A television public service announcement highlighting the benefits of, and threats to, the Dakota’s grasslands has received the Northern Midwest Regional Emmy Award, the South Dakota Grassland Coalition recently announced.
The ranching scenes in the television spot were filmed in 2023 at the DX Ranch on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation and feature rancher Kelsey Scott and her nephews Gus and Tore Ducheneaux, to underscore the critical stewardship role ranchers play in growing healthy grasslands. All of the wildlife scenes and vistas in the PSA were captured by Joe and Charlie Dickie during several years of filming in South Dakota’s grasslands.
The Emmy-winning TV PSA is part of a broader awareness and education campaign developed by the South Dakota Grasslands Coalition, which 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 and radio ads, a dedicated website and out-of-home ads highlighting the many environmental, ecological and economic benefits of healthy grasslands, as well as identifying on-going threats to North America’s native grasslands.
Jeff Zimprich, a South Dakota Grassland Coalition board member and Eastern South Dakota grassland producer, said landing the award provides another opportunity to remind South Dakotans that grasslands provide many benefits to all the state’s residents, including clean water, clean air and diverse life.
“Most people are unaware that native grasslands represent the most threated ecosystem in North America,” Zimprich said. “Our awareness and education campaign is designed to help our fellow citizens understand the benefits grasslands provide and to motivate them to become more involved in the stewardship of this amazing resource.”
The public service announcements, including the Emmy-winning “Shared Heritage” spot, have been aired more than 4,000 times throughout 2024 on key television stations in Sioux Falls and Rapid City.
“We’re honored to receive this prestigious award but we’re especially grateful to our broadcasting partners at KDLT-NBC, KSFY-ABC, KDLT2-Fox in Sioux Falls and KOTA-ABC, KNBN-NBC and KEVN-Fox in Rapid City for consistently airing the PSAs,” Zimprich said. “The partnership of these local television stations in this awareness and education effort illustrate that they are integral members of our conservation community, and it also demonstrates their commitment to making South Dakota a place where good things will grow for generations to come.”
To learn more about the “Dakota Grasslands: Where Good Things Grow” campaign, visit WhereGoodThingsGrow.org.
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