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Badlands National Park Badlands Scenery NPS Photo by Shaina Niehans
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Welcome to the Badlands!                        

People are drawn to the rugged beauty of the Badlands. These geologic deposits contain one of the world's richest fossil beds. Ancient mammals such as the rhino, horse, and saber-toothed cat once roamed here. The park's 244,000 acres protect an expanse of mixed-grass prairie where bison, bighorn sheep, deer, pronghorn, prairie dogs, and black-footed ferrets live today.

 

Plan a Visit

Planning a visit to Badlands National Park? Be sure to read the Badlands Visitor Guide. This guide contains valuable information on topics such as visitor facilities, hiking trailscamping and much more.


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Photos and Video

Watch one of our Badlands in Brief video podcast series or view one of our photo galleries

These resources are here to help you plan a trip or to just learn more about this fascinating place.


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Educational Programming

Badlands National Park strives to provide high quality curriculum-based educational material for teachers, parents, and students of all grade levels. The resources of Badlands National Park are ideal for exploring topics in many content areas such as earth science, life science, and social studies. 


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Planning Underway for the South Unit General Management Plan

The National Park Service is working on a General Management Plan (GMP) for the South Unit of Badlands National Park. Updates on the process are now available in Newsletter #2 Spring 2009 (879 KB PDF). The GMP management team will be preparing a list of alternatives for managing the South Unit, based on public comments. The draft South Unit GMP will be available in early 2010, with another public comment period occurring shortly thereafter.


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Write to

25216 Ben Reifel Road
P.O. Box 6
Interior, South Dakota 57750

E-mail Us

Phone

Park Headquarters
(605) 433-5361

Fax

(605) 433-5404

Climate

The Badlands climate is variable and unpredictable with temperatures ranging from -40 F to 116 F. The summers are hot and dry with occasional violent thunderstorms. Winters are typically cold with 12 to 24 inches of total snowfall. Extremely high winds are common year-round. Sudden and dramatic weather changes are common. Dress in layers. Hats, sunglasses, sunscreen, and adequate water are recommended for hiking.
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The rich hue of the Yellow Mounds paleosols

Did You Know?
The yellow and red layers in the badlands formations are fossilized soils, called paleosols. Fossil root traces, burrows, and animal bones found within the soils provide scientists with evidence of environmental and climatic changes that occurred in the badlands over time.

Last Updated: May 31, 2011 at 13:08 MST

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