On today's show...
We meet a few creatures vanishing from South Dakota's riverbanks, prairies and streams.
First, the piping plover is a migratory shorebird that builds its nests and raises its chicks on the Missouri River's sandbars. It's vulnerable to habitat loss and destruction — as well as extreme weather.
Galen Jons, a natural resource specialist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, shares what's being done for the plover (1:12 to 11:44).
We then head to the Great Plains Zoo in Sioux Falls to a shaded, mesh butterfly tent between the penguins and the petting zoo.
Biologists Jenae Hongess and Colton Eckstrand discuss their Dakota skipper program and what the prairie loses when it loses these pollinators (11:44 to 39:29).
Plus, a bottom-dwelling giant is having trouble navigating our dammed-up waterways. Two scientists at Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery introduce us to the pallid sturgeon (39:29 to 48:42).
