Move Made to Designate South Dakota Wilderness.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
CUSTER, S.D. - Nearly 50,000 acres of land in the Buffalo Gap National Grassland in south west South Dakota would be designated as wilderness by a bill introduced in Congress by South Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson. Cheryl Warren, coordinator of the South Dakota Wild Grassland Coalition, says this is a unique area that deserves special protections.
"The prairie grasslands ecosystem is the most-threatened, fastest-dwindling and least-protected ecosystem on the continent. There is not much left of the Great Plains as they used to be."
Warren says the designation will move only about 10 percent of the grasslands to wilderness.
"I think we owe it to our kids, our grand kids, the people who make their living depending on that land and take good care of it. We owe it the highest form of protection it can receive."
Terry Mayes, Coalition volunteer and landowner, said the move to protect the land as wilderness will ensure future generations will see the land stay undisturbed.
"The pristineness of that area, the beautiful grasslands and the other habitat there will be protected as it has been for the last hundreds of years."
While protecting the area, the designation is also designed to allow public access for recreation, ranching and grazing.
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