Hello, everyone. My name is Wei Junyuan. I'm a PhD student at the University of California Irvine. I'm presenting on behalf of my wonderful team consisting of Zhao Zhili at Washington University in St. Louis, Julia Wagner at ETH Zurich, Seth Frey at the University of California Davis, and Benjamin Macohill at the University of Washington Seattle. The title of our research project is One Path or Many, Policy Development and Diffusion Across Wikipedia Language Editions. The motivation of our research project is the drive for self-governance. We know that environmental and resource constraints could drive self-governance, so do heirs and lessons of community members. Therefore, we have seen a striking diversity as well as consonances and how different communities solve the same set of problems. It has been difficult for us to predict when a set of institutions will converge or diverge in terms of their solutions to the same governance challenge. That has led us to the research question. Will organizations facing a similar set of challenge build similar sets of rules? When they do converge on similar solutions, do they follow the same path to get there? How much does the policy development depend on group sites, on culture, or anything else? Wikipedia has provided a great opportunity for us to study self-governance and collective action institutions. Wikipedia is a free online psychopedia with additions in 316 languages. All these language additions are hosted by a common umbrella organization, the Wikimedia Foundation, and they share a common physical server infrastructure. Each of the Wikimedia language additions is peer-produced and self-governing. The users could write their own rules coded by languages. Wikipedia has been proved to be a productive platform for studying policy processes. The Wikimedia language additions are highly comparable collective action institutions. They are open community-driven structure, and they pursue the same mission under the same constraints. All these characteristics made Wikipedia language additions to be an ideal case for studying policy diffusion, which is the topic of our research. Using WikiData, especially MediaWeekies cross WikiLinking page, we were able to construct the policy structure across Wikipedia language additions. On the right-hand side, we have the language policy bipartite network, where we have 60 shared policies and 245 language additions. The policies are the nodes in blue, and the language additions are the nodes in yellow. In total, there are 3600 instances of policy adoptions. That's the edges in this network. First of all, let's take a look at the policy sharing patterns. On the right-hand side, we have the one mode projection of the policy language network. The nodes are Wiki language additions. The edges are weighted by the number of shared policies. The network is very tightly connected, and in the core, there are 30 fully connected language additions sharing at least 37 policies with one another. The English edition has adopted nearly all the policies that are shared across the editions. We did not find no evidence of clustering based on cultural traditions, though. And secondly, we move on to looking at the drives for the order of adoption. This figure shows that the popularity actually drives the order of adoption. On the x-axis, we have the order of policy creation within Wiki, and on the y-axis, we have popularity rank. The figure shows that the more popular a policy is, the sooner it will be adopted within a Wikipedia language addition. And certainly, we took a look at the sequence of policy adoption. A sequence clustering analysis shows that despite the variations, we have found a relatively strong policy adoption of sequence. That means we have found generally a common path for Wikipedia language additions to adopt policies. This could be explained by shared constraints, for example, resource limits, shared mission, constitutional structure. A common policy adoption path suggests that these shared constraints may play a larger role than addition-specific constraints. In conclusion, Wikipedia provides a rare case of highly comparable policy systems developing in parallel, which enables us to test the theories of policy development. Our analysis has found that policies are widely shared among different language additions. There is little evidence of policy adoption based on cultural traditions, and we have found that policy adoption is mainly driven by popularity. A sequence analysis reveals that we have a single developmental path across all these Wikipedia language additions. I want to note that our analysis only look at shared policies. That means we could only answer questions like when a policy get diffused, how it got diffused. We cannot answer questions like among all the policies, why some of them got diffused, as others did not. To pursue the latter question, we would need to collect a more comprehensive set of policy, including not just the shared policies, but also policies that are unique to certain Wikipedia additions. Secondly, I want to note that our analysis is based on the fact of policy. We didn't go into the content of the policy. It's very possible that even though two Wikipedia additions have the same policy under the same name, the rules under this policy could be completely contradictory. We would need to have future studies looking more into that. Thirdly, we were also wondering about the generalizability of policy adoption patterns we found out on Wikipedia. How would that apply to, for example, policy adoption across political institutions? Would that be different? Would we still be seeing a common path across different political institutions? Lastly, we have identified a single developmental ladder for policy adoption, but what are the mechanisms? Some of them are possible. The common mission of resource constraints or environmental factors and how and to what extent they could affect the policy development processes. Future studies would benefit from looking more into that. That's the end of my presentation. Thank you very much.


Give the people what they want. Give the people what they want. Give the people what they want. Your weekly movement news roundup. Well, Yovit, give the people what they want brought to you by People's Dispatch. That's Prashant and Zoe on the front lines bringing you the stories of mass struggles. I'm Vijay from Globetrotter. Interesting things happening in South Asia. On the one side, the Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilal Bhutto making a very disparaging remark about Narendra Modi. Very strong comment calling him the butcher of Gujarat, protest breaking out inside India against Mr. Bhutto. And then in Arunachal Pradesh in the town of Tawang where there have been clashes in fact between India and China since the 1960s. Another clash on the border. Difficult borders for India on the one side China on the other side Pakistan, decades and decades of strife. Very difficult to advance the cause of the people in that context and yet one of the oldest mass organizations in India. The All India Kisan Sabha about 86 years old this year has elected a new leadership. Now you'll remember the great farmers protest in India in 2020-21 which People's Dispatch and our partner Newsclick had reported on with great diligence and with bringing you the people's voices. Well, the All India Kisan Sabha has a new leadership. It's our friend Biju Krishnan. We congratulate him for being the new General Secretary Ashok Dhavle. Another old friend is the President of the All India Kisan Sabha so congratulations to them. Some good news some bad news in South Asia on the borders it's tough inside the mass struggles continuing to germinate. Not such mixed news in Peru and yet the masses continue to be on the street Zoe. That's exactly right the masses continue to be on the street. Since we gave you the last update the nationwide protests against the coup that was carried out against Pedro Casio continue as of now death toll from the police repression against these protests is around 21. This number is fluctuating it continues to rise. Yesterday was the first day of the national emergency that the acting President Dina Bolwarte decreed across the country and this has seen increased levels of militarization across the country. A lot of the areas in the mountains where there's large indigenous and peasant movements that have been mobilizing that have been blocking airports. Their protests have been met with extreme violence and repression in the area of Ayacucho. Just yesterday seven people were killed a lot of these young people 1620 22 years old. They are on the streets demanding that Dina Bolwarte be removed that the Congress be dissolved that there be a constituent assembly that Pedro Casio be released. And above all above these in addition to these sort of political sounding demands it's that they are able to have a voice in politics. Peru is a country that has really been built on the far right clutching onto power. We saw it during the 16 months of Pedro Casio being president despite the fact that he was elected by popular vote despite the fact that he against all odds became president of Peru. A rural teacher who's from the mountainous region of Peru. Despite all this they did not let him rule they did not let him take forward the campaign promises. They did not let him have one day where he wasn't being pressed with some charge or another where the media wasn't publishing reports about his family about every single thing that he did. And so this is really what people are mobilizing against is this far right rule that seems to just clamp down on every possible avenue of life in the country where the people even if they go to the polls and say that they want this person who's promising constituent assembly who's promising that there be no more poor people in a rich country, even despite all this. They see this president removed in what they see as an unconstitutional way, going against the will of the people. And so that's why we're going down there as people dispatch we're going to be dispatching out today, hopefully being able to bring you the voices of the people who are mobilizing. There's so many diverse different organizations and movements on the streets that are all basically there to demand a return to democracy but a true democracy is democracy where the voices of Peruvian people are actually listened to and where they have a say in what happens in the country. Very important that you're going to be reporting from there of course, as Jose Carlos and I showed at people's dispatch and for Globetrotter, the sticky fingers of the US Embassy all over this coup d'etat against Pedro Castillo, an ugly business. Meanwhile, in Washington DC this week, US President Joe Biden brought together almost 50 heads of government from the African continent. This is interesting. In a few months ago, the US government released a strategic white paper on Africa, where the US government was concerned about the role of Russia and China on the African continent. Interesting that the US government focused in that white paper principally on its global rivalry with the Russians and Chinese saying that China is investing too much in Africa China by the way conducts four times the size of US trade with Africa, and that Russia is sending in mercenaries. Interesting again that this is the attitude of the US government, given that the principal problem for the African continent is not really, you know, whether China is investing or Russia is sending a few hundred mercenaries. The principal problem is the debt crisis, and that has not been addressed at all. The UN conference on trade and development shows that 60% of African states are in levels of high debt distress. This was not brought up even once during the three days of the summit, the US Africa summit. Interestingly, when it comes to the question of investment and so on, the Chinese government actually has forgiven $14 billion of loans just in the last few months. And as well, this question of Russian mercenaries certainly Russians are in, in various countries in the Sahel, they were there in Mozambique and so on, but they're just a few hundred compared to thousands of troops of the United States, France and Britain, and no mention of that. Also, this question of Russian troops, particularly in Burkina Faso, has now created a slight problem in Ghana. I know we're going to talk about the Ghana IMF deal in a few minutes, but it's good to point out that the accusations of Russian interference in Burkina Faso has created a little diplomatic crisis in Akra Ghana, where the Burkina Bay government has really pulled up the Ghanians, saying that you can't make these kind of flagrant comments about Russians in Burkina Faso and so on. Well, Mr Biden made two promises in this summit, and I should for the sake of being a good, clear and balanced reporter mentioned them. One of them was a $55 billion pledge to invest in Africa. It's not clear exactly what this money will be for. A large part of it seems to be, at least here's the language around food insecurity on the continent. Now, I read the summit statement, looks like a lot of it again is private public partnership. Hello, alarm bells should ring. Private public partnership. We're talking about food insecurity. What this means is greater access onto African soil of US multinational grain and food companies. That's what it looks like to me. This looks like another US subsidy to its own corporations to go and take advantage of African soil, rather than money that the United States gives to African states, so that they can build their own kind of food security or in fact food sufficiency, you know, a program. So the $55 billion, very hard to say what this is really. Is it money for Africa? Or is it a hidden subsidy for US corporations? Not clear. Secondly, Mr Biden promised, and my goodness, this was the highlight of the show. Mr Biden promised to make a trip to the African continent. And I just want to read exactly what he said. He said something very interesting. He said, be careful what you wish for because I may show up. Well, you just said you might come. Then he says something curious, being the president of the richest country in the world. He said, the poor relatives always show up. The wealthy ones never show up.  Well, I'm looking forward to seeing many of you in your home countries. Not exactly sure what Mr Biden is saying. Is he a poor relative? Is this a disparagement of the poor? Well, odd kind of statement. In fact, the United States is very much present on the African continent. But as I said earlier, not so present diplomatically, not so present in terms of investment and the commercial development, but really quite present in terms of its military footprint, including African command, which recently had moves to get involved in Zambia. So quickly before I hand it over, there's a really interesting story about the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and the United States cutting a deal about the copper and cobalt. And I'm going to return to that next week because that requires more time for that story. But let's quickly switch off back to Ghana Prashant, another IMF deal. Wow. I mean, the US may not be very strongly diplomatically present in Ghana, but the IMF definitely is and its board is in Washington. So that's a statement to consider. But yes, the 18th agreement between Ghana and the IMF, at least the staff level agreement has to be reached. The IMF board has to be approved. It's for a sum of $3 billion over three years. And the response, the collective response in many sections of Ghana seems to range between, you know, not again, and outright anger, which is what we are seeing right now because we spoke to Quasi Prath Jr, the General Secretary of the Socialist Movement of Ghana, the interview should be out in a day or so. But one of the interesting things he pointed out was the fact that citing that old statement that, you know, if you keep doing the same thing and the results the same that what you make out of it. The fact is that despite 18 agreements, the economy of Ghana is in shambles. Latest agreement is expected to lead to an increase in value at a tax. It's expected to lead to an increase in the price of petroleum products affect pensions, all kinds of impact. Government spending might be also cut down because of that. And I think underlying this is the fact that often countries like Ghana, we had also talked about this in the context of Pakistan and Sri Lanka earlier, end up going to the IMF because that has become in some senses the wisdom of the elite, so to speak, that, you know, there is no real solution in terms of how to sort of solve the economic problems of Ghana. There's no attempt to, for instance, increase domestic production, increase domestic capacities. It just seems to be an effort to sort of manage the economy somehow till the time comes for the next loan to be taken from the IMF. And that's what the labour unions are saying. That's what the left is saying. In fact, there's a lot of, there are many possibilities that many of these organizations will take up industrial action against both this loan as well as the state of the economy. The state of the economy is really bad because petroleum prices have doubled, prices, some food items have increased by around 500 times. And one thing Kuizipath told us was that this is all the more ironic in Ghana considering that it is such a rich land in terms of resources, immense gold resources, one of the largest producers of cocoa in the world. It has, there's a biggest artificial lake, it's beside the Atlantic Ocean.  And the question really is, why is that the case? Why is that a country with such resources, which has such fertile soil is importing even food? And I think this is the very central question that many countries across the world are confronting. The productive sectors have been pretty much entirely wrecked or destroyed. And it's just, the economy is existing largely on the basis of borrowings. Ghana's debt is in fact over 100% more in terms of debt, more than 100% of the revenue is spent on debt servicing, which is an unsustainable solution. Its currency has in fact been one of the worst performing in the world. So all this put together, there is complete chaos, so to speak, in terms of the economy of the country. And at times like this, all the political elite has to offer is that, you know, old and weary solution that lets somehow go back to the IMF. So we are in for a couple of very restive months, maybe years in Ghana, definitely, you know, the trade unions have been in the forefront of opposing both the kind of, you know, reforms and policies the government has instituted and this agreement. It's interesting because the current government had once said that we would not go to the IMF. It had, you know, staked its prestige on the fact that it would refuse to go to the IMF and now it's back then again. So, you know, in some senses, a very disappointing story, but in some sense it's a very familiar story because this is really part of a pattern.  So whereas all the resources are expropriated, for instance, gold, the benefits that mining companies are making are immense at this point of time. So keeping all that in mind a very challenging time for Ghana's people. Very challenging time for Ghana's people. This is give the people what they want brought to you from people's dispatch and globetrotter. We look at this very closely because this is going to impact the lives of billions of people around the world, these IMF deals, they're all the same kind of deal. In fact, wealthy bondholders almost had a riot when they were told that they might take a haircut on the Ghana deal a few months ago. There are powers at play, there is a class struggle at work. We're going to come, speaking of class struggle, to Brazil where the fight doesn't seem to end, the election is over, Mr Lula has been ratified as the next president. Looks like they're still in the middle of all kinds of tussles Zoe. Well, that's exactly right. Some of the violence that we saw following the elections, the road blockades by the Bolsonaro supporters, the allegations of fraud and this whole climate of fear and rejection and hatred that had really been brewing in the months leading up to the elections when it was clear that Lula was the favorite candidate has continued and we're just 16 days away or 17 days away from when Lula will be sworn in. This is just to mention it's it's called the Festival of the Future. It's going to be a huge affair. There is already 17 heads of state that have been confirmed. Dozens of artists, the biggest artists in Brazil are confirmed to play at this wearing in ceremony. Yes, there is apprehension because this past week, Bolsonaro supporters essentially rioted in the capital, Brasilia. And this is worrying because a lot of the the mobilizations that had been happening, the road blockades were really limited to the south of the country, the Bolsonaro strongholds, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina areas where Bolsonaro was receiving a majority of the votes in this past elections. However, now that there is there was this writing in Brasilia which happened following the arrest of one of the Bolsonaro supporters. There is concern about is this a preview for what's going to happen on January 1 when Lula is being sworn in. Is this just a one day thing? How could this continue in these riots they burned public buses they targeted a lot of public property which are kind of symbols of working class access to the city and working class access to society. And so it's very symbolic that these are the things that they would target. And also the fact that they're doing this just two weeks before Lula is set to be sworn in is perhaps the sign that more could be coming. There's no clear information yet if there are plans for them to mobilize to Brasilia to do as there was a lot of talk before the elections that a January 6 capital Washington DC's kind of scenario could happen where it's really a confrontation of the centers of power. So we'll definitely be following this but in other news. Many several names have been confirmed for Lula's cabinet. Interesting names and one thing to keep in mind is that as Lula and his team are building this cabinet as they're envisioning what the next couple of years are going to look like. It's important to keep in mind kind of the country that they're inheriting. So for example in the building of these cabinets during Bolsonaro's term because of the massive cuts that he made to the public sector a lot of ministries for example were combined. A lot of ministries that were formerly ministries made secretaries. And so this whole process of transition is about the rebuilding of the state of Brazil of rebuilding these institutions of understanding what are the strategic priorities. And so in that sense we see that Fernando Dada our friends who we spoke to when we were both VJ in Brazil. He has been named Minister of Finance and it's interesting I say this because under Bolsonaro this this was part of just the Ministry of Economy and Ministry of Economy had finance playing an industry. And in the transition team they've decided and foreign trade sorry. And so they in this transition team they decided to divide all these three up because for example industrialization during Bolsonaro's term was severely was face huge setbacks. As we mentioned on before there were thousands and thousands of companies in Brazil that were forced to close. Brazil is at a low in terms of exportations and they're in their industry and so this is going to be a strategic focus Lula needs to focus and he said this time again on re industrializing Brazil making it productive again. Giving it the sort of economic autonomy of the needs in the area of the foreign ministry. There is sorry Mauro Vieira. This is important he has already he is a seasoned diplomat was already the diplomat in Argentina Croatia. He has already stated that he will establish relationships with Venezuela the democratically elected government of Nicolas Mauro this is a key shift in the region. Other ministers are about four other confirmed. There's a historic singer from the state of Bahia who's going to be Ministry of Culture. So these are some of the names the cabinet is shaping up to be interesting representing the different areas of Brazil different regions and interests and and I think in the next couple of weeks we're going to see the full cabinet. We're also going to see what happens at the swearing in what's going to happen with the Bolsonaro thesis will be following that. Well hope there's not going to be a repeat of what happened in Washington D.C. on January 6 but you never know. Meanwhile, off to the Democratic Republic of Congo. I mentioned earlier there's a deal between the DRC Zambia and the United States about raw materials. People's dispatch is running a two part series I just read the first part by Tanupriya very much liked it. Prashant what's what does she say about what's happening in the Congo. Right. In some senses continues a topic we touched upon a couple of weeks ago which has to do with the activities of the rebel group so to speak M23 the armed group which has been leading an advance in the regions of the Congo. And what we do know of this rebel group of course is the fact that it is definitely supported by Rwanda. Interestingly just I think yesterday also Anthony Blinken made an appeal to Rwanda to sort of, you know, help control the M23 which itself says something considering that Rwanda is a US ally and the fact that such a high level, you know, official Rwanda's government makes this kind of an appeal really exposes the situation so to speak whereas on the ground it's of course well known they have been innumerable, you know, innumerable documents that prove that the Rwanda is basically backing this M23 group, but the fact is that Rwanda does enjoy impunity because of its ties to the US because of its role as an imperialist proxy in the region. The latest news of course is the fact that they have been meetings between the M23 group and the army of the DRC. There was a ceasefire agreement which took effect somewhere towards the end of November but reports have emerged that in the aftermath of the ceasefire there has been at least one massacre in which anywhere between 150 to 300 people could have been killed and the M23 has been considered to be responsible. Now the M23 at some point said that it was honoring the ceasefire then it said that it stopped fighting but there were more reports of more fighting. So this I think sort of brings us to what is the central question here and something our friend Kambali Musawali has over the years pointed out again and again especially in interviews with people's dispatch where he has said that this is the legacy of decades of violence perpetrated by the DRC's neighbors Rwanda and Uganda on that country and the reason for this violence is pretty simple and obvious in the sense that it is largely for the mineral wealth of the DRC. The DRC of course has always been the target of such attacks. We remember the great Patrice Lumumba of course was the victim of an assassination but even in the following decades and what happens right now what is happening right now is in some senses the open loot of many of these resources. For instance, we know that I think I believe gold exports from Uganda have really sold in recent times as well. And you know all this I think brings together the key question of what does it take for justice in the region. And we do know of course that Uganda is facing fines, a fine has been imposed on it of about 325 million US dollars a part of that Uganda has been paid. Rwanda has not been brought to justice because it has not signed the Rome Statue. But we see that despite such enquiries taking place, the enquiries we talk about had to do with the times around 96, 98, the early part of the century. Here we are in 2022 and Rwanda continues with impunity aiding this rebel group and actually one of the interesting things about this year's offensive, there was an offensive in March as well, is that the M23's ammunition, M23's weapons have also really improved which indicates that it is getting that kind of support from an outside player. So despite the fact that there is documentation despite the fact that there are multiple reasons why the Rwanda would continue to support this group, there has been no real change in the situation so to speak. So calls for truce, even declarations of truce often not really working on the ground because of the backing this group enjoys. And while it does suffer setbacks at points of time it keeps coming back with offensives in the region. So a huge amount of displacement that has taken place both this year and in the previous decades as well the numbers running to hundreds of thousands. And at this point the DRC also facing a crisis of governance its own, the legitimacy of its own government is also very much in question. But the fact is that as Kambali has pointed out that until there is democracy actually in Rwanda until there is democracy in the DRC the possibility of not only a stop to the violence but also the possibility of the resources being used for the people of that country. Both these possibilities are very difficult to achieve as long as these such governments continue to enjoy impunity and are supported by countries like the US. So the second part of the story will be coming out soon with more of these details so to read the story. Yeah that's a story by Tanupriya the People's Dispatch website on the M23 rebels. Go have a look at it it's at peoplesdispatch.org. Now we started our show today give the people what they want with Peru where there's a historical national strike coming up putting pressure to release Pedro Castillo to bring back a kind of democratic process against the coup data enforced by the elites and perhaps the US Embassy. Yes okay meanwhile the United Kingdom convulsed in a winter of discontent once again like the winters of the 1970s. Every day an advent calendar worth of strikes daily strikes in the UK one day 40,000 workers from the transport workers union the RMT led by the quite remarkable. A Mick Lynch always a good person to watch clips of Mick Lynch the leader of the RMT union 40,000 of them on strike mass disruptions in the rails. The next day 100,000 nurses from nurses from the Royal College of Nurses demanding a 19% increase in their salaries. Then 115,000 postal workers you see as you turn each advent calendar instead of a little biscuit or a chocolate you're going to get strikes this year in the UK civil service workers over and over again strikes waves one by one why they're all arguing. Listen, there was a pandemic you kept talking about us as as essential workers, and yet our wages are stagnant, yet our working hours have increased, yet the conditions of work up poor. When are we going to see some of the benefits of the post pandemic bump. Oh no says Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister of the UK blame it all on Russia and the war on Ukraine. Strikingly, the Bank of England and the Central Bank the European Central Bank led by Christine Lagarde made bizarre statements in the middle of this winter of discontent because both the Bank of England and Christine Lagarde European Central Bank have said they're going to hike up interest rates well interesting to look at Madam Lagarde statement of why the ECB wants to hike up interest rates. This is what she says wage growth is strengthening supported by robust labor markets and some catch up in wages to compensate workers for high inflation. wage growth is strengthening. I took a look at wage growth both in the Eurozone and in the United Kingdom. If you break it down by class, certainly there is no wage growth in the sectors near minimum wage to 100% above minimum wage. You're not seeing wage growth that is why the Royal College of Nurses have been on strike asking for 19% increase. It's precisely because wage growth is not strengthening. In fact, the reason why there is inflation, it has of course partly to do with the Russian war on Ukraine that has a part to play in it, but it's largely because of the post pandemic disruptions, a lot of it with the supply chain bottlenecks. A lot of it has to do with the massive spigot that was opened up by governments during the pandemic, put a lot of money into businesses that itself has an inflationary impact on the economy. And then of course there's the profit taking by giant corporations. It's amazing when one looks at the billionaires and the near trillionaires, how well they are doing now. So, United Kingdom, great winter of discontent, heat prices rising, workers are getting squeezed on both ends, prices are rising, wages are flat, no wonder they're on strike. You want to go into Britain? Don't go and see the king, go and stand on the strikers line. You're listening to give the people what they want, brought to you from people's dispatch and globetrotters. We're never on strike, but we're always with the strikers. See you next week.


Dakota, you're coming off of a huge couple of weeks here headed to Paris 2024. How are you feeling right now? I'm feeling like I'm still on cloud nine. I just told my chiropractor yesterday. I feel like I'm going to wake up from a dream any day now. I've been having just the most fun getting to experience all of this stuff. It's, I love your story.  And that's what you said immediately following, following the race. Did you ever think as a kid that this was a possibility for you? Not necessarily in the marathon. When I was in middle school, I watched Miracle on ice about the 1980 Olympic team, which funny enough happened exactly today. However, many years ago now, and I remember watching Jim Craig. I was a goalie and he was the goalie of the team. And I remember being like, that's what I was put on this earth to do. Like that's what I want to do is be an Olympian. So at that time I thought it would be in hockey, but you know, God had other plans for me. Well, as a Minnesotan, I feel like hockey is kind of the natural, the natural pick, right? Yeah, yeah, for sure. It's like, it's like a growing up, like right of passage. You have to try hockey. Exactly. And people don't really want to go outside and run in those Minnesota winters. Very, very true.  Why? Why did you decide that you wanted to keep doing this? You know, it's that's such a funny question because other than the fact that I just loved it, like there was no real other reason. I just was really enjoying it. I was doing better throughout high school and I thought, you know, like maybe I've got a little bit left in me and I want to find my potential and find my ceiling. And the coach I met with him before, like we had a little walk through when I went toward the campus and he seemed like a really great fit for me and somebody like that I'd get along with. So I thought like I may as well try. And it worked. I mean, I just don't try. Okay. And so we will talk more about kind of your story in this part, but I want to go back to the the Olympic trial marathon. It was such a competitive field of women and you guys stayed together as a pack for so long. Were you expecting that? Was that helpful? Was it intimidating? Like how did you navigate the pack? Yeah, I did expect that because honestly, like going into it, I kept telling people it could be like one. It could be three of like 20 women, maybe even more who can make that team. Like there were so many people who just one tap surprised me because it's so, so deep right now. There was a little bit of chaos and just having that big of a group together, but all together, I think it's helpful. It really is nice to have people to work with and for it to not be super spread out super early. I thought I enjoyed it, but it did get a little bit chaotic around bottle stations, I guess. Because of the heat, I'm sure in anticipating the heat. No one was skipping those water stops. No, absolutely not. They were they were necessary and they did a really great job of having enough of them out there. And so you there were times where you decided to take the lead and you were leading the pack, you'd fall back, you'd lead again. Some people will say that leading is is overwhelming and intimidating and scary, but you feel comfortable up there, don't you? I do and it really was not the plan for me to ever lead. I think going into it, I told my coach like I want to be unseen unheard like until the end. But I saw my family and there's such a rush of emotions and such joy you get when you like can make eye contact with somebody you love and I felt really good. And I have no problems leading. I just don't think it's always the smartest thing, but I've got so much experience, especially running the grandma's marathon and I usually typically take that out and lead at the entire time. So I feel like it's in my wheelhouse to lead for sure, but it's not always the smartest race strategy. So you mentioned grandma's there, a marathon that's near and dear to your heart. What does that race mean to you and what, why do you keep going back to it? I've got just, I could pick any year that I've been there and I just got the best memories from every single year I've been there. It's one that my family can come watch me compete in my, both of my grandparents are a bit older and have a hard time traveling. So it's, it's just close enough that they can still make it up there. It was where my mom watched me qualify for my first Olympic trials. And I just have all these special memories at the finish line there and I just absolutely love it. And then on the flip side of it, talking more about my career, I feel like every time I go up there, I reach a new achievement there. And it springboards me into another level every time I compete at grandma's and the director, the elite coordinator, they're all people I really care about at this point. I, you know, I've got their numbers, I might go compete in like a golf tournament with them. Like they're, they're people who care about me as a person over me as an athlete. And I, I don't know, it's just like I want to get back to them as much as they've given to me. That's an interesting kind of distinction there. And it seems like your family is a huge part of this journey for you as well. Being kind of like Dakota the human and then Dakota the runner. What helps you stay grounded in fulfilling or like filling your cup as a human that allows you to perform as the athlete because it sounds like when you're feeling full as a human, that's when the performances are best for you as an athlete.  But so often he's like not really a runner and he'll just be like why are you, why are you upset about this? Like this is such a small aspect of the day or you know this week. So he keeps me really grounded and my faith keeps me very grounded and remind me that like running, running isn't everything for me. It's just one of the things that I happen to love on this planet. Before this, before the marathon, you posted that this build was one of your favorites. And I want to talk about that because I think that's, you know, we celebrate the day, we celebrate the accomplishment of, you know, placing third and becoming an Olympian. But there was a lot of work that happened that we didn't get to witness. So what did that build look like for you and why was it your favorite? This build, well, first of all, I was in Florida training instead of Minnesota throughout the winter. So I think that I mean, immediately makes it a fun build just being in the warmth and in the sun. But everything just clicked. I got to do higher mileage than I'm used to.  Well, let's see if we can bump it up 10 more miles a week. And that seemed to work really well. And the workouts just came together. There were none that I was like, Oh, I really wish I could go back and do. And as we were tapering, I was telling my teammate Annie Frisbee who took 10th at the trials. I was like, I just, I just don't want this build to end. I feel like everything feels so good.  And obviously, I'm super happy with what came of it. But when you're in that just really great fitness, like great mindsets. It's just so much fun to go out and do those workouts. I love that. And I love that you're just like smiling talking about it like this is so, so great.  And you also had this like, you, I think you've said undeniable belief in yourself from, was it from the training, the positive training cycle that you had? That you were going to accomplishment, accomplish this. How did that all kind of come together and where did that belief come from? I don't know where that belief came from, but I just, I don't know how I knew. I just knew that that was going to be my day. Every time I finished a workout, I'd text my boyfriend and be like, we're going to Paris. There's just no way I'm not making this team. I can still remember on December 31. We did a really great workout and I put in my running log to my coach. I said, start looking at flights. You're, we're going to go to Paris and my dad didn't have a passport. So I texted him many times and like, dad, you've got to get to the DMV. You've got to schedule this. Like it takes a while. And I don't know. I just, the reason I'm smiling so much is this is literally my dream come true. I still can't believe I'm living just a daydream basically. So it's a whirlwind, right? You cross the finish line.  Then the media starts. People are asking you, what does it feel like? All of these things, right? What moment did you, when did you like sit and recognize like what actually happened? You know, I don't even know if it's yet happened. I wouldn't say it really was like, okay, this really sunk in until maybe like a week later. We spent the next week in the Dominican. We had planned a vacation, whether I went to or whether I'd made the team or not just to, you know, kind of get away. And I think sometime down there, we were like sitting in a cabana and all of a sudden it was just like, this is happening. Like this really is happening. Yeah, but right after the race everybody's like, can you believe it? And I'm like, I still think I'm going to wake up from a dream right now. No, I can't believe it. So often in those, when you're racing or maybe this isn't true for you, but so often you hear people say when they're racing, you don't remember anything that just happened. You're like, where's the water? Like I need to sit. Yeah, I definitely get that. I have went back and watched this race over to kind of like remember some things. And I think I've talked about it so much that I feel like this is probably the most clear memory of a race I have, but very often you kind of just like black out. When you watch it back, are there any, do you remember what you were thinking in each moment of, you know, different miles and things like that? Certainly, I actually just want to write it all down so that I can keep these memories forever. But yeah, like when I, when I got dropped near the end, I can distinctly remember saying like, oh, there goes the team and I'm not on it. And then, like, when I passed Sarah thinking like, oh, I'm passing Sarah Hall, somebody I've looked up to for so long in my career and like just those, you know, those fun little memories for sure. So how do you, in those moments when you're like, oh, there goes the team and I'm not on it? How do you stay locked in, especially in a race like this where it's like the top three go and if you're, if you place fourth, still a huge accomplishment, but there is that let down, right? Yeah, definitely. Going into the race, I told my coach Chris Lundstrom, fourth, fiftieth or last would have been equally disappointing. And I wanted to cover every single move I wanted to be aggressive and he is just such a smart man and such a great coach. He was like, hey, if something happens late in the race and for whatever reason, somebody makes a move, you don't cover it and you're not in the top three, don't panic. I just know that like it's a marathon. I've run enough of these to see what happens in those last six miles can be pretty drastic. And so I think just keeping his coaching in my head and Caroline Rotich came and passed me and she gave me so much encouragement. She was like, hey, this isn't over. Let's work together. Let's go catch them and like so much props to her because she really kept me in it and kind of switched my mindset in that moment. It's so cool to hear because I think often people think of running as such an individual sport and it is don't like right you're running your own race, you're focused, you have your own strategy. You're really digging into yourself to show up, but there's such a community.  Yeah, can you talk about the running community and how you've built your support system since becoming a professional runner?  It's so, so hard. And I think like the more that we can come together and rally with each other the faster as a community that we will be like even in Paris. I really hope that me, Emily and Fiona can work together and push each other because like a good day, if Fiona has a good day and that pushes me, hopefully then I'm having a good day as well. So I think just as much as when we're on the starting line, we're like, I want to beat all these women. It's like, if they all have good days and they push me to have a good day, that's a win too. And I, whenever I think about that, I also, I always think of Dez and Shalene and the, what was it, was it 2018? That Dez was, yeah, and Dez was, yeah, Sposten and Dez was like, I'm just going to throw it in and then she ends up putting the whole thing. But she was helping Shalene and that's, you know, what it came down to. Right. Yeah, which is, which is so cool. And then you got to meet, I read that you were walking into the after party and Dez was there and like called you by name. Yeah, I, so Dez is also somebody I've looked up to for so long and Dez and Kara Goucher were there and Allie Feller from Allie on the Run and I like walked out the back patio and they all were like losing their minds that I was there and it was just like so taken aback. And you guys are the people I look up to and I like really aspire to be and it was just amazing that they knew who I was. It's so cool. It's so cool now too that there's so many women to look up to in the sport, right. There's so many women who are still competing who are still involved to kind of bring up these next generations.  And I think that's so cool. Have you recognized the impact that you're having on the younger running community. Yeah, it's, it's something that you just don't really see, but I, I've gotten a few DMs that I, my DMs are just unhinged right now I try to go back and like look at especially like the young one, like the younger athletes who are like hey this really inspired me out to them because it's like, I feel like so often especially we see it in girls and women's sports that we, there's such a drop off that we, you know, walk away from sports earlier than men typically do so if I could just inspire one girl to stay in it a little bit longer, like that would make my whole career worth it for sure. And so, for you it was like going to college and walking on to the team and then you didn't immediately have have the plan to pursue running professionally right. No, I had my plan was I had actually gotten a job offer to be a teacher which is what my degree was in. I was like, hey, I think you could qualify for the Olympic trials and the marathon and I was like hold on. I don't even know what that means like what's the qualifying time how do I do this like where do I have to go who do I have to run with and I literally like the next day walked into his office with a pen and a piece of paper and I said I need to know about this because like my heart immediately was called to do that and he was such a like a big reason that I got to where I am now because I never would have even known this was a world of a possibility I guess. How have you navigated it that you know was it 2021 you became you signed with Puma, you're running for them. What has this. What did that conversation with your coach open your world to what does it look like now. It's I mean it's crazy I think you know he didn't want me to just like row caution to the wind and say, you know, pursue this full time, of course like this doesn't work out for necessarily everybody it doesn't really work out for most people so. I had to move to Minneapolis, I got a part time job working in like daycare centers that worked with my running schedule but now it's. I guess like, I just had to ask my coach to take me on even like Minnesota distance elite didn't necessarily sign me right away I had to ask for them to coach me and I was kind of like a walk on here and I had to get an agent and you know all of that.  Nothing was handed to you and it was just it was that undeniable belief in yourself and what you are called to do in the sport. When you look back and reflect on that how, how do you feel. I wouldn't want it any other way honestly. I, it's hard because I can't imagine a world in which things were handed to me I can't imagine a world in which I was like a high school phenom at this so I feel like my journey is exactly what I would want it to be and it's what I. I wish I saw more of I guess so that I would have known. When I was younger that like you, you can keep pushing and I think that it's an important story to be told because there's got to be so many high school girls out there who are like I really love this and I really want to work hard but like what's this going to bring me at the end. The lines can change so much right like I mean we see with you we see with your speed because even your slow runs now right you'd like to keep everything pretty fast and I'm sure that you know 16 year old Dakota would never imagine that you're running 130 miles a week at the speeds you're running at. No, it's 16 year old Dakota would have thought that's probably impossible. So what does what are the outside of the runs of course the 130 miles are essential to performing the way that you are but what other things are you doing to set you up for success.  But the other thing is just waking up every day and saying, What am I going to do today to be better or move closer to my goal. And then you lay down at night and you say okay what did I do today to get closer to my goal and just making every decision based on you know what what your dreams are I guess you know this is a 365 day a year job. There are no off days even if I'm not running on a day itself to make decisions I get me closer to my, my goal. You're not going on any benders or junk food things because you know you're probably going to feel it right. And that's the thing is you do like you know I'm not perfect I certainly eat pizza on Sundays but you also do. You then feel it the next day for sure. And I think sometimes just being happy kind of fills your cup as a runner as well and sometimes that means you know having a glass of wine or some pizza or some bad Chinese food or whatever. We need it all right it's all yeah there's all there's a purpose for everything. Absolutely. And so you talk about setting these goals and it sounds like, you know, be qualifying for the Olympics, and making the team was top of the list and it has been.  How do you manifest how do you stay focused on what you're you set out to do. I am a sticky note person and I will have like my goals either that or I'll take like a dry race marker and write it on the mirror somewhere I'm going to see every day I like to have that like super front and center because you know then when I'm sitting at my desk here and I'm like oh I just don't really want to go out for my run it's like well I want to be top three at the Olympic trials so I'm going to go through that. I am just a like power positive thinking person clearly like if over the last three months if you would have heard me talk it would have been like okay well when I make the Olympics. This is what I'm going to do this summer and when I make the Olympics it's this is how we're going to handle that kind of stuff it's never like oh maybe if I make it I feel like it's really important to say like I am I'm doing this. That's powerful and that's that confidence I'm sure in your runs helps to are you a mantra person I normally save this question for the end but are you a mantra person do you repeat things on your runs. I'm not like a daily run necessarily but my when I'm racing I always write it on my hand to I write. I am strong I am fast my speed will last which is kind of like arithmetic so it if I'm kind of hurting I just kind of go back to that and repeat it it kind of calms me down and kind of gets my head back in the game. I want to also talk about Paris and like what this is going to look like so we're chatting here about what happened in Orlando all the exciting things all that's come from it. But what happens between now and and July what does the next what do the next few months look like for you. I have a few trips coming up I'm going to go to the North Carolina to be in a like a photo photo shoot with a Puma. And then Puma has graciously offered to fly me over to Paris or throwing a party in April and it's a great opportunity to get a you know a good look at the course I'm going to do that as well but I'll be making stops racing along the way I intend to run the the half marathon at grandma's and I've got a couple more things in the works but they're not set in stone yet so we will see. Are you restarting the builds are you do you taper at all posts like in the recovery. Yeah so I had a full week off after the on pick trials and the last couple weeks have been just building easy slow miles basically not anything no workouts just building up mileage and we take it really slow especially when we have six months in between marathons which is a long time especially I know you like to jump right you like racing right. I love racing and I'm like this is maybe one of the longest stretches I've gone without racing a marathon since I started marathoning but it'll be good for me we've got you know plans to work on my top end speed which is maybe like more of my my weaker suit will call it so it'll be good to take that time to work on that stuff but I just love racing marathon so I'm going to miss it for sure. Well then that will be like a nice when you get to actually do it in Paris at the Olympics or it'll be like all these all of these elements filling the cup break. Absolutely yeah. What are you most excited for for the for the race in Paris. I'm really excited to like see all the sites I've checked out the course a little bit and it's like you know going past the Eiffel tower the Arctotrion and the Lou like but I think that's a really cool way to see the city and I've never been to Europe so it'll be just a really fun way to explore Paris I can't think of a better way to see the city actually you know outside of the race and I think the marathon is towards the end of the of the couple weeks but outside of the race itself what are you most excited for with the Olympic experience. It's hard to narrow it down to one my family I've got quite a bit of family coming over my my dad's never even been outside the country so I think I'm excited to watch him experience something so new it's pretty rare that we get to watch our parents have a new experience. But I'm also very excited for like the coffee and the food and like getting that side of Paris also 100%. They. So what is your family think of all of this because to see you as the, you know, average high school runner now be an Olympic marathoner. What is what's their reaction is it's been really interesting because my dad spent somebody who's like, whatever Dakota is going to wants to do is what Dakota is going to do like he's always been somebody who's just had total belief in me. But after the race I was like dad did you like actually like when I started running professionally like what did you actually think was going to come he's like well of course I didn't think you were going to make the Olympics like this is such a big thing and I actually just did the math, you know the women have only been running the marathon and the Olympics for not too long and I've won a 42 women to ever make the marathon for the Americans. Obviously it's such a small pool. So I think he's just I think he's overwhelmed by how proud he is. That's such a must be a great feeling as his daughter. Oh my gosh yeah I mean he's just the best dad ever and has so much he's just always been somebody who's been so supportive so it's it's super fun to carry him along with this on this journey as well. Does he run. No, he said he's gonna he wants to do a 5k with me now he's committed to it after the trials he's like I want to run one race just to see what it feels like because he sees me have so much emotion at the finish line and of course he feels emotional in a different way and in a fatherly prideful way but I want him to experience what it's like to be like oh I'm so proud of myself for doing something really hard. And that's the thing and with the marathon you mentioned it earlier that the marathon is hard regardless of how how much you've trained like 26.2 miles is 26.2 miles. It doesn't get any easier. Anytime you do it right so describe the feeling, you know that rush of emotions when you cross the finish line. What, what is that. It's just elation and there's also like a little bit of relief that goes with it because it's like all this hard work is not for nothing I guess and just so much pride and knowing that I can do hard things I guess. So as we wrap up here. I know we mentioned, you know, 16 year old Dakota of where you are now but if you could go back, or not if you could go back but if you could say something to a younger you. What would you tell her.  I think that's got to be, you know, the kind of like my life mantra is just, you know who cares what anybody else says if you want to do it go do it. I absolutely love your, your mindset and your approach, and I can tell how much joy that this sport brings you which is really fun, which is really really fun to see. So, we already talked about your mantra which is typically my closing question but if people want to follow along with you now until Paris and then in Paris, where can they find you and how can they support you. Yeah, I'm on Instagram, just at Dakota Lindor and that's kind of like my only social media platform that I post on awesome well Dakota thank you so much for taking the time and good luck in Paris will be written for you.


So, I guess I'm going to talk about grazing management to improve soil health and this is kind of focused on grasslands primarily, talking about grazing on cropland would be a whole other maybe hour talk with some help from an agronomist. But are there impacts to soil health from grazing and yeah, there's positive impacts, manure and organic matter and biology has improved grazing just stimulus to plants. And there's some impacts that can be positive or negative nutrient distribution and then there's some that can be completely negative depending on how you manage your grazing. That's disturbance leading to negative feedback or we're grazing or under grazing. So it's a number of ways that can go. One of the things about grazing is it changes the carbon cycle a little bit. If you think about this carbon cycle with just the plants in there, you know, the plants are doing photosynthesis, they're returning organic matter back to the soil and that. But if you add cows into the mix, you make the complexity of it more and you improve the cycling. Is that? Should be good. Okay. Is it advanced slides? Yep. Okay. It does. I didn't trust it. And here's just a graph showing that grazing pressure impacts on soil organic carbon. So with cattle stocking rate, I'm assuming that's a pointer, with the stock, as increasing stocking rate, you increase the amount of organic matter that's supplied to the carbon or up to the soil up to a point and then it starts to drop off when you get to the higher levels of grazing or stocking rates. And then you have Haidland way over here with a much less return to the soil with that. This is just some data from a rancher here in South Dakota. He acquired the place in 1995. At that time, it was season-long grazing. And then in 1997, he implemented rotational grazing and then he went to more intensive grazing management, what he calls mig grazing. And you can see the percent increase over season-long as far as his pounds of beef per acre. With every year, except for one, he had a much improved increase in his pounds of beef produced per acre. Sorry. In addition, with all the years, he has a trend of organic matter increasing on the place with the exception of 2012 was an extreme drought year, as you recall. So that year, it did dip down. But the trend is an upward trend on organic matter. So in South Dakota, we've done these what we call dynamic soil property study sites. And so we take a site on each side of the fence with extremely different management and we compare some of the characteristics of the soil. This is in Millett County, a cube soil. This is the organic matter. On the left here is rotational grazing. On the right is hayland. And the range is this red line. So as you go down in the profile, you can see the percent of organic matter. And it's up here about 8% at the surface. But it's continuously higher than the hayland in this case. That's the organic matter. This is just what we call reactive carbon and particulate organic. And in all cases, the carbon on the rotationally grazed range land is higher than the hayland. Also cation exchange capacity is quite a bit better on the range than the hay. That just allows the plants to uptake nutrients better. Aggregate stability is quite a bit different. Look at the aggregate stability on the range land, on the rotationally grazed range land versus the hayland, significantly different. This beta-glucosidase is just an indicator of biological activity. It's also higher on the rotationally grazed range land than the hayland. And then hydrologic effects on these sites. So this is a site in eastern Nebraska. Basically, you don't have to look at all the numbers, but look at the runoff here. On the native range land in eastern Nebraska, the runoff with 25 inches is about 5 inches. With 75 percent Kentucky bluegrass and 25 percent brome, it's more than twice as much runoff. And then with 75 percent brome and 25 percent Kentucky bluegrass, it's kind of in between. So the plant community will have an impact on hydrologic function of the site. This is another study up in North Dakota. These are season-long, low, medium, and high stocking rates over here. Kentucky bluegrass dominated, and that's the inches per hour of infiltration. But then compared to high-intensity, short-duration grazing with its diverse native community, much more higher infiltration rates on those sites. Then you have the brome-dominated one, which in this case was the lowest of all of them. So this is one of our first study sites we did. This is up in Duel County. Basically, like I said, two different sites, same soil right across the fence from each other. This is about 95 percent introduced grasses, quackgrass, Kentucky bluegrass. And on the right, it's just the opposite. It's about 5 percent non-native grasses like the Kentucky, and about 95 percent diverse mix of native grasses. And here's the infiltration. And this is a little different than the previous graph. This is a lapse time. So on the right-hand side of the fence, it took 12 minutes for the second inch of water to go in the ground. On the left-hand side, with the quackgrass and everything, it took 109 minutes for the second inch to go into the ground. Huge difference in infiltration. And look at the profiles here. This is the left-hand side, continuous season-long grazing with the introduced species. Look at the difference in the color and the structure. This is blocky pretty much all the way to the surface. This is granular, down about 8 inches, and really dark colors. So you can see the difference in the soil and as well in the infiltration. This is another site, a little closer Hyde County, on a Glenham soil. This stick kind of represents the fence line. On the left-hand side is a rotationally grazed, pretty good native community. On the right-hand side was continuous season-long grazing for probably 50 years or better, as long as the owner on the left side could remember. And then just nine months prior to when we took this picture, they broke out that continuous season-long grazing and put it into cropland and look at the difference in the color. And it's all the same Glenham soil and look at the difference in infiltration. On the left-hand side, it actually was about two minutes for the second inch to go into the ground. For the continuous season-long grazing, it was about 29 minutes. And for the recently broke out cropland, it was 120 minutes, two hours. So we take a six inch ring, put an inch of water in, let it soak in and time it, and then we put a second inch in and we time that. And it took two hours for that second inch to soak into the ground where they had broke out that. Cropland. So this is that mullet one I showed earlier, two minutes compared to 102 minutes. You've probably seen the rainfall simulator. Usually we do a couple cropland trays and a couple grass trays and a cover crop usually in the middle. This was actually one where I did five different grassland deals. And so the effect I was trying to get, if you think of the bars on your cell phone, you know, the bars going from lower to higher. On the infiltration jars and back, I was going for kind of that. That's what I was going for, is that upward slope and then the runoff just the opposite. And it worked good except for the one in the middle. That one didn't work. So what happened was at the time when I was, this is early on when I started doing this stuff, and in my mind I thought plant community was the main driver, you know, that caused hydrology impacts. And so that one in the middle is straight Kentucky bluegrass. What I didn't take into account is that management is actually half of the equation. So you can have a plant community that's not really super desirable, but if you have good management you can overcome some of those hydrologic impacts. And so what happened was this tray right here, which has great infiltration and no runoff, was diverse. It had big blue stem and green needlegrass. It was only about 15 feet from that tray. It's in the same pasture. I just found a patch where there was some Kentucky bluegrass and assumed it would be poor on infiltration. Well, management messed me up there. So this was a prairie dog town, actually. This was a bluegram of buffalo grass sod. This was that Kentucky bluegrass. This was a smooth brome site that hadn't been grazed. It was in the section line road between the fences, so it never got grazed hardly ever. And you can see the runoff and infiltration are almost equal. And then the well-managed diverse community had the best result there. So anyway, I just say that to say that you have to look at plant community and management. They both influence hydrology on a site. This is the kit I was talking about. You can get these from your local NRCS office, or usually when we do workshops, like the soil health school we have those on hand. So this is that when you... you can rate the plant community and the management on a scale of one to five. Native plant community is the best with a rating of one. Rating to five is non-native cool-season grasses or short grasses being completely dominant. You can also rate the management. The best rating of one is prescribed grazing is applied according to the prescribed grazing standard. Number five is very heavy stocking rates for extended periods, often for the entire growing season. You multiply those two together and you get a score of zero to 25. And what we found with a whole bunch of infiltration studies is that infiltration correlates real strongly to that rating of plant community and management. So you can pretty much predict the condition of your site just by finding out what the plant community is and what the management is. You can tell what's happening with the soil health with just those two factors. So I'm going to talk about soil health principles here. And you've seen these before. In fact, they're up on that banner right there and do a little different words, but maximize presence of living roots, minimize disturbance, maximize soil cover, and maximize diversity. So let's start with the living roots. The object is to grow and enhance the roots in the soil. Obviously, photosynthesis is derived by the uptake of nutrients and water to the upper part of the plant. We want to see some rhizosphere activity on those roots and it's key to organic matter and nutrient cycling. This is a healthy grass root with a nice rhizosphere. When you pull out a grass root out of the soil, you should get a lot of soil with the root. That's indicating a healthy rhizosphere around that root. That's what you want to see. Oops, went too fast there. This is just showing root development, how it's impacted by clipping in this case. On the left-hand side, they cut it to two inches every week. On the far right, they cut it to two inches every four weeks. Look at the difference in the roots on those grasses. This is showing why that occurs. With a 10% removal of leaf volume, there's no effect on root growth. 20% same thing, 30%, 40% same thing. When you get up to 50% removal by volume of the leaf area, you have a slight impact on root growth. There's a 2% to 4% stoppage of root growth for about a week. A small portion of them stop growing for about a week. When you get up to 60% utilization of the leaf area, it jumps up dramatically. Half of the roots stop growing for about two weeks. When you get up to 70% utilization, you're talking over three-quarters of the roots stop growing and it goes for a month or more. If you get up to as high as 80%, you'll get 100% stoppage of root growth for probably the rest of the growing season. It's a pretty tremendous impact when you get up to those higher levels. Part of the reason is, and I'll get into this real deep, but in a plant, there's xylem and there's phloem. Xylem is the main function of transporting water from the roots up to the plant. And phloem is transporting larger molecules like carbohydrates from the plant down to the roots. And interestingly enough, the more complex molecules cannot be transported for the most part in the xylem up to the plant. And that's important. I'll get to that in a minute why that's important. So this is just showing the impact of grazing. With good grazing management, you're going to have a healthy root community down there. And what this diagram here is showing is that in a grass community, 30 to 50% of the roots die back each year. And that's just natural. And it's actually probably closer to 50% in most cases. So half of your root biomass dies off every year and that grass plant has to replenish that through photosynthesis and feeding it with those carbohydrates. And so if you impact the upper part of the plant, tremendously, that the grass can't catch up down below and the roots shrink over time because they're not getting the food they need to replenish all those roots. And that's just a natural process in grasses. One of the ways they increase their efficiency in getting those nutrients through mycorrhizal fungi. And this is showing mycorrhizal fungi that are actually inside the plant roots. And so they colonize the plant roots and they add by 10 times more the area that that plant can effectively get nutrients and water and stuff like that. It's pretty amazing. So it takes money to make money. You've heard that before. And this is a little verse to back it up. For to everyone who has shall more be given. So it's just a principle. In the same way it takes leaves to make leaves. You can't grow a plant without leaf area. And because the plants feed the roots and stuff, it takes leaves to feed the microbial life in the soils as well. So here's some facts of growth with leaves. Roots uptake and send water nutrients and minerals and micronutrients to the leaves. That we know that. Roots do not transport carbohydrates to the leaves. We've heard for a lot of years that that root mass down there is a big carbohydrate sink. And when the grass gets stressed, it's going to tap into that sink and draw carbohydrates up and get growing again or whenever it's stressed. Well, that's not exactly true. They don't get carbohydrates from the roots. But we know that leaves use carbohydrates to respire. Everything that lives respires and uses has to have energy in the form of carbohydrates. Roughly 5 to 10% of new leaf growth. And that's either in the spring when they start initiating growth or after they've been grazed. About 5 to 10% of that new leaf growth is from the residual sheath of the grass plant, the crown, or the node. They've recently discovered some parts of the grass node, that bulgy part on the stem. And within the node, there are these sites that store carbohydrates for just that purpose whenever the grass is disturbed, it can tap into that carbohydrate sink, if you will, in the node. So the sheath, the crown, and the nodes is where the leaves are getting that 5 to 10% of their carbohydrates. But 90 to 95% of new leaf growth comes from carbohydrates resulting from current photosynthesis. So you have to have leaf area to get that plant really going. It only gets about 5 to 10% of it from carbohydrate storage. And it's not coming from the roots. So the bottom line is it takes leaves to make leaves. In addition to that, there are several growing points on a grass plant. The apical Mary stem, that's the main growing point of the plant. And that's what slowly comes up throughout the year and eventually turns into a seed head and that kind of thing. That's the main growing point of the grass tiller. Then there's these scenes called intercalary Mary stems. And if you take a grass leaf and you look at the base of the leaf right where the leaf joins the sheath, it's kind of yellow right there. That's one of those growing points of a grass plant. And the other growing point is the internode and the node. So take a look right after you do grazing. Take cattle through and graze.  And one tiller, the leaves will be clipped off here. And then as it grows, you'll see different levels where those clippings occurred. And that's that elongation growth. And that's one of the most rapid ways of regrowth after a grazing event is elongation from those intercalary Mary stems. Big words I know, but anyway, it's a pretty important concept. And then the other growing point is the auxiliary buds. And those are way down at the base of the grass plant.  It's done for the year. And then it can no longer do elongation kind of growth. It's got to start from a whole new tiller from that auxiliary bud. And those are down at the base of the plant, just kind of waiting to grow if the grass needs it. So it'll start a new tiller once that apical Mary stem is removed. So I'm going to talk a little bit about drought here. Think of drought as basically a grazing event. I mean, it has kind of the same impact as a grazing event. But this is showing what can happen. This is a study that was, if you look here, in 1963, 1964. It was kind of near the year I was born, actually. Anyway, they were tracking this. The study tracked it a few years before. So they had a drought in 62 and 61. There was two drought years. And these little stars here indicate the amount of rainfall. So for this site, the average rainfall is right about 15 inches. And so you can see that in 1963 they had that much rain here. 1965 was a little bit drier, but 1966 was really dry. So 61 and 62 were really dry like that. Now look at how these plant communities responded. The shaded bar was range sites that were in fair condition. The solid white bar was range sites that were in excellent condition. After that drought, this plant community, and this level right up in here, is about 1,200 pounds, I think, is normal for that site. So this excellent plant community, excellent condition plant community, responded about halfway after the drought. And the second year after the drought, it almost completely recovered. Third year after the drought, it more than recovered. But look at the fair condition range sites. Three years after the drought, they still hadn't recovered up to the potential production. And then you have one year of drought again. And just with one year of good rainfall, the excellent condition range site came back really quickly all the way the year after this drought year. And this was a dry year it came down. So the point here, a lot of drought management is actually your grazing management before the drought happens. You can try to manage your way out of a drought after the drought hits, but that's not likely going to be very successful. How well you do through a drought, and think about that hydrology thing, too.  So that's part of it. The condition of your range going into a drought is going to have more of an impact of how you manage. This is just showing that root response to grazing again. So another principle of the soil health principles is keeping the soil covered. It affects temperature. This was at the grazing school last year. So if I'd known what was going to happen about an hour later from when I took this picture, I would have taken a better picture. But this is the trailer. If you look here, you can kind of see a difference. This is where we're doing our grazing allocation exercise. But look at that line right there. This is kind of, the grass over here was kind of yellow. Over here was pretty green, and there was some shrubs mixed in. Well, what that was is, if you stood over a little bit further that way and looked out to the north, it was like night and day. One side was kind of yellow. The other side was pretty green. What that was is prior to the guy that bought this place, about 10 years prior to this, that left side had been hayed every year. It was hayland. When he bought the place, he turned it into grazing. But still, 10 years later, you could see that impact. There was a line still there, no fence but a line. And we took the soil temperature over here. It was about 88 degrees that day. The soil temperature right in the surface was 87 on that side. On this side where it had been hayed but was now being grazed, it was 104 degrees in the surface. Huge difference in the soil temperature. So hayland removes all the organic matter and doesn't replenish it in the soil and you have that bare surface. But even after almost 10 years of grazing, it was still having an impact. So that can be a long-term impact. Obviously, if you don't have the ground covered, you're going to have impacts to soil erosion. This is showing real erosion. This is a pteroset and a pedestal. This is a water flow pattern on a range site. Water flow pattern that's forming into a gully. This is an actual gully now and this is a really nice gully there. So if you don't keep the ground covered, you can end up with things like this. And just for the fun of it, those indicators I was talking about are all rangeland soil health indicators. But we were on a cover crop tour and we came to this field that was cut for silage and we found the same, Hem anyway was pointing them out to me, found these same indicators. So this is a water dam and a little bit of pteroset. A pteroset is where soil builds up behind an obstruction. This is on cropland. You can see water flow patterns here going through the field. And actually there was a head cut I think right up in here, a head cut in the gully forming in the field. So the same kind of indicators you can see on cropland too if you don't keep the soil covered. But what about this? On cropland, I think usually, correct me if I'm wrong, we're pretty much cover is good. I mean we want to see cover out there. On rangeland, it can be good or bad. Too much cover can be kind of a bad thing as well. This is showing just a dominant Kentucky bluegrass sites and that litter cover starts to build up. And it impacts the hydrology and it also impacts the plant density and the plant community as well. And it builds this duff layer that really changes the site and how it responds to management. This is a confusing wire dag in a way. This is from what we call an ecological site description on rangeland. And if you think of, you've probably heard the phrase that the Bible is like God's owner's manual for each one of us. I mean that's like a piece of equipment. You have an owner's manual.  Well this is in that same way, the ecological site description is like the owner's manual on a rangeland site. And just about everything you need to know about that site you can kind of find usually in the ecological site description. I'm going to focus though. This is a native grass state and then changing to an invaded state. We're going to look at this threshold right here. And this is what's happening a lot in North Dakota and South Dakota is this invasion of Kentucky bluegrass and brom. And the site description talks about how you get there and how you can get back from that kind of thing. But the impacts of too much litter, that's what we were talking about. It's a positive feedback or shift of energy flow from full season to spring and early summer. So when you have just Kentucky bluegrass, all your energy flow is happening pretty much in the spring. Instead of if you have a mixed plant community, you've got energy flow happening throughout the year. That's an impact there. It's reduction in the amount of carbon sequestered and the reduction of organic matter distribution in the profile. All your organic matter is right in the surface. Reduction of infiltration due to discontinuity between litter and soil surface, like I showed you in that patch layer. Alteration of the soil structure. Usually under these invaded plant communities, that granular structure starts to change back to a blocky structure. You actually lose the structure in the soil. And changes in root morphology. All your roots are in the upper surface instead of being scattered throughout the profile. So all kinds of changes occurring there. Reduction in native mycorrhizal fungi as well. There's two studies I have found that show that mycorrhizal fungi are reduced in these invaded systems. So diversity above ground equals diversity below ground. These are just showing, this is a clay site. By the way, that rainfall simulator picture I showed you, those were all clay ecological sites from five different management types. That's another clay site with scurf pee and purple comb flower and prairie comb flower and green eel grass and western wheat grass. Good diverse community. This is a pasture with really good diversity. Different legumes and different grasses. Another one there. So what about weeds? Lamb's quarter is considered a weed by most. Does anybody keep in time on my talk? Like how long? Am I okay? Okay. So lamb's quarter is a weed, right? Actually it's good and salad if you've ever. But it's actually pretty high protein. High protein content, 18% in some cases. These are just some other weeds and look at the protein content of those weeds. So are weeds a bad thing? Well, it depends on how you look at them. This is a website called Livestock for Landscapes. And Kathy Voth actually trains cattle to eat some of these plants and manage the weeds like a forage instead of trying to eliminate them. And look at the ones that she's successfully trained cattle to eat. I mean all the bad ones you see on there. Candidate thistle, bull thistle, musk thistle, Russian napweed, diffuse napweed. If you've ever been around napweed, that's a nasty stinkin'. I wouldn't want to put that in my mouth. But anyway, she's successfully trained cattle to each and every one of those weeds. And you looked at the protein content of them. A lot of you know Jim Falstick. His philosophy is use what you've got and manage for what you want. So in the interpretation here, there are no weeds on rangeland and pastureland. They're just really an opportunity maybe for your cattle. This is showing that diversity though. So these four sites here are cropland. Don't worry about the words on this, but just look at the pie chart. This is looking at mycorrhizal fungi species. So each color represents a different mycorrhizal fungi species group. And these were different, some different cover crops on cropland, but again they're all cropland. So they're all pretty much dominated by this red group and this green group. The oat cover crop had the most diversity, but pretty much red and green is all you see for the mycorrhizal fungi species groups on the cropland. And then this is a native prairie site. Look at the difference in the diversity of mycorrhizal fungi and the change in the species groups that were the dominant in this case. Dr. Mike Layman over at ARS and Brookings, he said these two species groups they've come to know are what they call generalists. They don't really care who they live with. And they're not as effective as doing the things that mycorrhizal fungi do well. And so these are the two that dominate on the cropland. With more diversity both on cropland and grassland, we're going to see more diversity in mycorrhizal fungi. So that's the key to soil health in a lot of cases is getting that diversity going. Optimizing disturbance. From an ecological standpoint, a disturbance is not necessarily good or bad. Just talking to Jason and he was talking about how some impacts of grazing cause some compaction and that can happen. But in most cases, a disturbance is not necessarily good or bad. It depends on how you manage it. And the same management action can result in negative or positive feedback depending on time and intensity. And actually non-use on rangeland is considered a disturbance and for extended periods of time can also result in negative feedback. So this is just some impacts of overgrazing, stimulates weeds, reduces fungal biomass, reduces infiltration, increases soil temperature. We've kind of talked about all those. Potential effects of grazing management. I mean, defoliation, if not done correctly, can lead to selective grazing. You need to manage the duration and time of grazing and the frequency and intensity of defoliation. The treading on plants can be positive or negative depending on how you manage it. And again, manure and urine distribution can be good or bad depending on how you're managing it. You've heard, you know, how did the prairie soil develop? This is just throwing in some little trivia here.  They're one of the main drivers and they probably were. But grazing fire also had a pretty large impact on how the prairie came about. But in reality, probably the thing that had more broad spread impact on the prairies was insects. You ever hear of those infestations of locusts? I mean, in most years that hit every acre clear across the plains. It was a huge deal. And so they consistently probably had as much remora impact than the bison. There's a really cool book. It's called The Devastating Rise and Mysterious Disappearance of the Insect that Shaped the American Frontier. It's all about the Rocky Mountain Locust. If you ever get a chance to read that book, it's pretty amazing how they figured out what happened to the locust. Another one is the nature of eastern North Dakota pre-1880 historical ecology. It just talks about how really how much impact fire and grazing had on the plains and the distribution of that. Anyway, but some insects that are very beneficial, dung beetles. This is a picture showing several different species of dung beetles all over this manure patty. And there's kind of three different kinds, manure dwellers, burrowers and tumblers. And the famous one is the tumbler. And I had a video in here, but I knew I wouldn't have time, so I took it out. But anyway, just some of them, they live in the manure pile. Some of them take the manure and bury it in the soil. But in a situation where you have good insect population and some of you can attest to this, those manure patties will only last probably a week or two out on the pasture. And then they're gone. And that's when you have good interaction between the dung beetles and the site. So grazing systems, some of the keys to managing grazing, these are pretty critical. Proper utilization. Like I said, that take half, leave half is pretty critical. Somewhere around that range that really manages the roots really well. Adequate recovery periods. Having a long enough period of time so the cattle aren't re-grazing the same plants over and over again. Things like that. The reason of use, that's a real critical factor as well. And just as a goal, strive for year-round grazing. Try to get the four-legged harvester to do the work for you instead of sending another piece of equipment out there. The overall key is adaptive management. It doesn't matter what kind of grazing system you use necessarily, but if you're getting feedback from that all the time and adapting your management to that, you're going to be successful in managing soil health, most likely. Just a couple, so drought, I'm in with a couple of maps. This is showing the current status based on the South Dakota drought tool as of February 1st. And this is kind of like the potential growth that could happen as of February 1st. So it's looking kind of bleak for western South Dakota again and even a good portion of eastern South Dakota. And this is the predicted projected peak production for July, the July 1st peak production. If we had normal rainfall from here out to July 1st. So even with normal rainfall, it's probably going to be dry out west. And then someplace cease to ever self. I think that's all I had.