it will be funded. South Dakota Searchlight asked for an estimate and a funding source, and is awaiting a response. South Dakota spent $1.5 million on the 2020 display. Tourism officials estimated that global media coverage of the event generated the equivalent of $22 million in advertising for the state. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
