The South Dakota Grassland Coalition has teamed up with Minneapolis-based musical artists Maygen Lacey and Noah Neumann, and their band Maygen & The Birdwatcher, to help save North America’s most threatened ecosystem: its native grasslands.
Earlier this year, Maygen & The Birdwatcher took home wins for Album of the Year and Americana Artist of the Year at the Midwest Country Music Organization’s annual awards show in Arnolds Park, Iowa. Today they released an original song and music video titled “Where Good Things Grow,” that the partnership hopes will raise public awareness regarding the importance of grassland ecosystems and generate support for programs and activities to encourage farmers, ranchers and state and local officials to develop programs and policies that preserve and restore the health of North America’s grasslands.
“We recently discovered Maygen’s and Noah’s band and thought their Americana-style of music and heartfelt performances would be a great way to help convey our love for the grasslands and the ranchers who care for them,” South Dakota Grassland Coalition Chairman Brett Nix, said. “So, we reached out to see if they’d be willing to collaborate in our awareness and education campaign, and we were delighted to discover that the goals of our public service campaign were right in line with their love of nature, wildlife and the ranching families who are stewards of our remarkable grasslands ecosystem.”
The new music video is part of a soon-to-be-released awareness and education campaign developed by the South Dakota Grasslands Coalition which recently received funding through a USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service cooperative grant to develop a healthy grasslands public service campaign titled “Dakota Grasslands: Where Good Things Grow.” The campaign includes television ads, a dedicated website and out-of-home ads featuring the many environmental, ecological and economic benefits of healthy grasslands, as well as highlighting the on-going threats to North America’s native grasslands.
“As we wrote and recorded the song, our goal was to touch the hearts of those who heard it, so they can feel the love we feel and be motivated to be part of restoring and protecting the health of our beloved grasslands,” Lacey said.
The artists’ music video performance was filmed by Minneapolis-based, Emmy-nominated filmmakers Joe and Charlie Dickie at The Nature Conservancy’s Chippewa Prairie Complex near Appleton, Minn. The release of the music video sets the stage for the official launch of the “Dakota Grasslands: Where Good Things Grow” public service campaign soon.
To view the music video and to learn more about the “Dakota Grasslands: Where Good Things Grow” campaign, visit WhereGoodThingsGrow.org.
Incidentally, the SD Grasslands Coalition will hold its annual meeting Dec. 5, 2023, in Rapid City.
Dave Pratt is the keynote speaker. He’ll discuss sustainable ranching in North America.
To register to attend the meeting, go to www.sdgrass.org.
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