Site Index

Explore This Park

• Park Home
• Plan Your Visit
  • Directions
    • Maps
    • Bicycling Information
  • Operating Hours & Seasons
    • Program and Tour Schedule
      • Natural Entrance Cave Tour
      • Garden of Eden Cave Tour
      • Fairgrounds Cave Tour
      • Candlelight Cave Tour
      • Wild Cave Tour
      • Special Cave Tour
      • Prairie Hike
      • Campfire Program
      • Discovery Activity
      • Map Wind Cave Tour Routes Detailed
  • Fees & Reservations
    • Permits
  • Things To Do
    • Places To Go
      • Visitor Centers
      • Campgrounds
    • Hiking Trails
    • For Kids
    • Guided Tours
    • Schedule Of Events
    • Nearby Attractions
    • Back-country Camping
    • Horseback Riding
  • Things To Know Before You Come
    • Your Safety
    • Lodging
    • Tour Safety Information
  • Brochures
    • Franais [French]
    • Deutsch [German]
    • Espaol [Spanish]
• Photos & Multimedia
  • Photo Gallery
    • Animals
    • History
    • Plants
      • Wildflowers
      • Trees and Shrubs
      • Cacti
      • Nonnative Plants
      • Grasses
      • Other Plants
      • Mushrooms & Other Fungi
    • Park Landscapes
    • Publication-Quality Images
    • Casey Land Dedication
  • Multimedia Presentations
    • Video Clips and Programs
      • Wildlife Video Clips
      • Cave Video Clips
      • History Video Clips
      • Paleontology Video Clips
    • PowerPoint Programs
• History & Culture
  • People
    • The Home of the Bison, an Ethnographic Study
    • Early Cave Explorers
      • Alvin McDonald
      • Katie Stabler
    • The Civilian Conservation Corps
      • A New Deal for the American People
      • Changing the Nation
      • Changing the Park
      • Work and Play of Camp Wind Cave
      • Then and Now
      • Changing Lives
  • Places
    • Wind Cave Room Names
    • Historic District
    • Historic Place Names 1880-1901
  • Stories
    • A Brief History
    • Wind Cave's Early Days
    • Defining Moments
      • Hiring J.D. McDonald
      • Green Report
      • National Game Preserve
      • CCC Camp Established
      • No Second Elevator
      • Discovery of the Spillway
      • Prescribed Fire Program
      • Cave Management Begins
    • Alvin McDonald's Diary
    • Mazes and Marvels
      • Introduction
      • Hot Springs to Wind Cave
      • Wind Cave - Historical, Scientific, Descriptive
      • Garden of Eden Route
      • Fairgrounds Route
      • Pearly Gates Route
      • Main Traveled Routes in Outline
      • Less Traveled Routes
      • Switzerland of America
      • Hotels and Sanitariums
      • Solders' Home
      • Railroads
    • Cave Regions of the Ozarks and Black Hills
    • Black Hills History
    • National Park Service History
    • Cave Exploration
      • A Blowing Hole
      • Early Exploration
      • 1959 NSS Wind Cave Expedition
      • Herb and Jan Conn and Dave Schnute
      • Colorado Grotto
      • Windy City Grotto
      • Paha Sapa Grotto
      • Caving Rangers
      • Cave Management
    • Birth of a National Park
      • Winds of Wind Cave
      • Early Explorations
      • McDonalds Arrive
      • Exploring with Alvin
      • Wonderful Wind Cave Improvement Company
      • Visiting the Cave
      • Publicizing the Cave
      • Who Owns the Cave?
      • The Feud
      • More Court Battles and More Decisions
      • A Decision is Made
      • A National Park is Created
    • 1902 Survey of Wind Cave
    • Passages through many worlds
  • Collections
    • Caving Narratives
    • Wind Cave Timeline
    • 1959 NSS Expedition
      • Preface
      • Introduction and Purpose
      • Expedition Personnel
      • Cave Rescue Procedure
      • Cave Survey
      • Preliminary Geology Report
      • Karst and Drainage
      • Cave Patterns and Cross-Sections
      • Structural Relationships
      • Stratigraphic Relationships
      • Solutional Features
      • Sediments and Breakdown
      • Mineralogy
      • Faunal Survey of Wind Cave
      • Meteorology
    • Wind Cave Trip Reports
  • Research
• Nature & Science
  • Animals
    • Amphibians
    • Birds
      • Birds - December Count
    • Fish
      • Fishery Research
    • Insects, Spiders, Centipedes, Millipedes
      • Beetles and True Bugs
      • Butterflies
      • Flies
      • Grasshoppers
      • Moths
      • Spiders
      • Wasps
      • damselflies
    • Mammals
    • Reptiles
  • Plants
    • Cacti / Desert Succulents
    • Ferns
    • Grasses
      • Tall Grasses
      • Mid Grasses
      • Short Grasses
    • Lichens
    • Mosses and Liverworts
    • Mushrooms and Other Fungi
    • Others
    • Trees and Shrubs
    • Wildflowers
      • Prairie
      • Woodland
      • Riparian
    • Seed Study
      • Project Overview
      • Challenges
      • Seed Collection
      • Species Table
      • Grass Seedlings
      • Native Forb Seedlings
      • Non-Native Forb Seedlings
  • Environmental Factors
    • Changing Environments - Climate Change
    • Diseases
      • Chronic Wasting Disease Study
      • Chronic Wasting Disease Study Begins
      • Coyote Study (tularemia, canine distemper, and sylvatic plague)
      • White-Nose Syndrome (WNS)
    • Fire Regime
    • Lightscape / Night Sky
    • Nonnative Species
      • Plants
    • Climate Change
    • Environmental Concerns
  • Natural Features & Ecosystems
    • Cave / Karst Systems
      • Cave Geology
      • Speleothems (Cave Formations)
      • Cave Exploration
      • Cave Meteorology
      • Wind Cave Natural History
    • Geologic Formations
      • Geology Driving Tour
    • Prairies and Grasslands
    • Watersheds
  • Other Life Forms
• For Teachers
  • Plan A Field Trip
    • Self Guided
    • Ranger Guided
      • Pre-Visit Ranger Guided Materials
      • Post Ranger Guided Visit Materials
      • Connections Environmental Education Programs
      • Water in the Environment
      • Educational Fee Waivers
  • Curriculum Materials
  • Traveling Trunks
    • Hydrology Unit Standards
  • Suggested Reading
• For Kids
  • Be A Junior Ranger
    • May Junior Rangers
    • June Junior Rangers
    • July Junior Rangers
    • August Junior Rangers
    • September Junior Rangers
    • Fall and Winter Junior Rangers
    • Spring Junior Rangers
    • Make A Wish
  • Park Fun
    • Adventures in Nature
    • Flat Stanley
    • Caving For Kids
    • Crossword Puzzles
• News
  • Park Newspaper
    • Park Newspaper Archive
  • News Releases
  • Contact Public Affairs
• Management
  • Laws & Policies
    • Wind Cave National Park Foundation Statement 2011
    • Firearms
  • Doing Business With The Park
  • Park Planning
    • Wind Cave National Park - Natural Resource Condition Assessment
    • Wind Cave National Park Foundation Statement September 2011
    • Bison Management Plan - December 2006
    • Cave and Karst Resource Management Plan - 2007
    • Economic Impact Analysis
    • Visitor Services Project
  • Fire Management
    • Background
    • Ingredients
    • The Burn
    • Effect on Animals
    • Time of Year
    • Wildfires
  • Jobs
• Support Your Park
  • Volunteer
  • Donate
  • Cooperating Association
  • Bookstore
• Bookstore