Old Homestead Shed Near Interior, South Dakota

This weathered wooden shed sits on private land along the edge of Badlands National Park, near the town of Interior, South Dakota. Homestead-era structures like this one are common remnants of the ranching and farming operations that once worked this edge of the prairie before much of the land was absorbed into the park and surrounding grasslands. The Badlands' mixed-grass prairie supports wildflowers such as yellow sweet clover, which spreads quickly through disturbed soil and roadside margins each summer. Thunderstorms building over the nearby buttes and formations are frequent in the region during the warmer months, as moist air from the plains collides with the elevated terrain of the Badlands Wall.