By: Bennett Gorbatoff

Badlands National Park Badlands National Park, South Dakota, USA

Stronghold Unit Palmer Creek Unit Badlands Wilderness Area

 People have been fascinated by the Badlands throughout history.  Native American stories and legends recognize the Badlands geology, landscape, and fossils.  Early Europeans, homesteaders, ranchers, and the state of South Dakota also recognized the Badlands and wanted to protect it.  The Badlands National Monument was established in  It was redesignated Badlands National Park on November 10,  There are over 200,000 acres of protected land within the park consisting of spires, a grass prairie, eroded buttes, and pinnacles.  The National Park Service manages the park.  The Oglala Lakota Tribe also helps manage some areas of the park.

 The landscape is roughly half badlands geologic formations and half mixed grass prairie ecosystem.  The Badlands geologic formations are made up of rugged spires and deep canyons.  The mixed grass prairie ecosystem is alive with a variety of plants and animals.  Scientists have found 39 mammal species, 9 reptile species, 6 amphibian species, 206 bird species, and 69 butterfly species.  The park also contains fossil resources.  The White River Badlands contains the largest known number of late Eocene and Oligocene mammal fossils.  Fossil research from the Badlands has given significant information to the science of vertebrate paleontology in North America.

Fossil Poaching  A major concern at Badlands National Park.  Park Rangers educate the public and visitors about the importance of not taking fossils from the park. Prairie Fires  Have occurred naturally through lightening for centuries.  Native American used to start fires to move out animals.  In the 20 th century, people started stopping fires.  The Park now has an active fire management program.  Each year the park burns a set number of acres of prairie. The prairies recover quickly, usually in 3 to 4 weeks.

Reintroduction of the Black-Footed Ferret  Badlands National Park was selected as one of the areas in the U.S. to reintroduce the endangered black-footed ferret.  Approximately 25 to 30 ferrets now live in the Badlands.  The wild born ferrets in the park are now producing babies of their own.

The Badlands is made up of layers of rock. The layers were formed from deposits of sand, silt, clay and volcanic ash which were cemented together into sedimentary rock. As the environment of the Badlands changed over the years, so did the types of deposits. The picture to the right is an example of a typical rock formation in the Park. Each layer was formed during a different time period beginning 75 million years ago million years ago 30 million years ago million years ago million years ago million years ago million years ago

 The black-footed ferret was close to extinction in the 1970s. Artificial insemination was used to help bread the ferrets in captivity. Once their numbers had grown large enough, they were reintroduced into the Badlands National Park in  The National Park Service has monitored air quality in the Badlands National Park for more than 10 years using light technology. Light is emitted from one telescope and received by another 2.5 miles away.  The National Park Service monitors grasslands in the Park. Chemicals are sometimes used to control the unhealthy spread of non-native plants.

 United States. National Park Service. "Badlands National Park (U.S. National Park Service)." National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, 18 Nov Web. 18 Nov  BasicPlanet. "Badlands National Park." Earth Facts and Information. Bioexpedition, Web. 18 Nov  DO CITATOIN FOR VISITOR GUIDE LINK IN FAVORITES  FIX LATER: park/critical-park-issues.htmlhttp:// park/critical-park-issues.html   park.html park.html  articles.html?pid=879&sid=1313:Black-Hills-and-Badlands- Geology articles.html?pid=879&sid=1313:Black-Hills-and-Badlands- Geology  Bulletin.pdf