Badlands National Park

Badlands National Park is an American national park in southwestern South Dakota. The park protects 242,756 acres (379.3 sq mi; 982.4 km²)^[1] of sharply eroded rocks, and the largest undisturbed prairie in the United States. The National Park Service manages the park. The South Unit is co-managed with the Oglala Lakota tribe.^[3]

Badlands National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
Badlands National Park
Location in the United States Show map of South Dakota Location in South Dakota Show map of the United States
Location	South Dakota, United States
Nearest city	Rapid City, South Dakota
Coordinates	43°45′N 102°30′W
Area	242,756 acres (982.40 km2)[1]
Established	January 29, 1939 (1939-January-29) as a National Monument November 10, 1978 as a National Park
Visitors	1,008,942 (in 2018)[2]
Governing body	National Park Service
Website	Badlands National Park

The Badlands Wilderness protects 64,144 acres (100.2 sq mi; 259.6 km²) of the park as a designated wilderness area.^[4] It is a site where the black-footed ferret, one of the most endangered mammals in the world, was reintroduced to the wild.^[5]

The South Unit, or Stronghold District,^[3] includes sites of 1890s Ghost Dances,^[6] a former United States Air Force bomb and gunnery range,^[7] and Red Shirt Table, the park's highest point at 3,340 feet (1,020 m).^[8]

Authorized as Badlands National Monument on March 4, 1929, it was not established until January 25, 1939. Badlands was redesignated a national park on November 10, 1978.^[9]

The park also administers the nearby Minuteman Missile National Historic Site. The movies Dances with Wolves (1990) and Thunderheart (1992) were partially filmed in Badlands National Park.^[10]

References

1. "Listing of acreage – December 31, 2011" (XLSX). Land Resource Division, National Park Service. Retrieved March 5, 2012. (National Park Service Acreage Reports)
2. "NPS Annual Recreation Visits Report". National Park Service. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
3. "Badlands Visitor Guide: The official newspaper of Badlands National Park" (PDF). National Park Service. 2016. Retrieved July 25, 2016.
4. "Badlands Wilderness". Wilderness.net. Archived from the original on March 30, 2012. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
5. "Badlands Visitor Guide" (PDF). National Park Service. 2008. p. 2. Retrieved March 12, 2011.
6. "Badlands National Park". Rand McNally. Archived from the original on February 25, 2011. Retrieved March 12, 2011. The cultural centerpiece of this section is the Stronghold Table, where the Oglala Sioux danced the Ghost Dance for the last time in 1890.
7. "Pine Ridge Gunnery Range/Badlands Bombing Range". South Dakota Department of Environment & Natural Resources. Archived from the original on March 9, 2011. Retrieved March 12, 2011.
8. "U.S. National Park High Points". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved March 17, 2008.
9. "The National Parks: Index 2009–2011". National Park Service. Archived from the original on July 10, 2012. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
10. Maddrey, Joseph 2016. The Quick, the Dead and the Revived: the many lives of the western film. McFarland. Page 184. ISBN 9781476625492.