WATERTOWN, S.D. — With a history of giving students hands-on experiences on rangeland and soils education, the 40th annual rangelands and 19th annual soils days for youth was held June 12-13 in Watertown, South Dakota.

SDSU Extension, Codington Conservation District and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service of South Dakota cohosted the event, which provided youth ages 8 to 18 with hands-on education in rangeland and soils. To participate, youth were given the options to create educational displays on range-related topics, give speeches and compete in rangeland and soil judging.

Krista Ehlert, assistant professor and range specialist for SDSU Extension, believes that providing these kinds of educational experiences is an investment for the future.

“I actually had one of the producers that I work with tell me, ‘If you want to invest in the future, invest in a youth; invest in a child,’ and I think that’s really true,” she said. “That’s something that we achieve through rangeland and soils days, is investing in our future.”

There were around 110 students participating this year, up from around 75 the previous year. Ehlert said that the event changes locations every two years to accommodate for travel between both East River and West River students.

“We increased our student numbers this year, so we’re really happy about that and we’ll see what we get next year,” Ehlert said. “We hope that we put it on in such a way that people don’t mind traveling, and feel like it’s worth it, no matter where it is.”

Students spend time in the field learning about rangelands and soils to prepare for the contest on the first day and then student displays and speeches are presented in the evening. The rangeland and soil judging contests start the morning of the second day.

Rangeland has four age divisions including new rangers for ages 8 to 10, wranglers for ages 8 to 11, scouts for ages 14 to18 and go-getters which are also for ages 14 to18. Each division judges habitat suitability for beef cattle and prairie grouse, in addition to learning plant identification and morphology.

Youth ages 14 to 18 are also given the option to compete in the land and homesite contest which provides an opportunity to learn more in-depth about soil texture and type, factors that limit soil health, and how to determine land capability with management recommendations. The homesite evaluation contest teaches how to determine the suitability of sites for building foundations, lawns and landscaping, septic systems and sewage lagoons.

Lance Howe, soil scientist for the Natural Resource Conservation Service based out of Redfield, South Dakota, coordinates the land and homesite contest and has a long history of helping with the rangeland and soils days, having assisted with the event since 1999.

Howe feels rangelands and soils days help students learn about different career paths and the environment.

“This is all about giving students an opportunity to see career opportunities and what’s involved with them,” he said. “It’s really about teaching the students why the environment is important and resources of the soils and range of plants, but it’s also about them learning the different career opportunities out there to help our positions down the road.”

Landon Wolter, a rangeland management specialist with the Natural Resource Conservation Service Soil and Plant Division based out of the South Dakota Soil Survey Office in Redfield, South Dakota, got a taste for his future career by attending the rangeland and soils days each year while he was a student.

Growing up in Wessington Springs, South Dakota, Wolter was heavily involved in 4-H and FFA. After attending his first rangeland and soils days as a freshman in high school, Wolter earned spots on the state teams and saw success competing at the national level. He then went on to attend South Dakota State University, earning a degree in ecology and environmental science with a specialization in rangeland management.

Wolter is now continuing his involvement with the rangeland and soils days by setting up sites for both contests and practices this year and credits opportunities like this for providing with him practical skills needed for his future.

“You’re getting kids to think about managing those natural resources, thinking about what impacts we have on the system, how we can alter the system both negatively and positively and the impact of our management decisions,” he said. “I think that’s something that’s extremely relevant for students to see even if they’re not from an agricultural background, it has implications for them.”

Kennedy is a reporter for Agweek based out of South Dakota. She grew up on an organic crop farm where her family also raises cattle in eastern South Dakota. She graduated from South Dakota State University in 2023 with a major in agricultural communication and minor in agricultural business. She enjoys connecting with producers and agribusinesses across the region while reporting on all things agriculture.

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – As flooding continues across southern Minnesota and southeast South Dakota, volunteers with the American Red Cross Minnesota and Dakotas Region are lending a helping hand.

As of Tuesday evening, more than 120 people from the Minnesota and Dakotas Region branch of the Red Cross are helping communities impacted by the flood. More than 500 homes have been assessed while more than 1,2000 emergency relief supply kits have been given.

“That’s really what makes the Red Cross so special is we’ve got many people that care and are with people in some of their toughest times,” said Christopher Larson, a regional communications volunteer with the Red Cross.

If you’d like to help, you can volunteer, donate money, or donate blood. Those at the Red Cross say sometimes these disasters cancel blood drives and that can impact giving blood to those who need it down the road.

For more information and to help out, you can click here.

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BILLINGS — After last year’s sighting of a Chinese spy balloon over Billings, Montanans have kept their eyes on the skies. That was especially true over the weekend, when several residents posted pictures on social media of a balloon spotted hovering over Montana skies.

That balloon, however, was not a foreign surveillance tool: It’s owned by South Dakota-based aerospace technology company, Aerostar, which is conducting research to improve its technology.

The balloon spotted over the weekend was much bigger than a weather balloon.

“That Thunderhead system, like the one you sent the photo of, that’s a 60 or 70-foot wide balloon, so it’s a pretty good size balloon,” said Russ Van Der Werff, vice president of stratosphere solutions for Aerostar over a video call Tuesday.

South Dakota-based Aerostar launched the balloon that many spotted, using it for research and development.

“Suddenly people’s ears perk up when the balloons go overhead, and they think there must be something going on. But the reality is, you know, we’ve been flying these systems for decades,” said Van Der Werff.

“We fly probably a couple dozen balloons a year just as R&D tests to test the navigation, the endurance, the steering, the solar and battery technology and all of that,” Van Der Werff said. “It’s designed to be a long-duration, navigational-enabled stratospheric balloon. So it flies, say, between 50 and 100,000 feet and it can steer to a location and persist there by using different winds at different altitudes up in the atmosphere.”

These balloons are fitted with an aviation transponder, so they can be tracked.

“We file a flight plan, just like an aircraft would, work in contact with the FAA or whatever country authorities were flying over, just like an aircraft would,” said Van Der Werff.

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The company works with partners like NASA, Google, and even the U.S. military, helping with everything from communications during natural disasters to scientific research.

It’s something Van Der Werff hopes Montanans will get used to as the technology improves.

“As we figure out how to do more interesting stuff, more important stuff with these systems, there’s going to be more of them there. So hopefully people can get used to seeing them. And it’s not always a bad thing. In fact, a lot of the things we’re doing are really good,” Van Der Werff said.

As a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Glasgow, Patrick Gilchrist says his agency periodically fields calls about strange balloon sightings, particularly in the wake of the Chinese spy balloon flight last year.

“Certainly, it’s drawn attention to weather balloons and to what’s going on there. We’ve gotten some questions,” said Gilchrist in a video call Tuesday.

Dozens of commenters on social media speculated that this latest balloon sighting was a National Weather Service balloon, but Gilchrist said his agency’s balloons are smaller.

“Ours are designed to go from the service of the Earth up to about 100,000 feet, sample what that is, then they burst. Then they fall to the Earth and they’re done with them basically,” Gilchrist said.

National Weather Service Glasgow

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NWS launches at least two weather balloons daily from both Glasgow and Great Falls, usually around 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. The balloons provide the data that drive their forecasts.

“We’ve seen some of these balloons drift through from time to time, but we don’t think a whole lot of them,” added Gilchrist.