Conservation
Photo © Dean Pearson
Wildlife Diversity Small Grants Program
The South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks is no longer accepting proposals for 2021. Please check back in December to see if funding will be offered in 2022.
Previously Completed Projects
Please visit our Wildlife Report and Surveys page to view any of the reports.
| PROJECT | GRANTEE |
| EDUCATION | |
| Creating online resources to engage SD citizens in amphibian and reptile identification, distribution and conservation | Drew Davis |
| Planting for Pollinators | Alyssa Anderson |
| Animal Antics teaching curriculum | Amber Stout |
| Black Hills Bryophytes Workshop | Mary Wipf (Zimmerman) |
| Butterfly Activity Guide | Jennifer Fowler |
| Black Hills Lichens and Mosses: Educational Materials and Classroom Visits | Mary Wipf (Zimmerman) |
| Licens of the Black Hills, and Introduction to Lichenology | Mary Wipf (Zimmerman) |
| Camp Arroya Nature Trail | Clarence Pederson |
| Adams Homestead and Nature Preserve native landscape arboretum | Mark Ernste |
| Bird habitat development for the Haakon County Outdoor Learning Center | Tanya McIlravy |
| Native wildlife awareness program | Melissa Horton |
| Ottumwa Rural Attendance Center schoolyard habitat | Tanya McIlravy |
| YMCA Camp Leif Ericson habitat restoration and nature education | Phil Olson |
| Kiwanis-Mary Hall Park native plant demonstration | Thomas Allen |
| Curriculum and resource guide for "Fragile Legacy - Rare Animals of SD" | Jennifer Fowler |
| A guide to wildlife and wildlife watching in northeast SD | Dennis Skadsen |
| Birds - At home on the range tour | Justin Jessop |
| Native wildlife field trips | Susan Ricci-Fox |
| Nesting ecology of raptors in western SD - educational programs | Craig Knowles |
| Bringing fire back to the land traveling kiosk | John Davidson |
| Field guide to the tiger beetles of Nebraska and SD | Stephen Spomer and Matthew Brust |
| Cultivating a native environment | Diane Melvin |
| Greenbelt education enhancement project | Stan Hoffart |
| Bat books for SD elementary school libraries | Western Bat Working Group |
| "Bug Zone" live insect presentations and insect discovery resource kit | Frank Amundson |
| An educator's curriculum and resource guide for the "South Dakota Breeding Bird Atlas II" | Jennifer Fowler |
| Field guide to SD fishes | Steve and Sheila Wall |
| Exhibit display - Prairie native vegetation map | City of Watertown |
| Wetland restoration at Camp Woodlands | Bette Poppen, Girl Scouts |
| Granite Springs outdoor classroom | Kevin Yeo |
| Grevik Outdoor Learning Area at Wall Lake | Gary Olson |
| Exploring Birds Resource Kit | Dennis Skadsen |
| INVERTEBRATES | |
| PROJECT | GRANTEE |
| Spider survey of Fort Pierre National Grassland | L. Brian Patrick |
| Odonata surveys | Steve Hummel |
| Solitary ground nesting bees of SD | Paul Johnson and Nicomas Dollar |
| 2001 mollusk survey at Whitney Preserve | Tamara Anderson |
| Survey of tiger beetles in the Black Hills of SD | Scott Weins and Elizabeth Krueger |
| Survey of unionid mollusks of the Missouri River and related reservoirs in SD | Ellet Hoke |
| Land snail survey of Custer State Park | Tamara Anderson |
| Survey of freshwater mussels in tributaries of the James River Basin | Steve Wall |
| Preparation of a field guide of Black Hills land snails | Tamara Anderson |
| Monitoring Oreohelix snails | Tamara Anderson |
| Survey for additional colonies of the endemic Black Hills fritillary butterfly | James Reiser and Stephen Spomer |
| American burying beetle surveys in southwestern SD | Molly Davis |
| Investigating the identity of a tiger beetle from the Black Hills of SD | Stephen Spomer |
| Species composition of freshwater snails in three ecoregions of SD | Bruce Stephen |
| Surveys for prairie-dependent moths in northeast SD | Dennis Skadsen |
| Habitat preferences of ground beetle species in the northern Black Hills | David Bergmann |
| Snail response to fire in the Black Hills | Tamara Anderson |
| Conifer forest dwelling elateroid beetles of western SD | Paul Johnson |
| Survey for American burying beetles | Keith Perkins |
| SD Bee database and sampling in selected mesic prairies | Caitlin Kreuger and Paul Johnson |
| Freshwater snails of the prairie pothole region of SD | Bruce Stephen |
| Survey of freshware gastropods withing SD's prairie couteau region | Bruce Stephen |
| PLANTS OR FUNGI | |
| PROJECT | GRANTEE |
| A survey to identify and document mushrooms and other fleshy fungi in the Black Hills of SD | Audrey Gabel |
| Inventory of plants at the Whitney Preserve at Cascade Creek | Elaine Ebbert |
| Floristic inventory of the Black Elk Wilderness, Black Hills National Forest, SD | Hollis Marriott |
| Rapid assessment of plant communities of the Black Hills for macrofungi | Audrey Gabel and Kristie Martin |
| Identification and mitigation of climber impact on rare plants, Custer State Park | Hollis Marriott |
| Survey of Black Hills montane grasslands | Hollis Marriott |
| Survey, identification, and data compilation of Black Hills bryophytes | Mary Zimmerman |
| HABITAT OR SITE SURVEYS | |
| PROJECT | GRANTEE |
| Use of shelterbelt woodlands by neotropical migrant birds in the Northern Great Plains | David Swanson |
| Inventory of birds, reptiles and amphibians on TNC preserves and easements in the southern Black Hills | Thomas and Nancy Hays |
| Ecological evaluation of stream resources in Deuel County | Ramona Lundberg |
| Monitoring plan development and implementation for selected sensitive species along Cascade Creek | Beth Burkhart and Elaine Ebbert |
| Biological inventory at Spirit Mound Historic Prairie | Karen Olmstead |
| Wall Lake wildlife habitat improvement | John Monahan |
| Developing adaptive management methods and assessing the status of species of concern in the Leola Hills landscape of the Missouri Coteau | Mary Miller |
| Monitoring perennial streams of the Black Hills | MIM project |
| BIRDS | |
| PROJECT | GRANTEE |
| Banding studies of nesting northern saw-whet owls in northwestern SD | Nancy Drilling |
| Breeding bird survey of Good Earth State Park at Blood Run | Rosemary Draeger and Linda Johnson |
| Studies of Nesting Northern Saw-whet Owls in Northwestern SD | RMBO - Nancy Drilling |
| Northern saw-whet and flammulated owl banding stations | RMBO - Nancy Drilling |
| Monitoring purple martins with geolocators | Dennis and Paul Mammenga |
| Big Sioux Recreation Area and Palisades State Park Breeding Bird Surveys | Rosemary Draeger and Linda Johnson |
| Bird populations of shelterbelt habitats in Lake County, SD | Dale Droge and Jeffry Palmer |
| Calling surveys for flammulated owls and northern saw-whet owls in the central and southern Black Hills | Nancy Hays |
| Breeding birds of the restricted pine-juniper shrub habitat in southwestern SD | David Swanson |
| Natural history and abundance of whip-poor-wills and insectivorous bats in southeastern SD | C. Loren Buck |
| Summer 2001 survey of the status of the American dipper on its historic range in the Black Hills, SD | Rosemary Draeger and Linda Johnson |
| Natural history of whip-poor-wills and the importance of riparian habitat for insectivorous bats in southeast SD | Jeffrey Lane, R. Mark Brigham, C. Loren Buck and Michael Swystun |
| Relative nesting success of neotropical woodland migrants in natural riparian woodlands and farmstead woodlots in southeastern SD | David Swanson |
| Breeding birds of Newton Hills | Rosemary Draeger and Linda Johnson |
| Burrowing owl occurrence and abundance on prairie dog colonies in Buffalo Gap National Grassland | Travis Livieri |
| Surveys of woodpecker abundance and reproduction in response to the Jasper fire | Kerri Vierling |
| Surveys for rare owl species in the Black Hills | Bill Given |
| Sica Hollow State Park breeding bird survey | Rosemary Draeger |
| Big Sioux River Bald Eagle nesting analysis | Robert Schenck |
| Development of DNA fingerprinting markers for the American dipper | Cynthia Anderson |
| Breeding bird survey of Oak Ridge GPA and Wilson Savanna | Rosemary Draeger |
| Section-based monitoring of breeding birds on Grand River National Grassland | Rob Sparks et al. |
| Survey for long-billed curlews on the Buffalo Gap National Grassland, SD | Travis Livieri |
| Association of black-backed woodpeckers with mountain pine beetle infestations | Joshua Millspaugh |
| Sprague's pipits and Baird's sparrows on the Grand River National Grassland | Maiken Winter |
| Survey of black-tailed prairie dog colonies on Grand River National Grassland for burrowing owls | Craig Knowles |
| Foraging behavior of ospreys in the Black Hills | Jennifer Fowler |
| Efficacy of using radio monitored prey in locating active goshawk nests | Chad Cyrus |
| Lake Oahe nesting gull and tern survey | Ricky Olson |
| Adams Homestead and Nature Preserve breeding bird survey | Rosemary Draeger and Linda Johnson |
| Effects of landscape and stand-level factors on forest songbird populations and diversity | Adam Benson |
| Black-backed woodpeckers in the Black Hills | Christopher Rota |
| Common nighthawks in agricultural landscapes | Gretchen Newberry |
| A reassessment of Virginia's Warbler distribution in the Black Hills | David Swanson |
| FISHES | |
| PROJECT | GRANTEE |
| Survey of the Fishes of the Bois de Sioux River in South Dakota | Matthew Wagner |
| Distribution of the sturgeon chub in SD | George Cunningham and Susanne Hickey |
| Lake chub survey | Ricky Olson |
| Rare fish surveys in selected streams of eastern SD | George Cunningham |
| Survey for southern redbelly dace in eastern SD | Steve Wall |
| Finescale dace and lake chub survey | Ricky Olson |
| MAMMALS | |
| PROJECT | GRANTEE |
| Point count survey for the desert cottontail in Badlands National Park | Kelsey Gilcrease |
| Bat surveys and habitat use in western SD | Joel Tigner |
| Faunal survey of the bats at the Oak Lake Research Station | Scott Pedersen |
| A survey for the southern bog lemming in Tripp County, SD | Ricky Olson |
| Distribution and roost site selection of bats in eastern SD | Vicki Swier |
| Bat habitat in the Black Hills - Protection of abandoned mines | Joel Tigner |
| Distribution and habitat associations of flying squirrels in the northern Black Hills | Elizabeth Krueger |
| Black-footed ferret resource selection | Joshua Millspaugh |
| Investigating possible hibernacula for the bat population of the Missouri River in SD | Vicki Swier |
| Plague prevalence in Lower Brule Indian Reservation black-tailed prairie dog colonies | Hugh Britten |
| Plague prevalence in swift fox and black-footed ferrets | Erica Mize and Hugh Britten |
| Assessing the risk of plague to black-footed ferrets in Conata Basin, SD | Travis Livieri |
| Bat Hibernacula Surveys - Winter 2016-2017 | Joel Tigner |
| Occurance and abundance of porcupine in the Black Hills | Lenora Dombro |
| HERPTILES | |
| PROJECT | GRANTEE |
| Recrutement and training of SD citizen scientists for FrogWatch USA | Jake Kerby |
| Amphibian and bird acoustic surveys | Jake Kerby |
| A preliminary amphibian and reptile survey of the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation, Todd County, SD | Julie and Jody Hibma |
| Calling survey for the Blanchard's cricket frog in Tripp County, SD | Ricky Olson |
| Cricket frog survey in Union County, SD | Ron Wilmot, Mike Baker, Theresa Horton and Kim Meerdink |
| Blanding's turtle and herp survey in northeastern SD | Tom Jessen |
| Herp. surveys of several state areas in southeast SD with an emphasis on the lined snake | Dan Fogell |
| Surveys for sagebrush lizard in the Black Hills | Brian Smith et al. |
| A general survey for the herpetofauna of the Big Sioux River Valley and southeast SD | Tom Jessen |
| Surveys of the horned lizard at historical locations in SD | Brian Smith and Hugh Quinn |
| Hibernacula microclimates and overwintering survival of Blanchard's cricket frog in SD | David Swanson |
| Herpetological survey of eastern South Dakota | Tom Jessen |
| Black Hills redbelly snake and smooth greensnake activity along roadways near presumed hibernacula | Jodi Massie, Brian Smith, and Hugh Quinn |