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. Read More »
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 South Dakota has been a ... Read More »
More than half of U.S. counties are now disaster areas, 90 percent because of the ongoing drought that has been brutalizing the nation. Read More »
Sounds like there's some uncertainty based on a change in federal policy intended to improve broadband access to rural places. Read More »
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. Read More »
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. Read More »
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. Read More »
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! Read More »
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. Read More »
Some exciting thinking about the future of rural places is going on in Nebraska. Read More »
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