The South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks (SDGFP) is looking for landowners who want to better manage their land, have better profitability, enhance wildlife habitat and get paid for it.
Landowners matter and can make a significant difference in the future of the state’s wildlife resources.  Programs offered by SDGFP and various other agencies are designed to help landowners implement land stewardship practices and improve wildlife habitat by creating new habitat or enhancing existing habitats for wildlife.
SD Corn and Pheasants Forever have partnered together to offer incentives to landowners in targeted areas of the state to help address issues with saline and sodic soils. In these areas, where crop production may be low, landowners may enroll in a 5-year agreement for a one-time incentive payment of $150/acre and receive free salt tolerant grass and alfalfa seed ($50/acre value). Landowners are allowed flexible management options such as annual haying or grazing between mid-summer and March 1.
In order to complement and expand the existing saline soil program offered by Pheasants Forever and SD Corn, GFP is offering producers the chance to participate in Governor Noem’s Second Century Habitat Restoration Program.
This program is similar to the Saline Soil and Soil Health and Income Protection (SHIPP) programs but allows more lands to be eligible in a wider geographic area of the state.
Areas that may be enrolled include but are not limited to saline soils, wet areas, sandy hills and other non-productive areas that might serve better as perennial grass cover.
Under the new USDA Farm Bill, the Soil Health and Income Protection Program (SHIPP) is a 50,000 acre pilot program set to be enrolled by the end of 2020 and available throughout the Prairie Pothole Region.

In order to maximize incentives for this program, SDGFP is set to offer additional incentives to those who sign up for the program to ensure successful enrollment of the maximum amount of acres available in South Dakota. With a 5-year agreement, these incentives offer a cost-share seed incentive of approximately $25/ acre. This seed cost-share would cover approximately one-half the cost of seed.  SDGFP will also recommend the use of the same or similar seed mix as used in the above mentioned saline soil program.
There are several other GFP habitat and access programs that can also help meet the goals and objectives of private landowner habitat efforts.
GFP’s habitat/livestock fencing program offers the opportunity for producers to enhance grazing rotations on pastures which will provide the producer with healthier grasslands and more production from their grassland acres while also benefiting wildlife and wildlife habitat. This program also assists landowners by protecting new or existing habitat areas such as tree and food plots from livestock. Landowners are typically reimbursed for 100 percent of fencing material cost upon completion. GFP also provides assistance with ditch plugs, stock tanks, rural water hookups, pipelines, well drilling and stock dams to help enhance rotational grazing efforts.
GFP’s Working Lands Habitat Programs provide landowners with technical and financial assistance along with a variety of cost-share incentives to implement wetland and grassland conservation practices. These practices are beneficial to wildlife while also meeting land use goals on working farms and ranches. One of these programs includes a grassland restoration that may be used as nesting habitat for ground nesting birds like pheasants and ducks. The costs incurred for seed and planting for these types of projects is reimbursed to the landowner at 100 percent (up to $125/acre). Cost share rates for other specific practices will vary but also include wetland restorations, wetland creations and enhancements, grassland restorations, and riparian pastures.
A well placed food or habitat plot can also provide wildlife with food and cover throughout the winter months. Through the GFP’s Food Plot Program, seed is provided to participating landowners at no cost and has an annual incentive payment of $20/acre, or $40/acre if planted on a Walk-In Access Area.  A landowner may have up to 30 acres enrolled and up to 10 acres planted for each quarter section.
The Woody Habitat Program provides cover for wildlife to help get them through tough winter conditions by planting trees and shrubs. GFP will cost share 75 percent of the total project cost, or up to $10,000 per planting, for a planting of 8 rows and minimum of 1 acre in size.
GFP also offers incentives to landowners to provide public hunting access. SDGFP’s Walk-In Area program leases private land with valuable hunting opportunities to the public in exchange for an annual payment and protection from liability. Walk-In Area payments vary by location, habitat quality, and hunting opportunities provided. Additional financial incentives are valuable for Walk-In Areas that are signed up to include CRP, WRP and undisturbed habitat.
GFP’s Controlled Hunting Access Program (CHAP) is another way for landowners to provide public hunting access. Unlike Walk-In Areas, landowners enrolled in CHAP determine the number of hunters allowed per day, game species hunted, and when hunting occurs within the existing seasons. Payment rates are based on hunter use days.
To learn more about all of the habitat and access programs available, landowners are encouraged to visit the SDGFP Landowner Programs website at gfp.sd.gov/landowner-programs.  GFP is offering workshops in the area to provide additional information on the suite of programs offered by our department and other agencies and private groups like the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) and Pheasants Forever. Workshops this year will be offered on:
June 21st in Plankinton from 6-8 p.m. at the Aurora County Community/4H Buildingt. For more information call Conservation Officer Lynn Geuke 220-6943
June 27 in Salem, same times, at The McCook County Wildlife Clubhouse. For more information, call Conservation Officer Matt Talbert 360-0491.
If you are from the Huron area and unable to make it to an open house but would like to learn more, please contact Conservation Officer Trevor Johnson at 941-4552.