The Capital Journal, Pierre, Sept. 19
Choose to have an impact on SD pheasant numbers
South Dakota’s tourism department on Tuesday sent out a news release with a fancy infographic, making the case that the state still is the best place in the world to hunt ring-necked pheasants.
That claim is pretty hard to refute. Our humble state has enough public land that, on most days, most people can find a place to hunt where a pheasant or two is likely to be found. We grow a lot of pheasants and harvest more pheasants each year than anywhere else. And no, Mr. and Mrs. Naysayer, that total doesn’t count all the birds harvested at private shooting preserves.
The tourism department’s news release makes a point of saying hunters in South Dakota have killed more than 1 million pheasants in each of the last three years. Also, the release points out that the 20-year average pheasant population in the state is about 7.4 million birds. In the same time period, the release notes, each hunter has harvested an average of 9.5 birds over the last 20 years.
Still, this year is going to be tough for those folks who like hunting pheasants. Drought has taken a toll on pheasant chicks and all the signs are pointing to a down year. The annual, August brood survey conducted by the Game, Fish and Parks Department found 45 percent fewer pheasants in 2017 than it did in 2016. The average brood size counted in this year’s survey was the lowest since 1949. This year, the state’s pheasant-per-mile index, which is an estimate of the number of birds per mile, was just 1.7.
The drought this year and its effect on pheasants underscores a long-term trend not covered in the tourism department’s news release. The pheasant population has been on a long, slow, downward slide for 10 years. Indeed, the number of pheasants counted in the 2017 brood count survey was 65 percent below the 10-year average.
The last time pheasant numbers were this low was in 2013, when the estimated number of pheasants per mile hit 1.5. The state’s pheasant-per-mile index hasn’t topped five since 2010 when it was 6.4. Prior to that, you’ve got to go back to before 2003 to find a year when there were fewer than five birds per mile in the state.
As to why the pheasant population is trending downward, the biologists at GF&P are pointing to habitat loss. To be specific, they blame the loss of nesting habitats such as hay land, small grain crops such as winter wheat and land planted to grass as part of the Conservation Reserve Program, which pays landowners to take land out of crop production in favor of wildlife habitat. Since 1990, about 4.9 million acres of such habitats were lost, according to GF&P. A study published by the South Dakota State University Extension Service in 2014 found that between 2006 and 2012, South Dakota lost 1.84 million acres of grassland primarily to corn and soybean production.
The pheasant-per-mile index hasn’t topped four birds per mile since 2012.
The number of pheasants in our state matters. It matters in a big way. You see, the phenomenon of high numbers of nonresident hunters actually is fairly recent. Between 1963 and 1994, according to GF&P license data, the number of nonresident hunters never surpassed 45,500. The number of birds per mile during the same period never rose past 3.8.
In 1994, the pheasants-per-mile index hit 4.13 and the number of nonresident hunters rose to 65,200. The pheasants-per-mile index fell back to around 2.6 for the following three years but in 1998 rose to 5.08. With few exceptions, the number of pheasants stayed high for the next 10 years and by 2007, when the pheasants-per-mile index hit 7.85, there were more than 100,000 nonresident hunters visiting South Dakota.
In 2013, the number of non-resident hunters plunged from 93,419 in 2012 to 74,413. If one uses the price of a 2017 nonresident hunting license, that represents a shortfall of $2.2 million worth of revenue just for GF&P. The cost of a license is one of the smallest expenses that visiting hunters have.
Also in 2013, the number of residents with a hunting license that allowed them to kill pheasants fell to 57,647, from 68,337 in 2012. Again, the cost of a resident hunting license pales in comparison to the gas, ammunition, gear and snacks all hunters wind up buying on their way to and from the field.
Since 2013, the number of nonresident hunters visiting the state hasn’t surpassed 85,000.
The thing is, we can do something about this. Habitat is the key and if, as a state, we decide that wildlife habitat is a priority and we start doing more to encourage landowners to leave more wildlife habitat on the landscape, we can get higher, more-stable pheasant numbers back. We also can encourage our congressional delegation to fight for more CRP spending in the 2018 Farm Bill.
We can have an impact on pheasant numbers if we so choose. Everyone in the state benefits from these birds and everyone needs to be involved.
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The Daily Leader, Madison, Sept. 20
DSU’s student growth runs across the board
Dakota State University’s fall enrollment figures are now public, and we’re impressed with the breadth and depth of the gain in students.
While many casual observers might guess that the enrollment gains are just in cybersecurity, which is a high-profile area of study, they would be incorrect.
All four colleges (Education, Liberal Arts and Science, Business and information Systems, and the Beacom College of Computing and Cyber Sciences) are showing increases, either in total, or in certain majors.
Both undergraduate and graduate headcounts increased. Freshman enrollment is up over last year, and transfer student enrollment is up. Full-time and part-time student counts are showing growth.
Substantial changes in higher education over the past generation or two have made counting students a more complicated process. When Dakota State hits an enrollment record in the late 1960s, it was easy to count. All students were on the Madison campus, and most were traditional freshmen, sophomore, juniors and seniors.
Today, there are students studying online and at the University Center in Sioux Falls. Students may be taking classes at two different South Dakota universities at the same time. DSU had no graduate students in the 1960s, but more than 300 today.
While all students are equally important, many Madison observers like to see on-campus enrollment growth. Freshman are likely to stay four or more years. Dormitories are filled. Attendance at sporting and cultural events goes up. Local restaurants and stores benefit from more people living in Madison.
Dakota State’s big investment in purchasing and renovating the former Madison Community Hospital is paying off big, and not a moment too soon. Even though it took years to acquire the property, design and construct it, the 107-bed increase in capacity comes just when it was needed.
DSU officials, faculty and staff are proud of the enrollment growth, and they should be. It is the result of hard work by all members of the DSU community - not only DSU personnel, but alumni, donors and the Madison community, which works to make new students feel welcome. Congratulations to all.
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The Daily Republic, Mitchell, Sept. 20
The future of journalism
About one year ago, a small group of students battled to keep the Mitchell High School newspaper together.
It was significant extra work, some of it thankless. But the hours added up.
They captured important moments in journalistic forms, via news stories, opinion editorials and photography. They did it for their readers, the students and faculty at MHS and others who were interested in what was going on at the high school. Most importantly, though, they recognized the importance and value of a newspaper.
Due to a number of factors, the Mitchell High School newspaper, The Kernel, is now defunct. To read about what’s going on at the high school, at least from the viewpoint of a student, is nonexistent. This year, there will be no newspaper at Mitchell High School.
The Kernel was around for decades. We presume a good number of people reading this editorial took a newspaper course in high school.
And through the years of the student newspaper, hundreds of students practiced their writing, design and photography skills. If it didn’t entice students to the newspaper industry as a profession, it at least helped them become interested in current events. The course encouraged students to be involved in their high school community.
That’s what newspapers do. And that’s why they’re so important.
Successful communities have good, local newspapers. So when we heard at the beginning of the 2016 school year there was no official newspaper course, but there were a few students who wanted to keep The Kernel alive, The Daily Republic jumped at the opportunity to help. Quite simply, we need good journalists from here until the end of time.
It was the students last year who did the majority of the work for the not-for-credit, monthly newspaper - our staff offered guidance, encouragement and ideas. A little extra work results in pride and satisfaction, they learned, and a good number of student awards were picked up along the way.
As the beginning of this school year approached, staffers at The Daily Republic again raised our hands to help a new batch of students organize a monthly high school paper. Sadly, the interest wasn’t there.
Today, we can’t help but feel discouraged and disappointed to know a community of our size doesn’t have a high school newspaper. We’ve heard this problem isn’t exclusive to Mitchell, and the support for school newspapers is dwindling across South Dakota.
Remember, there will always be news to be delivered, government meetings covered and entertaining stories that deserve to be told.
As the Mitchell High School newspaper is now gone, it lends us to worry just a bit more about the number of journalists who bring us the ever-important news.
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