The Badlands National Park is one of America’s
most magnificent natural treasures and an important site for scientific
research in the fields of ecology and paleontology. The park’s
244,000 acres contain many camping and activity areas for visitors as
well as 64,000 acres set aside as a Wilderness Area. The Oglala Sioux,
for whom the Black Hills are religiously significant, also participate
in the parks preservation and maintenance in the Stronghold Unit, a
portion of which was the site of many Ghost Dance ceremonies in the
1890’s.
The Badlands National Park is home to many species of plants and animals.
The park’s Sage Creek Wilderness contains a 600-head herd of bison,
an animal once abundant on the Great Plains that has was hunted to the
brink of extinction. Careful conservation efforts have restored the
bison to a small but viable population. Conservationists are trying
to do the same with North America’s most endangered land animal,
the Black-Footed Ferret. This member of the weasel family has been reintroduced
into the Badlands National Park, where a colony of 25 to 30 individuals
is carefully monitored.
The Badlands National Park contains the world’s richest Oligocene
epoch fossil beds in the world. This 23 to 35 million year old fossils
are invaluable to paleontologists and other scientist for studying the
areas past and charting the evolution of animals like horses, sheep,
rhinoceros and pigs. Amateur fossil hunters and visiting professionals
alike with be pleased to observe the Big Pig Dig paleontological dig
every summer across from the Conata Pic Nic area.
There are innumerable out-door adventures to be had in the Badlands
National Park. Hikers have a wealth of trails to choose from, including
the Cliff Shelf Nature Trail, the Fossil Exhibition Trail and the more
challenging Notch Trail. There are dozens of varieties of birds in the
park, so Bird Watchers may catch a glimpse of anything from a Golden
Eagle to a Rock Wren. There are opportunities for backpacking, camping,
horse back riding, nature walks, wildlife viewing and much more. Visitors
should take full wilderness precautions for most activities, however.
For all its wonder and beauty, the Badlands can doubtlessly live up
to its name for the unprepared.
