• South Dakota has been blessed with many natural assets, from the prairie potholes and rich soils of East River, to the vast grasslands and Black Hills of West River, and the farm and range lands and Missouri River in between.  These lands and waters and the ecosystems they support played a major role in the development and prosperity of our state.  Even as South Dakotans are well accustomed to weather extremes, we've benefited from a climate that has been relatively stable over the past several hundred years.  There have been only a few extended deviations outside the "normal" range, like the dust bowl drought of the 1930s. 
• Unfortunately, South Dakotans can no longer count on that relative climate stability in the future for themselves, their children, and their grandchildren.  As detailed in the recently released Third National Climate Assessment, South Dakota is likely to see rising temperatures over the next several decades that will lead to increased de

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