[folksy music]
[rolling thunder]
[folksy music]
NARRATOR: On mornings like this, the Badlands seem the quietest place on the planet.
A landscape etched in stone and baked to stillness by the brutal sun of summer
and the harsh chill of winter.
At first glance nothing seems to move, nothing seems to live in this land of
stone and light. But look closely
sit and watch, spend time, and the movement, the life becomes apparent.
[upbeat folk]
[snake rattle]
[upbeat folk]
[yipping]
[frantic chirping]
[upbeat strings]
Human history and the Badlands stretches back nearly 12,000 years
The nomadic Lakota Indians arrived in the area from the east moving with the
seasons following and hunting the huge migrating herds of Buffalo.
ROSALIE: Buffalo is very central to our culture and to our spirituality
and we prayed for the buffalos well-being because we were so dependent
upon it. We didn't pray for our own well-being was for the Buffalo.
NARRATOR: As America expanded westward the Lakota faced conflicts over land use. The US
government formed treaties with some Lakota leaders defining the boundaries
of Lakota land. Repeatedly though these treaties were
broken as demands for additional Indian lands continued.
Across the plains the Buffalo were hunted nearly to extinction.
DAVID: The Great Spirit taught us how to live in this this land. When the white man
came, when he came, he came put up fences and prevented the Buffalo from following
the Great Spirit's plan. Whatever happens to the Buffalo happens to the Lakota.
The Lakota were also confined.
NARRATOR: Like other American Indians the Lakota were forced to cease their traditional
ways of life settle down on reservations and become farmers and ranchers. Yet some
Lakota resisted government efforts to contain them a resistance that would end
in tragedy.
[gunfire, screaming, baby crying]
[solemn]
By the turn of the 20th century the lure of land sent many westward homesteaders
seeking opportunities in the wide open world of the Great Plains.
TONY: My parents came here in June 1910. They come from from Europe, Czechoslovakia to New York
through Ellis Island see and from there they come to Milwaukee. He seen this
notice in the Czech newspaper the luscious plains in the Dakota and that's why he come
NARRATOR: As in other areas being settled, Badlands sodbusters won their 160 acre homesteads
in a u.s. government lottery.
[folksy music lyrics] I am looking rather seedy now while holding down my claim and my victuals are not always of the best
But I'm happy as a clam on the land of Uncle Sam In the little old sod shanty on my claim.
NARRATOR: Living was hard and many homesteaders learned
quickly that small-scale farming was no way to survive in the Badlands. They
abandoned their farms to the blistering summers the winters that seemed to last
forever and the eternal wind.
TONY: And I’ll tell you, used to get some terrible wind storms in them
[inadubible] doozy and more when them winds come up you couldn't see nothing
all this area blew and it was terrible too.
[calm folksy]
FERDINAND: I have spent many days exploring this region
when the thermometer was 112 and there was no water.
It is only to the geologist that this place can have any
permanent attractions. He can wind his way through the wonderful canyons among
some of the grandest ruins in the world and the foot of which the curious fossil
treasures are found.
NARRATOR: Before the Lakota lost their land before the dreams of homesteaders came to an
end the first Badlands fossils of strange ancient mammals were sent to
scientists on the east coast. These petrified bones contributed to the
newly developing science of paleontology the study of ancient life.
Over 150 years later the work continues
[hammer pinging]
[drill buzzing]
[upbeat folksy]
The layered landscape of the Badlands tells the story of powerful geologic
forces and climatic change over millions of years. A warm shallow sea, volcanic
eruptions, river deposits of silts and clays
then erosion a never-ending force that belies the ageless face of the Badlands
wearing away what took millions of years to build.
DENNIS: The Badlands we see in front of us today even though they look solid, solid as rock they're actually
eroding an incredibly fast rate about an inch a year. What this means for us is
that in a hundred thousand years possibly 500 thousand years the Badlands
that you now see it will be totally gone which brings home the whole concept the
earth is a dynamic and changing system.
[upbeat folksy]
[wind blowing, birds chirps, and insects clicking]
[upbeat folksy]
[meadowlark singing]
[upbeat folksy]
NARRATOR: In this place where sky meets earth, where magnificent storms sweep across
vast landscapes, where wind is a constant, where the environment is simply harsh
a tapestry of vibrant life exists. In the Badlands, adaptation is fundamental to
existence. Plants and animals are able to cope with fierce and extreme conditions
cold winters hot summers and precipitation that varies wildly from year to year.
[upbeat folksy]
The mixed grass prairie of the Badlands may at times look dry and lifeless but
in its vast tangled roots nutrients are stored. Occasional prairie fires
replenish nutrients to the soil aiding the prairies health. Animals that rely on
the grassland for food and shelter also helps sustain it. Bison, or buffalo icon
of the American West once again thrive on the Prairie. These
large animals churn up the soil allowing moisture to be absorbed. Their fur
catches seeds which then scatter across the Prairie. A smaller animal that is
also critical to the Badlands prairie ecosystem is the prairie dog. Like bison
prairie dogs stir up the soil rejuvenating the surface so grass may
grow. Prairie dogs long winding burrows are beneficial to other species
the burrowing owl, 13 lined ground squirrel, and the black-footed ferret
live in abandoned prairie dog homes. The prairie dog is the preferred food for
the black-footed ferret. As ranching and agriculture expanded in the Badlands area
many prairie dog colonies were wiped out. The decline of prairie dogs caused the
near extinction of the native black footed ferret. Put on the endangered
species list in 1973 captive bred ferrets have been reintroduced into the park.
At night in prairie dog towns, scientists monitor the nocturnal ferret population
DOUG: We're coming to the Prairie dog towns because the black-footed ferret is
obligate species to the prairie dog meaning that they need the prairie dog
for prey and for denning cover.
Ferrets have a very distinctive eye shine which is a bright emerald green.
Its a charismatic species but it's one that a lot of visitors aren't going to see just
because the difficulties of getting out here and seeing it but if a lot of
visitors they know that there's ferrets here I think that adds to the experience
of coming to the park.
NARRATOR: Other native species also affected by changes in land use over time have been
brought back to the park through reintroduction programs.
The Swift Fox and bighorn sheep have both seen a revival in the Badlands.
[upbeat folksy]
Preserving native ecosystems, plants and animals together is one of the most
important missions for a national park but restoration of the entire badlands
ecosystem is impossible. Although a vast expanse of land the park cannot support
the large predators that once roamed here the prairie wolf and the grizzly
bear. Instead efforts are focused on plant restoration to support the Prairie
Wildlife of the 21st century
[swallows chirping]
[upbeat folksy]
Now as in times past the Badlands is a destination for those seeking solace
science curiosities of nature and the chance to experience a place out of the ordinary.
[upbeat folksy]
WALLACE: Desolate forbidding there was never a country that in its good moments was
more beautiful. Even in drought or dust or blizzard it is the reverse of
monotonous once you have submitted to it with all the senses. You don't get out of
the wind but learn to lean and squint against it. You don't escape sky and Sun
but wear them in your eyeballs and on your back. You become acutely aware of
yourself. The world is very large the sky even larger and you are very small.
[upbeat folksy]
The Badlands is not a postcard of stone.
It is a land woven of time and space,
knotted with the twists and turns of human use and balanced with the fragile
touch of wilderness.
It is the landscape slow dance moving to the rhythm of the wind.
[upbeat folksy outro]