Badlands National Park

How did you spend your summer? David and Kay Scott traveled nearly 11,000 miles, visited 29 units of the National Park System, and toured 62 lodges. Here's a recap of what they found.

Somewhat despondent over having to leave the cool air of the Rockies behind them, David and Kay Scott have headed into the oven-like temperatures of Badlands National Park to check out the park's lodging options. Along the way they visited Devils Tower National Monument.

You don't need to sleep in a tent to make a national park visit affordable. Our lodging experts have found 10 national parks where you can book a room for less than $100 a night.

The Badlands of South Dakota have inspired generations of artists, and participants in the Artists in Residence program at Badlands National Park have included photographers, painters, printmakers, writers and poets, a ceramicist and a composer. They've produced some outstanding work, and you can now enjoy their creativity via a new on-line exhibit.

As you plan your park travels for the summer, don't overlook Badlands National Park's outstanding Night Sky Program. The combination of dark skies, a chance to look through top-quality telescopes and excellent interpretation provides a rare chance to see and enjoy the wonders of the heavens in ways most of us have never experienced.

Thanks to an alert seven-year-old Junior Ranger and a partnership between Badlands National Park and the Rapid City Regional Hospital, a prehistoric saber tooth cat skull fossil had a seemingly improbable appointment with state-of-the-art 21st century technology for a CT scan.

The list is long, more than 200 names stretching over a century and then some. It's a somber one, as well, tracking the deaths of National Park Service employees from a wide range of fates, from heart attacks to rockfalls to cold-blooded murder.

A coalition announced plans today to sue federal agencies, including the Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency, for failing to protect airsheds over national parks, wilderness areas, and wildlife refuges.

Perhaps it's proof that you're never too young to consider a career in paleontology: A 7-year-old visitor to Badlands National Park earlier this year spied a partially exposed fossil that turned out to be the skull of a 32-million-year-old saber-toothed cat.

Pending the results of management plan vetting currently under way, the National Park Service is primed to turn administrative responsibilities for the South Unit of Badlands National Park over to the Oglala Sioux Tribe for management as America's first tribal national park.

Sometimes a short, easy hike is just what you need for a nice change of pace during a park visit. Here's a pair of suggestions for a visit to Badlands National Park that offer fine views of the classic scenery that gives the park its name.

Many seven year olds—or adults—probably can't spell "paleontologist," but one Junior Ranger from Georgia knows her fossils. The youngster discovered a saber tooth fossil in Badlands National Park that scientists are calling "a find of high importance."

During her recent residency at Badlands National Park, artist and poet Kathleen Heideman wrote an ode in honor of national park rangers titled "Why I want to be a park ranger when I grow up." In honor of National Parks Week, we offer it to you.

In the language of conservation biology, there is a term called “the Lazarus Syndrome.” It pertains to a species, written off as extinct, that later is found to exist. Today, ornithologists are debating and hoping that the near-mythical Ivory-billed woodpecker might qualify.

A new IUCN publication reports on the status of wild and conservation-herd bison, makes bison conservation recommendations, and stirs controversy over emotion-charged issues such as the possible "rebisoning" of large areas of former bison range.

The Columbus Day celebration forces the National Park Service to deal with two conflicting themes – joyful celebration of Columbus’ “discovery” of the New World, and somber reflection on the Native American holocaust that ensued.

The last time I visited Badlands National Park was back in 1963. I remember a twisty labyrinth of narrow canyons, spires, and geologic formations reminiscent of Bryce or Cedar Breaks, soft crumbly sedimentary rock that in many places erodes too quickly for plants to put down roots. Vistas that stretched from the high plateau along the north of the park out to the southern plains. Sagebrush, prairie dogs, and antelope

Unexploded military ordnance turns up in parks from time to time, and a recent find in Badlands National Park was handled cautiously. That proved to be the right call.

Seven years ago, governments around the world pledged to achieve a "significant reduction" in the ongoing loss of biodiversity by 2010. Unfortunately, the latest IUCN report says that goal will not be met, and that the wildlife crisis is greater than the world's economic crisis.

Officials have confirmed the presence of sylvatic plague and tularemia in Badlands National Park. That’s bad news for the park’s prairie dogs and black-footed ferrets, but visitors should be OK if they use common sense safety precautions.

Americans overwhelmingly love bison as an iconic image of the West, but are largely clueless over the ecological plight these animals face, according to a national survey.

Scientists fear that sylvatic plague may decimate the black-footed ferret population of Badlands National Park. The deadly disease began killing prairie dogs and ferrets in the Conata Basin area of nearby Buffalo Gap National Grasslands last spring. Now an aggressive spray-and-vaccinate campaign is the last line of defense for the remaining ferrets.

The Oglala Sioux Tribe might regain exclusive control of 133,000 acres of tribal land that was incorporated into Badlands National Park and is being jointly managed with the National Park Service. If the tribe gets its land back it will establish a major precedent.

On a clear day, you often can see for miles and miles. But as a report from the National Parks Conservation Association points out, clear days are harder and harder to find in our national parks under the Bush administration's relatively laissez-faire approach to coal-fired power plants.

Dozens of movies have depicted actors and actresses cavorting, romancing, running, hiding, fighting, and yes, even dying in national parks or places destined to become national parks. Here are ten of Traveler's favorite movies with a national park connection of some sort. Note that we don’t restrict the field to films shot on location in parks.

Given birth as a national monument in 1939 and then transformed into a national park in 1978, Badlands National Park marks its 29th birthday today. Across its 244,000 acres you'll find vestiges of prehistoric life, the largest expanse of protected prairie in the park system, and a rebounding mammal once thought bound for extinction.