North Dakota
Longtime scientist talks effects of farms, dams and warming on Dakotas’ changing landscape
BISMARCK — Hundreds of thousands of years in the past, the realm now comprising North Dakota and South Dakota was lined by an inland sea. Later, big, migrating glaciers carved the fertile flat lands that characterize a lot of the area right this moment.
A brand new guide by two longtime scientists of the Dakotas surveys the area’s evolution from these prehistoric instances to the current day, when farming and human-driven local weather change have develop into the catalysts of a altering panorama.
Contributed / W. Carter Johnson
“Ecology of Dakota Landscapes: Previous, Current and Future,”
chronicles that expansive regional historical past. One in every of its co-authors, South Dakota State College professor emeritus W. Carter Johnson, started learning the ecology of the Dakotas greater than a half-century in the past. Johnson’s analysis has ranged from
the results of dams for the Missouri River’s cottonwood bushes
— work began when he was a doctoral pupil at North Dakota State College — to farming’s penalties for native grasslands, to the warming planet’s ripple results for the wetlands of the central and japanese Dakotas.
Johnson spoke with The Discussion board about his new guide and the problems he sees as most pressing for the pure world of the Dakotas. This interview has been edited for size and readability.
You write within the guide that if Lewis and Clark have been to see the Missouri right this moment, they’d “scarcely acknowledge the river that they wrote about 220 years in the past.” What’s modified?
I believe had they arrive over the hill into the Missouri Valley, for instance in 1940, nearly anyplace in North Dakota or South Dakota, they’d have acknowledged the Missouri River. They’d have seen the completely different sorts of forests, they’d have seen a winding channel, they’d have seen sandbars. The massive change, in fact, began in about 1952 when the dams have been constructed and these large reservoirs.
Nearly all these issues that have been the the reason why we (constructed the dams) have disappeared. And it makes you look a bit of foolish now whenever you look again on it. As a result of we do not know what we’re gonna do with that river — with these dams — when we’ve got to do away with them. No person is aware of.
Is it honest to say that you just suppose damming the Missouri was a mistake?
Oh, no query. I might have had no dams. And simply tried to determine the right way to make issues higher with different means. And if you need to have dams, and also you want the hydro (energy) for getting farms some electrical energy, then do it on a small scale. However you already know, hindsight’s at all times 20/20, proper?
Contributed / North Dakota State Water Fee
What do you see as the largest points dealing with the pure world within the Dakotas proper now?
I believe it is the tall grass prairie within the japanese a part of the Dakotas the place the impression is the best. There’s extra than simply grassland there, in fact. There are wetlands, as properly. There have been a number of million wetlands, in all probability nonetheless 1,000,000 left. However there have been many tens of millions of wetlands within the area previously, and we have misplaced about half of them to drainage. The opposite half are nonetheless hanging in there, however that is a fairly large loss.
How a lot of the tall grass prairie stays?
There’s no actual quantity, as I outline it. When you’re in search of purely examples of the tall grass prairie, we’re down in all probability within the one or two or 3% vary.
When you have been trying to do an actual restoration the place you get every part again, you’ll be very pissed off as a result of you possibly can’t even purchase all of the seed you want, not to mention getting all these vegetation to develop and to remain over lengthy durations of time. So it is a fairly troublesome place to be in proper now. And we’re attempting — my group — to exit and accumulate seed from a few of these remnants which might be left. As a result of as soon as they’re plowed up — and they’re nonetheless being plowed up — then they’re gone perpetually.
That’s the issue. A few of us try to show it round a bit of bit. However when we’ve got these excessive grain costs, like now, and the identical factor occurred in 2011 — a few of what’s left of the grassland was transformed over to cropland due to the worth. The flexibility to generate profits on that was too tempting to not do it. So we’re nonetheless shedding it.
By Justin Meissen. Offered, Yale College Press.
Why ought to folks care in regards to the lack of native prairie?
The prairie has been right here for 10,000 years, possibly 9,000, in its present kind. It’s been chugging alongside, taking good care of itself. When you take away it, you then’re eradicating no matter it was offering. Primary, I suppose, is biodiversity. When you add up all of the microorganisms and the bugs and the birds, I imply, it’s an enormous quantity.
I take into consideration this typically. My relations got here right here and made residing off of farming, they usually truly transformed from farming over to ranching, which was my stimulus to do the identical sort of pondering as properly. The concept you exchange an acre of prairie to an acre of corn, or any monotypic stand, is type of astounding. When you stroll by way of a cornfield, it’s all you see.
Lots of people have by no means been to an actual prairie. That is the opposite factor to know: What are we shedding right here? “It is only a bunch of grass on the market. It appears to be like type of weedy to me. It’s all weeds on the market.” Nicely, go to the unique ones that have been maintained by nature and now maintained by man, just like the Nature Conservancy, and also you’ll be fairly shocked what’s happening in soils and so forth. So I might say biodiversity is the primary factor that is being misplaced.
Contributed / W. Carter Johnson
There is a line within the guide the place you name the planting of shelterbelts “some of the dramatic modifications” to the panorama of the Nice Plains within the final century. I’m undecided that will have occurred to me, that these rows of bushes planted on farms might have such a consequential impact for the land.
I do not bear in mind who mentioned it, however it was some assertion made by an individual of authority, that the Dakotas are actually probably the most reworked panorama on this planet. Now, that’s a reasonably excessive assertion. However when you begin taking a look at it, possibly they don’t seem to be up to now off. As a result of we’ve misplaced virtually all of the tall grass prairie. We have misplaced share of what’s known as the blended grass prairie. And you then get the Black Hills and also you take a look at the absence of fireside and the way that’s modified every part. The Black Hills are usually not just like the Black Hills was once.
Now, they’re nonetheless fairly good they usually’re very cool they usually’re very good, as a number of the prairie areas are, and as some components of the Missouri are. So there’s nonetheless some little spots on the market (the place) we are able to get some sense of what this appeared like on the larger scale, however we’re left with little examples of what it was. And the query is whether or not we’ll lose these examples, too, or are we going to have the ability to increase them whereas we nonetheless have the animals and the vegetation to recolonize them?
Contributed / Yale College Press
You acknowledge within the guide that a number of the impacts of local weather change for the Dakotas do not look so unhealthy, however you finally conclude that its results for the area are going to be extra damaging than benign. Why?
(Local weather change is) having an impression now although it is not tremendous consequential. No person’s going out of enterprise proper now due to it or the farmers aren’t stopping the farm. But it surely may very well be in 50 extra years, the best way issues look. I’ve accomplished this wetland local weather change work for 25 years now. We ran our fashions, and I could not imagine — wetlands are usually not wetlands within the 12 months 2080. We discovered that they do not final lengthy. They dry up fairly shortly.
Does that embrace the Prairie Pothole area of the Dakotas?
That’s the Prairie Pothole area. We have accomplished 25 years of simulations, and our simulations counsel fairly critical issues with local weather change and wetland dynamics.
What do you suppose must occur to extra sustainably work the land within the Dakotas within the coming years?
The massive downside is the right way to set up it. We type of know what to do, however how will we get it to occur? Does authorities have to return in, using on the white horse, and maintain it? Possibly it does. However possibly there’s another venue that will work higher, particularly for people who find themselves delicate about an excessive amount of authorities. A whole lot of farmers are typically that manner.
So I do not know what the reply is, however I believe we have to do one thing large. I believe we have to strive one thing out of the field that hasn’t been tried earlier than or at the very least that hasn’t been tried as a collective group on all or most farms. I believe it might occur, and I believe it must occur if we’re gonna clear up the larger issues of local weather change and water high quality and wildlife and bees and butterflies.
Ecology of Dakota Landscapes, by W. Carter Johnson and Dennis H. Knight, is
accessible in e-book now
and can be launched in arduous copy this summer time.
Readers can attain Discussion board reporter Adam Willis, a Report for America corps member, at awillis@forumcomm.com.
North Dakota
Here are 15 potential candidates to replace Jimmy Rogers as South Dakota State football coach
SIOUX FALLS — After having the same coach for a quarter century, South Dakota State is now looking for a new one after just two seasons.
Jimmy Rogers went 27-3 with a national championship after replacing John Stiegelmeier, but he’s already on to his next rung on the ladder, as the new head coach of Washington State, where he replaces another former Stiegelmeier assistant in Jake Dickert, who left Wazzu to coach Wake Forest.
SDSU athletic director Justin Sell always says he has a list of names ready for anytime he needs to make a coaching change, but this might be bit more challenging. Rogers is expected to bring his staff with him to Pullman, and there wasn’t necessarily an obvious in-house candidate on staff, anyway.
There seems to be an assumption among fans that Sell would prefer to hire in-house, and that if that can’t work at least bring in someone with ties to the program.
Maybe. But this feels like a time to cast a wide net and consider candidates from outside the program, too.
Here’s a list of 15 candidates. If you’ve been following my work for awhile you know I have a pretty good track record with these, but I want to make clear, here. I would not at all be surprised or embarrassed if the eventual SDSU football coach isn’t one of these 15 guys.
I’m not going to speculate about assistant coaches I know nothing about from programs I don’t cover. Maybe there’s a position coach in the Big Ten or SEC or the NFL who wants the job. That could very well be the case. So keep that in mind while reading this list.
There’s already been plenty of hand-wringing about Rogers leaving the program in the dust. Not only is that not really fair, let me assure you, the Jacks program is going to be fine.
Will they take a step back? Almost certainly. Star receiver Griffin Wilde announced he’s entering the transfer portal on Saturday and more are sure to follow.
But the Jacks still have all the pieces in place to win and win big. Remember, the FCS doesn’t have a ton of great contenders right now. Unless SDSU isn’t able to hang on to any of their players I’d expect them to be back in the playoffs next year (keeping pace with USD and NDSU may be another story, at least in the short term).
Anyway, here are 15 candidates, listed in alphabetical order.
Nick Benedetto, defensive coordinator, Fresno State
He played cornerback under Kalen DeBoer at USF, spent a year as a grad assistant at USD and then served as defensive coordinator at West Virginia State, USF, Samford and, for the last three years, Northern Illinois. He was just hired at Fresno State, but could be interested in coming back to South Dakota for his first shot at being a head coach.
Brian Bergstrom, head coach, Winona State
Served as SDSU’s safeties coach and then co-defensive coordinator, along with Rogers, from 2019-2021. From there he went to Division II Winona State, where he took the Warriors to the playoffs in his debut season but has gone 5-6 in each of the last two.
Josh Davis, Fresno State offensive coordinator
The former SDSU assistant just left USD after two successful seasons as offensive coordinator to take the same job at Fresno State, an FBS program. Would he turn back around and come home to Brookings to lead his alma mater? My hunch is no but it wouldn’t hurt to ask.
Matt Zimmer/Sioux Falls Live
Eric Eidsness, quarterbacks coach, Northern Illinois
SDSU’s offensive coordinator before Jason Eck (who was before Zach Lujan who was before Ryan Olson), Eidsness presided over some truly explosive Jackrabbit offenses and served some time as the assistant head coach, as well.
He’s since been at Northern Illinois, where he’s been the quarterbacks coach since 2019 and was offensive coordinator from 2019-22. Eidsness was behind the Zach Zenner and Taryn Christion-led offenses of SDSU’s pre-Frisco era, and he posted a 26-40 record in six seasons as the head coach at Division II Southwest Minnesota State, which is much better than it sounds if you know anything about that program.
Danny Freund, quarterbacks coach, SDSU
A surprise addition to the Jacks staff in 2024, Freund had been the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach and assistant head coach at North Dakota, where he’d also been a quarterback. He seemed to be the coach-in-waiting under Bubba Schweigert, but instead he came to SDSU, and then after one year Schweigert retired and the Hawks hired Eric Schmidt.
Did SDSU bring Freund in to be their coach in waiting, knowing Rogers would likely not be here long? Perhaps. But if he’s going with Rogers to Washington State it’s a non-starter. And even if he wants to stay here the Jacks may decide to go elsewhere.
Dan Jackson, defensive coordinator, New Mexico
The father of the ‘NebraskaJacks’, Jackson was once SDSU’s cornerbacks coach, recruiting coordinator and assistant head coach, and certainly made an impression in his stint in Brookings as an aggressive recruiter and outgoing personality. He recruited the hell out of Nebraska, making enemies in Lincoln by stealing from the Huskers’ pool of walk-ons.
He’s since been to Northern Illinois, Vanderbilt and spent the past season as the defensive coordinator for Jason Eck at Idaho. He just agreed to follow Eck to New Mexico. FBS money may be tough to compete with, but Jackson has never been a head coach and might be ready to make the move.
Jake Landry, offensive coordinator, NDSU
Just completed his first year as NDSU’s offensive coordinator. Landry is also a former UND quarterback (he was the QB when they lost to USF in 2009), one who’s been at some successful programs in a 15-year coaching career.
Alyssa Goelzer/The Forum
UMD (under Bob Nielson), Northern Illinois, Wisconsin-La Crosse, St. Thomas and even a year as an FBS position coach when he spent one season as the quarterback coach at Temple.
Zach Lujan, offensive coordinator, Northwestern
My sources say Lujan is a popular choice among players and administration. But he’s reportedly making about a half-million a year at Northwestern and has only been there for one season. He’d be taking a pay cut to come back and he may not be ready to be a head coach yet, either.
Landon Dierks / Mitchell Republic
Then again, he’s an extremely bright and mature young coach. His players at SDSU loved him. He’s also an alum and Northwestern went 4-8 this year. The Wildcats face a big challenge in the expanded Big Ten. Maybe Lujan could decide it would be better for his career to come back to Brookings to take his first head coaching gig to better serve a later climb up the ladder.
Luke Meadows, offensive line coach, Northern Illinois
It’s been more than a decade since he was in Brookings, but Meadows is an SDSU alum, was associate head coach in 2005 and offensive coordinator from 2008-2012. He’s an offensive line coach by trade.
He later worked at Florida Atlantic, Southern Miss, Eastern Michigan, Troy and most recently Northern Illinois.
Jerry Olszewski, head coach, Augustana
I’m well aware that SDSU fans will oppose the idea of a national championship FCS team hiring a Division II coach, particularly one that used to be an inferior rival, but these are unique circumstances under which it does make a little more sense.
Trent Singer / Sioux Falls Live
Namely: Rogers’ departure is expected to lead to a mass exodus of SDSU players into the transfer portal. Well, OJ recruits a lot of the same players. Many of SDSU’s best had offers from Augustana. Most had positive impressions of OJ and the Viking program. Olszewski could potentially stem the tide of transfers out the door through his own familiarity with the region and the players in it.
He’s also led the Vikings to consecutive NSIC titles, brought his team to Brookings in September and held the Jacks to 24 points, and has often talked of molding his program in the image of SDSU.
Kurtiss Riggs, analyst, Riggs Academy director
Nobody knows the local recruiting scene better than Riggs, who was once the right-hand man of Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer. He’s been the color analyst for SDSU games on Midco the last few years so he knows the Jackrabbit roster well, knows the program well, and so far hasn’t joined DeBoer in Tuscaloosa.
Trent Singer / Sioux Falls Live
Now that he’s done with the indoor game the time might be right for Riggs to take his first college head coaching job. The guy knows how to win — he was a part of four national championships at USF (one as a player, three as assistant coach) and won 11 titles as the head coach of the Sioux Falls Storm.
Brad Salem, tight ends coach, Memphis
A Sioux Falls native and son of former Gophers coach Joe Salem, Brad helped launch Augustana’s run of success in Division II, and then spent a decade at Michigan State, coaching running backs, quarterbacks and spending one year as offensive coordinator. He’s been at Memphis for the last four years. He’s 54, but Salem knows everybody and has coached some pretty high level players.
John Stiegelmeier, retired former SDSU coach
If Rogers were leaving to, say, be the defensive coordinator at Georgia or something and not taking anyone with him, I would go as far out of my way as I could to make the case that bringing back Stig for a year or two would be the right decision. He could slide right back into the same role he had near the end of his career — the guy who coaches the coaches — and groom a potential successor.
Landon Dierks / Mitchell Republic
But if almost the entire staff is gone, that seems like an awful daunting task, asking the soon-to-be 68-year old to come in and build a staff from scratch and try to retain/rebuild the roster.
That said, Stig didn’t really want to retire when he did (he stepped aside to prevent Rogers from leaving for the D-coordinator job at Washington State), he’s stuck at 199 career wins and while he’s content in retirement he also might be a little bored. It wouldn’t be a bad direction to go.
Jed Stugart, head coach, Lindenwood
The former USF coach has gone 41-38 in seven seasons at Lindenwood, a newcomer to the FCS level. He had a close relationship with John Stiegelmeier and keeps close tabs on the South Dakota football scene. A former country music singer, the 54-year-old Stugart has the kind of charisma and personality to help sell tickets, raise money and win over fans and recruits.
But perhaps more importantly, the guy knows how to take over a successful program and keep it running. He replaced Kalen DeBoer in 2010 after DeBoer had just won his second consecutive (and third overall) national championship. DeBoer left USF with a 67-3 record, his top two assistants (Chuck Morrell and Kurtiss Riggs) also left and so did dozens of star players.
Stugart stepped in and reloaded the roster quickly, taking USF right back to the national championship game and eventually up to the Division II level where they immediately became playoff contenders.
Zach Zenner, former SDSU running back
I’m mostly joking with this one, but there is a sudden trend of hiring former star players with little coaching experience. The idea seems to be that celebrity coaches sell tickets, attract donors and impress recruits.
David Samson / The Forum
David Samson/Forum Communications Co.
Zenner has been working as an agent since his five-year NFL career ended, he’s got a genius intellect and, much like Rogers, is a much funnier and personable guy in person than he sometimes comes across on camera.
Who’s to say he couldn’t build something special?
Filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court
North Dakota
Angela Latisha Farley, Fargo, Chapter 7
Desirae L. Johnson, Mandan, Chapter 7
Jessie J. Messmer, formerly known as Jessie Sticka, Dickinson, Chapter 7
Paulette Kay Thurn, Bismarck, Chapter 7
Jerry A. and Linda L. Dornback, formerly known as Linda amber, Valley City, Chapter 7
Justin N. and Alexis R. Tormaschy, also known as Alexis R. Emter, Belfield, Chapter 13
Minnesota
Bankruptcy filings from the following counties: Becker, Clay, Douglas, Grant, Hubbard, Mahnomen, Norman, Otter Tail, Polk, Traverse, Wadena and Wilkin.
There were no bankruptcies filed in this reporting area the week of Dec. 16, 2024.
Chapter 7 is a petition to liquidate assets and discharge debts.
Chapter 11 is a petition for protection from creditors and to reorganize.
Chapter 12 is a petition for family farmers to reorganize.
Chapter 13 is a petition for wage earners to readjust debts.
Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.
MORTON COUNTY, N.D. (KFYR) – A Hebron woman was killed in a crash around 4:30 p.m. Friday on Morton County Road 88 just north of Glen Ullin.
The North Dakota Highway Patrol says the 66-year-old was distracted by a phone call, veered off the road into the ditch and hit a concrete bridge support.
The driver was not wearing a seatbelt and was life-flighted to a Bismarck hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Three children in the SUV were injured and transported to the hospital by ambulance. They were wearing seatbelts according to authorities.
Copyright 2024 KFYR. All rights reserved.
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