It’s a clear, May morning, on the plains of eastern Montana. The dawn chorus of birds welcomes the sun as it crests over hills of waving bunch grass. You can’t turn in any direction here without seeing a meadowlark singing atop a shrub or fencepost. You also can’t look anywhere without seeing, or hearing, cows.

A new survey finds that, after learning more, 68% of respondents now consider grasslands a critical ecosystem. Forty-seven percent of Americans are unfamiliar with grasslands—one of the nation’s most essential and most threatened ecosystems, according to new national survey findings released by the America’s Grasslands Coalition. However, after completing the survey, more than two-thirds ranked

South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks (GFP) continues to make significant progress in improving wildlife movement across western South Dakota through its wildlife‑friendly fencing program. Since 2019, GFP and cooperating landowners have improved connectivity across approximately 200,000 acres of pronghorn habitat. Notably, 2025 marked the program’s most productive year yet, with more than 66,000 acres