SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — South Dakota has become the 33rd state to confirm that the emerald ash borer has arrived, leading to an emergency quarantine and a public information session tonight for residents in the western part of the state.

The quarantine is meant to restrict the movement of ash materials in Minnehaha County, because a common way the insect moves to new areas is when infested firewood is transported there. John Ball, an entomologist with the South Dakota State University Extension Office, said while the invasive insect has not been found elsewhere in the state, he expects it to reach Pierre in the next five years, and eventually Rapid City.

"We have only confirmed the infestation in the northern part of Sioux Falls, and we have looked,” Ball said. “I predicted we'd find it in Sioux Falls somewhere between 2013 and 2018 so, so far, I'm guessing pretty good."

About 250 trees in Sioux Falls have the disease, and the insect already has killed 60 million ash trees nationwide since 2002. Tonight's informational meeting in Rapid City is at the Game, Fish and Parks Outdoor Campus West, 4130 Adventure Trail, beginning at 7 p.m.

From the 1920s through the 1980s, millions of American elm trees were decimated by Dutch elm disease, which Ball said led homeowners to over-plant ash trees, and also maples. He has some advice for homeowners who want to be proactive in planting new trees.

"Let's get off this kick of just going to the flavor of the month and planting all of one grouping: all maples or all ash or all elm,” he said. “Instead, my advice to people that are planting trees now is look what your neighbors have planted, and plant something else."

One way Sioux Falls plans to slow the spread of disease to its 80,000 ash trees is by introducing parasitoid wasps that prey on the borers. Ben Slager manages the Michigan laboratory producing the wasps. He said they're not dangerous, and give trees a better chance of survival.

"They're really only interested in laying their eggs in Emerald Ash Borer,” Slager said. “They won't bother humans, they're not going to bother your pet, they're not going to go after anything other than Emerald Ash Borer."

Scientists believe the ash borer arrived in the U.S. in the 1990s, most likely hitching a ride in wooden shipping crates from Russia, China, Japan or Korea.


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A new film documents the 2018 battle between Colorado environmentalists and the oil and gas industry over proposed fracking regulations.

The film also documents a grassroots effort by Colorado Rising to pass a ballot initiative which would create a 2,500-foot setback for all hydraulic fracturing wells in the state, particularly in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Sarah Schulte, organizing committee member of GreenFaith Boulder County, which recently previewed the film for about 100 members, said the film has a strong message.

"What probably makes the film pretty dramatic and kind of shocking is the length to which oil and natural gas industries in Colorado set out to thwart them," Schulte pointed out. "Not only with some of the tactics you might expect, but also some kind of more nefarious tactics sabotaging their signature gathering, for example."

In the end, the petroleum industry defeated the measure after a $50 million campaign opposing it. Schulte acknowledged Colorado Rising raised only $1 million for its campaign. After the election, the state adopted a 1,000-foot drilling setback from schools and residential property lines.

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly called fracking, involves drillers injecting a mixture of chemicals underground to break up the shale and free the oil. The chemicals used in the process, which are sometimes toxic, can pollute groundwater and make the surrounding land unstable.

Schulte emphasized the movie had a powerful effect on the group's members.

"I think most people were pretty angry and maybe even a little sad after seeing how these kinds of politics play out in Colorado," Schulte observed. "They asked questions like what can we do next? How do you keep going when it's so difficult to fight such a big and powerful industry?"

The film, Fracking the System: Colorado's Oil and Gas Wars, is currently being previewed by select audiences. It has won the "Spirit of Activism" award at the Colorado Environmental Film Festival
and the "Environmental Award" at the 2024 DOCUTAH International Film Festival.

As part of an effort to restore the Mississippi River delta, an organization is collaborating with nature to address environmental challenges.

The Big Muddy is the second-longest river in North America, flowing more than 2,300 miles.

Simone Maloz, campaign director for the group Restore the Mississippi River Delta, said the coalition uses nature-based solutions to help tackle some of the river's environmental problems in Louisiana and Mississippi.

"We use the power and the sediment the river provides to help us to put solutions into place," Maloz explained. "For example, we might have an area of wetlands that needs to be nourished with freshwater sediment, we can tap into that wonderful resource that we have."

Maloz pointed out some farmers are turning to nature-based solution, using cover crops like clover or other plants to protect the soil. Cover crops typically grow in between primary crops, or are planted in the offseason to help keep nutrients on the ground so they do not become toxic in the water as runoff.

Maloz emphasized nature-based solutions are key to building resilient communities, which she said are those communities thinking about how to plan for climate change, such as floods, droughts, and rising sea levels, wildfires, hurricanes and coastal threats.

"What we know about resilient communities, whether you're on the coast, or whether you're not on the coast, is about how you can brace yourself for these impacts and how you can more quickly recover," Maloz stressed. "We know that when you include nature in those plans, it helps you to better do that."

Maloz added her group is involved in various projects along the Mississippi River, using sediment to replenish marshes, rebuild ridges and barrier islands and create habitats for migratory birds.


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The Iowa Environmental Council has petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to invoke emergency powers to protect sensitive soil and groundwater in northeast Iowa.

The council is holding a public webinar today and wants the EPA to address groundwater contamination in northeast Iowa's so-called Driftless region. The groundwater there has a well-documented history of nitrate contamination.

Alicia Vasto, director of water program for the council, said the highly porous and soluble karst soil prevalent in the region is susceptible to contamination from centralized animal feeding operations.

"We did some analyses of private well data and public water systems and found that there was a lot of contamination of nitrate in those drinking water sources," Vasto reported. "The state has really failed to take action meaningfully that would address those problems."

The state has said it is constantly working to upgrade groundwater quality standards and is in the process of taking public input on creating yet another set of rules.

Vasto emphasized since the state has failed to address the water safety concerns for decades, the council and a coalition of other environmental groups have, in effect, gone above the state's head to the EPA, asking the agency to implement an emergency stop gap on nitrate pollution the way the agency did in neighboring Minnesota last year.

"We're asking that at, at minimum, the EPA would require the state of Iowa to do what they required the state of Minnesota to do under the same petition," Vasto explained. "Because the geology of northeast Iowa is the same as of southeast Minnesota."

The council's recommendations include calling on the EPA to create a communications plan with residents whose water could be at risk, create a drinking water sampling plan, and establishing a thorough permitting process for centralized animal feeding operations.


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