Author: Heidi Marttila-Losure
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Turning tragedy into opportunity: One year after devastating fire, Willow Lake downtown is better than ever
An overnight fire in 2011 destroyed a big part of Willow Lake’s downtown—but even if the fire burned down businesses, it also sparked a drive to survive and a phenomenal flurry of community action.
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FIRED UP: Where farmers bring their harvest, then and now
Chris Laingen, an assistant professor of geography at Eastern Illinois University who is working on creating an updated delineation of the Corn Belt, was in South Dakota a few weeks ago and snapped these pictures on his tour. They give a bit of a perspective on how much agriculture has changed in the 123 years…
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SD counties designated as drought disaster areas
More than half of U.S. counties are now disaster areas, 90 percent because of the ongoing drought that has been brutalizing the nation.
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FIRED UP: Connect America funding for broadband will actually slow development, S.D. PUC chairman says
Sounds like there’s some uncertainty based on a change in federal policy intended to improve broadband access to rural places.
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Drought worsens generally, though parts of Dakotas get relief
Some areas of southern South Dakota moved into the extreme drought category in the past week, but some areas of northeastern South Dakota moved out of the drought categories into the “abnormally dry” category.
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FIRED UP: Rural Economic Forum highlights, through Storify
Rural economic leaders gathered in Oxford, Miss., last week to discuss rural entrepreneurship. Here are some of the top tweets that came out of that conference.
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Drought roundup: Parts of northeast South Dakota doing better than much of nation
News outlets around the country are reporting on the drought and its effects. Here is a roundup of what Dakotafire has seen and heard in the past few days.
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What brought you back to your rural roots?
Many, if not most, communities in the Dakotafire area have seen some of the youth that left return years later. Here are some of their stories; if you’re also a “returnee,” share your story in the comments!
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FIRED UP: The rural facts we used to know
The fact that hay can spontaneously combust when stored wet is something that was once common knowledge but is not any longer as people move away from agriculture.