Private Lands Programs

Introduction

Since land in South Dakota is about 90% privately owned, the South Dakota Dept. of Game, Fish and Parks focuses a lot of attention on managing wildlife and their habitats on private land. And, since most wildlife occur on private land, a lot of attention is given to encouraging hunting access on private land.

GFP has limited funding to manage habitat and hunting on private lands and it all comes from hunters and anglers. To stretch the funding, GFP has developed programs that take advantage of or improve programs already available to landowners. In addition, the department also maintains partnerships with a number of government and private organizations.

The best example of a program we build upon to stretch the funds is the Conservation Reserve Program administered by the USDA. Most of the practices listed below have been tailored to either improve or expand the values provide by CRP. For instance, a landowner may enroll and plant a field in CRP and may then choose to put in a food plot, a shelterbelt and then make a little money for opening the land for public hunting. GFP has practices to help in all of these areas. Take a look at our practices, and if you are interested, call your local Wildlife Conservation Officer or the other contact listed with the practice.

Click on the links below for a brief description of each practice, or click on the links to the left for a complete fact sheet on each practice.

Habitat Practices

Dense Nesting Cover Establishment
Food Habitat Plots Establishment
Habitat Fence Construction
Native Warm Season Grass Establishment
Shelterbelt Renovation
New Tree Maintenance
Wetland Restoration

Access Practices

General Hunting Access (Walk-In Areas)
Waterfowl Hunting Access

Dense Nesting Cover Establishment
Dense nesting cover, or DNC, is a mixture of cool season grasses (those that green up early in the spring) and legumes, like alfalfa and yellow sweetclover. DNC is the cornerstone habitat type for many species of wildlife. Species, like pheasant, use it for nesting, rearing their broods, roosting and loafing. DNC is really just high quality nesting cover designed to maximize nesting activity and reproductive success. A lot of the Conservation Reserve Program lands in South Dakota are established with a DNC mixture. For more information of assistance with DNC, go to the Fact Sheet. Top of page

Food Habitat Plots Establishment
Although food is normally available to wildlife in the form of waste grain and weed seeds, there are times when a well placed food plot is an important wildlife management tool. Food is an important attractant for wildlife. Animals will often readily move to good food sources. This fact makes food plots useful for attracting and keeping wildlife in areas where we want them. For instance, we might want to attract pheasants into an area with very good quality wintering habitat to maximize survival through the winter. Food plots work well for this. For more information or assistance, go to the Fact Sheet. Top of page

Habitat Fence Construction
Important habitats often require protection from livestock. In special cases GFP will help landowners protect these habitats by helping to pay for the cost of constructing a fence. For more information or assistance, go to the Fact Sheet. Top of page

Native Warm Season Grass Establishment
Once, a large portion of eastern South Dakota consisted of a grassland community that was very tall and did most of its growing in the middle of summer. Now most of that type of habitat has been replaced by cornfields, but some folks are interested in reestablishing native warm season grasses for several reasons. One reason is wildlife habitat.

It's hard to find better winter roosting habitat for resident wildlife than native warm season grasses. The stems are rigid and tend to stand up to a lot of weight from snow. NWSG plantings are also important to some species for nesting, brood rearing, loafing and even as a source of food. For more information or assistance, go to the Fact Sheet. Top of page

Shelterbelt Renovation
Trees in South Dakota are usually planted in rows, and sometimes entire rows of trees die due to disease or old age. When that happens, it is easier and more cost effective to replant the dead rows than to start all over with a new belt.

In addition, people used to plant tree rows too far apart to allow them to develop a canopy closure. Canopy closure is important to allow trees in South Dakota to compete with grass and weeds for sunlight, moisture and soil nutrients. Because some older shelterbelts have wide row spacing, it is sometimes a good idea to plant new rows between the old rows to allow the belt to develop canopy closure. This practice can be used for both of these types of renovation. For more information or assistance, go to the Fact Sheet. Top of page

New Tree Maintenance
The best example of how the department uses someone else's program to stretch funding while making the practice better for wildlife is our new tree maintenance practice. Landowners normally can receive cost-share funding from the USDA to plant trees. But because most of South Dakota is naturally a grassland community, trees have a hard time competing with grasses and weeds for sunlight, water and nutrients. In order to allow the trees a chance to develop a canopy closure, it is important to eliminate grass and weed competition by tilling, applying landscape fabric or even using chemicals in some cases.

USDA's tree planting programs always require that new trees be maintained weed-free for the first growing season. GFP's cost-share assistance extends that care through the end of the forth growing season. For more information or assistance, go to the Fact Sheet. Top of page

Wetland Restoration
Wetlands are the most dynamic ecosystem in South Dakota. Wetlands are important for flood control, water purification and wildlife habitat. GFP is keenly interested in protecting and restoring wetlands. Through this practice, landowners who have wetlands that have been drained can receive a cost-share and technical assistance to have them restored. For more information or assistance, go to the Fact Sheet. Top of page

General Hunting Access (Walk-In Areas)
South Dakota has a rich hunting heritage; one that includes lots of game and lots of places to hunt. For the past ten years, GFP has been working hard to maintain that rich heritage by providing hunting access on privately owned lands. The department does this by contracting with landowners who have CRP or other valuable wildlife habitat. The landowner opens the land to unlimited, free public hunting, which is open to foot-traffic only hunting, in exchange for a small payment and immunity from non-negligent liability. It has been a great program and currently has over 1/2 million acres enrolled. For more information or assistance, go to the Fact Sheet. Top of page

Waterfowl Hunting Access
The 1998 South Dakota legislature passed produced a law that increased the number of nonresident waterfowl hunting licenses in the Pierre area. One part of the law requires that funds from the sale of these licenses must be used to provide additional public waterfowl hunting opportunities in the Pierre area. Although it is all quite new, the department has contracted with several landowners in the Pierre area to provide a host of new waterfowl hunting opportunities to the public. This is a fairly special practice that is only available to landowners in the immediate Pierre area, but if you do, and you have great quality goose hunting opportunities to offer, you might want to consider the opportunity. For more information or assistance, go to the Fact Sheet. Top of page