Wetland and Ranchland Near Badlands National Park

Badlands National Park spans more than 242,000 acres of mixed-grass prairie and eroded rock formations in southwestern South Dakota. The park was established in 1939, originally as a national monument, before gaining national park status in 1978. Much of the surrounding land outside the park boundary remains in private ranching use, a legacy of homesteading that followed the Homestead Act of 1862. The mixed-grass prairie ecosystem here is considered one of the few large intact examples remaining in North America, supporting native grasses alongside wetland pockets fed by seasonal runoff.