Bison, SD

What structural changes have been made in how the community does its work/makes decisions?

As we continue with the Horizons phases we become more involved in several areas of community leadership. From the Town Board to the school district, as well as county boards Horizons is working to be involved in a variety of commuinty activities. The more places we are involved the better chance we have of making the changes needed to reduce poverty in our area. Changes can happen if people become involved and work together for a common goal.

How will your community make decisions about seeking further resources to support its plans?

Bison continues to discuss future plans for sustaining our Strategic Plan. From grants, to fundraising we are researching several avenues. We are in the process of looking into an internet business to provide jobs for the community. The blogs from other communities have helped us to gain insight into how others are making their goals a reality. Through our monthly meetings we can discuss and come to an agreement about how to move forward with our plan.

Riparian vegetation, which is highly valued in western South Dakota for its biological diversity and aesthetic qualities, is experiencing a drastic reduction of natural occurring woody vegetation regeneration due to drought and browsing by cattle and deer. That, combined with existing old-aged stands has left many areas with few mature trees; in poor health and with no measurable recruitment.

 The Perkins County Conservation District, Tatanka RC&D, Grand River Ranger District, National Wild Turkey Federation and South Dakota State University are in the planning stages to reestablish cottonwood trees along stream corridors (riparian) on 40 acres of the Grand River National Grassland and 60 to 80 acres on private lands in the Northwest Area. To date, two grants have been written and approved, totaling $91,000. Northwest Area Conservation Districts participating in this project include Perkins, Harding, Dewey, Corson, Ziebach, and Tri-County Districts in South Dakota. In the spring of 2008, county conservation districts will be looking to recruit private landowners to participate in the project. Landowners will be signed up on a first come-first serve basis. Conservation Districts will have final review and approval to make sure only quality riparian sites are accepted into the project. Perkins County Conservation District will be the lead county as they are the sponsor of the Conservation Commission funding request. Each site will be evaluated to designate exactly what type of planting (type of fencing, plant material selection) will work best at each individual site. Cost-share figures regarding landowner participation have not been determined at this time. If you are interested in knowing more about this project or are interested in being placed on a list contact please contact your local Conservation District.

The Coordinator for the Tatanka Resource Conservation & Development Council (RC&D) has met with eight county weed boards over the past 4 months in an effort to form a collaborative group to address the control of invasive/noxious weeds. The Dakota Border Weed Management Partnership, as they are now called, is intended to bring together those responsible for weed management within Adams, Bowman, Corson, Dewey, Harding, Perkins, Sioux and Ziebach counties to develop common management objectives, set realistic management priorities, facilitate effective treatment, and coordinate efforts along logical geographic boundaries with similar land types, use patterns and problem species. Assisting in this effort is South Dakota Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service (Grand River District), South Dakota Cooperative Extension Service, South Dakota School & Public Lands, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, among others. The group recently met in Bison and signed a Cooperative Agreement. This Agreement will provide an efficient means of controlling and communicating about noxious and invasive weed management. The sharing of knowledge, and in some cases resources, will achieve better control of weeds while improving working relationships with the partners and members of the publics served by each. The next step for this group is to develop a management plan which includes four elements: Education/Awareness, Prevention/Early Detection, Inventory Treatment (including physical, biological, cultural and chemical methods) and Monitoring.