Badlands National Park
Badlands National Park is located in southwest South Dakota. The
park preserves 244,000 acres of sharply eroded buttes,
pinnacles, and spires blended with the largest protected mixed
grass prairie in the United States. Authorized as Badlands
National Monument on March 4, 1929, it was not established until
January 25, 1939. Under the Mission 66 plan, the Ben Reifel
Visitor Center was constructed for the monument in 1957-58. It
was redesignated a national park on November 10, 1978. The park
also administers the nearby Minuteman Missile National Historic
Site.
People are drawn to the rugged beauty of the Badlands. These
geologic deposits contain one of the world's richest fossil
beds. Ancient mammals such as the rhino, horse, and
saber-toothed cat once roamed here. The park's 244,000 acres
protect an expanse of mixed-grass prairie where bison, bighorn
sheep, deer, pronghorn, prairie dogs, and black-footed ferrets
live today.
