Badlands National Park

Badlands National Park
View from Panorama Point
Coordinates: 43 ° 45 ′ 11.7 "  N , 102 ° 29 ′ 46.5"  W.
Location:	South Dakota , United States
Next city:	Rapid City
Surface:	982.4 km²
Founding:	January 29 , 1939
Visitors:	1,008,942 (2018)

The Badlands National Park is located in southwestern South Dakota . It consists of a type of erosive landscape known as badlands , which seemed unsuitable for agriculture, hence the name badlands - bad land. In addition to this landscape shaped by erosion, the largest protected grass prairie is also part of the national park . Two units of the national park, the Stronghold Unit and the Palmer Creek Unit are located within the Pine Ridge Reservation . In 2012, the prerequisites were created for the two southern areas to be administered as a National Tribal Park in cooperation between the National Park Service and the Oglala - Lakota . For this purpose, Sioux Indians are preferably trained and employed as rangers and park scientists. The area was called Makȟóšiča in Lakota since the 1750s . Others called the area Paha Ska , in English "White Hills".

This area is where the spirit dance movement of 1890 was located.

The park also has rich fossil sites , such as prehistoric horses, sheep, rhinos and pigs. These include 11,000 year old finds of human civilization. The area was declared a National Monument in 1939 and upgraded to a National Park in 1978.

The film Dances with Wolves, starring Kevin Costner, was shot in 1990 for the most part in and around the national park.

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  Badlands in winter

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  Canyon

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  Pinnacles Overlook

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  Badlands

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  Badlands Loop Road

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  Badlands

Wildlife

39 species of mammals and 206 bird species live in the national park. With bison , bighorn sheep , mule deer , white-tailed deer and pronghorn five large ungulates live in the park. Mule deer are very common, white-tailed deer a little rarer. The bison live in the west of the northern part of the park, while the bighorn sheep can be found in the Pinnacles area and at the Cedar Pass. The best way to see prong blocks is on Loop Road . The predators are represented by the silver badger , bobcat , coyote , swift fox and especially the rare black-footed polecat. The prairie dogs of the park are particularly noteworthy among the rodents .

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  Bighorn sheep

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  Bull bison

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  Prairie dog

Web links

Commons : Badlands National Park  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

• National Park Service: Badlands National Park (official site; English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ National Park Service: Badlands National Park Official Map (accessed July 19, 2011)
2. ^ National Park Service: Badlands National Park - General Management Plan for South Unit Nears Completion . Press release from April 26, 2012
3. ^ Jan F. Ullrich: New Lakota Dictionary , 2nd. Edition, Lakota Language Consortium, Bloomington, IN 2014, ISBN 978-0-9761082-9-0 . Archived from the original on October 18, 2016 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Accessed September 24, 2016). 
4. ↑ makȟó = place, šiča = bad
5. ^ National Park Service: Most texts, including park exhibits, will describe the Lakota name for this region as Mako sica, or land bad. However, as more is shared by elders, it may be more likely that the traditional name for this area was Paha ska, or the White Hills, in contrast with the sacred Paha sapa, or the Black Hills.