VISITATION REMAINS DOWN AT BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK

July visitation at Badlands National Park continues the general statewide trend for fewer visitors during summer, 2001. A total of 620,242 visitors were tallied at park entrance stations through July 31, a decrease of 12.3 % over 2000 figures. Visitation for the month was down 10% from last year with 239,553 visitors posted this year. “Heat, higher fuel costs, and a general stay-closer-to-home attitude seems to have impacted us this year,” notes Chief of Resource Education Marianne Mills. “Business is generally down all around the park, including Cedar Pass Lodge and Badlands Natural History Association. It’s too bad because we’ve pulled together an outstanding team of park rangers to provide programs throughout the summer. Maybe next year.”

A reminder to all readers that Saturday, August 25 is National Parks Day. The entrance fee to Badlands National Park – and all other national parks with an entrance fee – is waived for this annual celebration of the founding of the National Park Service in 1916. The missions of the agency is found in the Organic Act of August 25, 1916 and states “ . . . to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment for the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”

The mission of Badlands National Park can be found in the park’s Strategic Plan, located at http://www.nps.gov/badl It states Badlands National Park preserves a diversity of significant resources for the education and inspiration of a world audience. These resources are a blending of the best known Oligocene fossil deposits contained within archetypal Big Badlands formations, a rich and varied cultural history spanning from paleo-Indian occupation through the early twentieth century homesteading period, and a fine expanse of a mixed grass prairie ecosystem. Other qualities, most notably the wilderness character, clean air, quiet, solitude, vastness, and natural processes, provide visitors with a setting for exploration and appreciation through such experiences as hiking, camping, wildlife viewing, scenic drives and vistas, research and educational opportunities, and quiet contemplation.

For more information on Badlands National Park, contact (605) 433 – 5361.