Strength from the Soil Award Honors Prairie Work

North Dakota’s Strength from the Soil Award, part of the Governor’s Awards for Excellence in Public Service, has been awarded in 2025 to the WMA District Managers of the North Dakota Game & Fish Department. The award recognizes teams that advance agriculture or natural resource innovation via cross-community and cross-agency collaboration. In this case, the award honors their work in partnering with livestock producers and applying managed grazing to restore prairie habitat.

“Our state agencies continue to deliver world-class service in collaboration with each other and our local, tribal and federal partners,” Gov. Kelly Armstrong said at the awards ceremony.

Collaborative Conservation on the Prairie

The WMA district managers have moved beyond isolated habitat conservation, actively collaborating with ranchers and producers to integrate livestock grazing into the management of wildlife areas. Federal grants have helped underwrite vital infrastructure—fencing and water systems—that enable controlled rotational grazing regimes. The result is mutual benefit: improved habitat alongside viable agricultural use.

By aligning ecological goals with ranching needs, these partnerships help reduce resistance, distribute management responsibilities, and serve as demonstration sites for conservation practices that could scale to private lands.

How Managed Grazing and Restoration Are Applied

Rather than continuous grazing, WMAs now use rotational or intermittent grazing systems—manipulating timing and intensity so vegetation can recover. These grazing strategies help break up thatch, stimulate native plant growth, and suppress invasive species.

A specific example: at Henderson WMA, after the last harvest, staff planted a diverse native mix of 13 forbs and 10 grasses to approximate historic prairie diversity.

Restoration is paired with adaptive tools—prescribed fire, brush removal, selective treatments, reseeding, and monitoring—to fine-tune grazing regimes and push systems toward resilient native communities.

Scope, Impact & the Native Grassland Crisis

The Game & Fish Department manages about 220 Wildlife Management Areas statewide, covering roughly 220,000 acres. Because most lands in North Dakota are privately held, WMAs play a critical role as living laboratories for regenerative practices.

Prairie loss is severe: NDGF reports that more than 75 % of North Dakota’s native grasslands have been lost or degraded over time. This decline affects biodiversity, soil health, carbon storage, and watershed resilience. Conservation work on public lands helps rebuild these functions and may influence broader practices across the state's grasslands.

Challenges & Trade-Offs

Even with these successes, constraints and uncertainties persist:

• Grazing timing vs recovery: Mistimed grazing or excessive pressure can degrade vegetation, compact soil, or favor undesirable species.
• Invasive grass dominance: Kentucky bluegrass, smooth brome, and other cool-season invasives are persistent competitors in degraded systems.
• Climate variability: Drought or extreme precipitation events can undermine restoration efforts, especially during early establishment.
• Long time frames: Native communities may take several years to fully establish and express species diversity.
• Scaling to private lands: Demonstration on WMAs is one thing; motivating adoption across millions of private grassland acres requires incentives, outreach, and economic alignment.

The phrase “Strength from the Soil” is also North Dakota’s state motto, underscoring the central role of soil and land in the state’s history and economy. By recognizing the WMA district managers, the award affirms state support for practical conservation measures that integrate agriculture and wildlife management. The model’s measurable benefits—improved habitat, restored biodiversity, stronger soil and water health, and more resilient grazing systems—could extend beyond public lands if adopted at greater scale.