This video is from SDPB's Dakota Life which is celebrating its 25th Anniversary in 2022. Watch this episode and all past seasons here.
The Coteau des Prairie, known for so long to Dakota and other Native people, mapped by Joseph Nicollet in the 1830’s, homesteaded by European migrants later in the 1880’s and 90s – was formed by two lobes of a glacier which essentially trenched the land on either side of the plateau.
This is the country that drew Ole Bien to homestead, and his family has been here ever since. The Bien family take pride in their efforts to conserve the natural heritage of this landscape at their family ranch in nearby Veblen. SDPB paid the Biens a visit to learn about their strategies for sustainable stewardship on the Coteau.