How South Dakota Trees Led to an Animal Crisis Out West

If you go for a drive anywhere through the rural parts of South Dakota, you'll see the long, straight rows of trees known as Shelterbelts. These windbreaks were an enormous undertaking, mainly fueled by the FDR administration during the 1930s to prevent another Dust Bowl from stripping away the soil in the Mount Rushmore State.

These trees saved countless farms across South Dakota (and the entire Great Plains), but they also created an unintended "bridge" for an ecological invasion that has been plaguing the western states for decades now.

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How the South Dakota Trees Helped the Barred Owl and Hurt the Spotted Owl

Spotted Owl (Left), Barred Owl (Right)

The US Fish and Wildlife Service recently approved a controversial plan to cull (kill) nearly 500,000 barred owls in the states of Washington, Oregon, and California. Their goal is to save the northern spotted owl, an endangered species that has been pushed toward extinction. And a big reason why? The barred owl has been making its home in these states in recent decades. But how did an owl from the East Coast get all the way out west in the first place?

Historically, the Great Plains acted as a big (and treeless) barrier that barred owls just couldn't cross. But, as settlers began to move into South Dakota and planted millions of trees for protection and fire suppression, they created a "forest highway" of sorts. Over the decades, the barred owl (originally found in the Eastern US) used these man-made shelterbelts to criss-cross their way across the plains states, eventually making their way to the American West.

Once they got to the Pacific States, these much larger, better adapted, and more aggressive owls began stealing the territory and even attacking the native spotted owls. It's gotten to be such a problem that the US Fish and Wildlife Service will be culling nearly half a million barred owls in these states, in order to save the spotted owl from extinction. But the barred owl would've never made it there to begin with if it weren't for the trees in South Dakota (and other plains states) as it needs trees to survive.

It's a strange irony that the very trees planted to protect the soil of South Dakota nearly a century ago are now being cited as one of the biggest reasons this substantial culling operation is necessary to save a species that doesn't even live in our state.

READ MORE: How South Dakota Shelterbelts Beat the Dust Bowl Crisis

Story Sources: US Fish and Wildlife Service Website