National Public Lands Day Celebrates South Dakota’s Grasslands Wilderness
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Wilderness advocates are using Saturday's "National Public Lands Day" observance to build public support for permanent protections for South Dakota’s prairie grasslands. Cheryl Warren with the South Dakota Grasslands Wilderness Coalition explains there are wild lands for everyone to enjoy in the state, however, public land located in the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands in Southwestern South Dakota deserves a special federal wilderness designation to guarantee preservation for generations to come.
"Any other type of management designation can be changed at any point the next time there's a new forest plan or public lands get sold. That would be a would be a real loss to America. Protection of this area is important to South Dakota and would be the first permanent wilderness designation of a national grasslands in the entire country."
The locations recommended for permanent wilderness protection includes 70,000 acres of existing Forest Service land in Southwestern South Dakota. The South Dakota Grasslands Wilderness Coalition includes sportsmen, ranchers, conservationists, Native American tribes and business owners, all working to preserve South Dakota's prairie grasslands in their wild state.
"We'd like to give it that ultimate protection so it will always be there and our kids and grandkids can see it the way it has always been. Cattle can keep grazing there, ranchers will continue to utilize it and yet it will be preserved for future generations."
More information on thegrasslands proposal is available online at www.sdgrasslandscoalition.org.
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