Research of Persistence Cave pine marten ongoing at The Mammoth Site By Marcus Heerdt/Fall River County Herald-Star WIND CAVE NATIONAL PARK – In the April 21, 2022, edition of the newspaper, the Herald-Star reported on an 11,100-year-old pine marten fossil discovered...
Wind Cave National Park has achieved a significant milestone, with explorers mapping over 160 miles of its intricate passageways. This advancement narrows the gap between Wind Cave and the world’s sixth-longest cave, Optymistychna Cave in Ukraine, which measures...
Wind Cave National Park welcomes visitors with pets, provided they adhere to specific guidelines designed to protect both the park’s natural resources and the safety of all guests. By Marcus Heerdt WIND CAVE NATIONAL PARK, SD – There are a few areas where pets...
Black Hills Parks & Forests Association (BHPFA) attended the 30th Annual South Dakota STEM Ed Conference in Huron Feb. 2-5 and was presented the “Friend of Science” award. The conference is an annual gathering of science and math teachers from across the state....
By: Marcus Heerdt/Fall River County Herald-Star HOT SPRINGS – In one summer season (May-Sept.), the Black Hills Parks and Forests Association’s (BHPFA) Adopt-A-Bison program raised a record amount of $19,600. The funds are used for the continued conservation of...
By: Marcus Heerdt/Fall River County Herald-Star WIND CAVE NATIONAL PARK, S.D. – Wind Cave National Park rounded up their bison herd and began processing the animals the week of Oct. 11, with media day held on Wednesday, Oct. 13. Bison were first introduced to...
The National Grasslands Visitor Center (NGVC) served 10,288 people in July 2021, setting a high mark for monthly visitation in at least the last two decades. That figure – an average of 331 per day – includes 7,022 visitors through the doors of the visitor...
By: Marcus Heerdt After more than two years in development, Wind Cave National Park unveiled its new “unigrid” brochure in late July of this year. According to park officials, it has been at least 30 or more years since the previous Wind Cave brochure has had an...
Black Hills-based writer Marcus Heerdt was recently a guest on The Pulse podcast hosted by Sarah Grassel. Learn more about him and his new book Hiking the Black Hills Country, Third Edition! To Listen Click Here Buy a Copy of the Book Here...
by Jennifer Moore Myers, SRS Science Communications • September 27, 2018 Climate change is here. In southern forests, it takes the form of novel disturbances – different frequency and severity of drought, fire, wind storms, insect outbreaks, even ice storms – or a...
Bark beetles have ravaged 85,000 square miles of forest in the western United States since 2000, including this area in California as seen in 2016. U.S. FOREST SERVICE A forester in Poland’s Bialowieza Forest points to larvae of spruce bark beetles. WOJTEK...
