Out in the parks
“When anything moves through the wild, the forest announces it. And once you learn the language, you will realize how much was always there, just out of sight.”Tom Tonkin, BHPFA Education Specialist The forest around you is never silent. It is speaking. Every chirp, alarm call, and sudden hush carries information that birds, deer, and […]
Spend a Friday evening at the BHPFA Nature Shop in Custer learning to read the landscape like a naturalist. Join Education Specialist Tom Tonkin for Field Notes: An Introduction to the Art of Nature Observation, an engaging 1.5-hour look at how naturalist skills can deepen your understanding of the natural world around us, told through […]
Throw a spear the way hunters did for thousands of years. Join a Nebraska National Forest ranger at the Pinnacles for a hands-on look at the atlatl, an ancient spear-throwing tool that came long before the bow and arrow, then step up and launch one yourself.The program covers how the atlatl worked, why it mattered […]
Gather around the campfire at Horsethief Lake, a small lake under the pines just down the road from Mount Rushmore, for an evening with the Songbird of the Black Hills. Sally Svenson plays her original songs and the Black Hills stories behind them. Music starts at 7:30 p.m.Getting there: Horsethief Lake Campground is on Highway […]
“When anything moves through the wild, the forest announces it. And once you learn the language, you will realize how much was always there, just out of sight.”Tom Tonkin, BHPFA Education Specialist The forest around you is never silent. It is speaking. Every chirp, alarm call, and sudden hush carries information that birds, deer, and […]
The Black Hills Nature Shop is joining Custer’s Crazy Days with a two-day sidewalk sale outside association headquarters at 833 Mt. Rushmore Road.The tables will hold close-out merchandise, ding and dent items, one-off samples, and odds and ends. Look for adult and youth apparel, books, puzzles and games, household goods, and plush animals. Quantities are […]
Love the Black Hills? Learn how to leave them better than you found them. Respect the Woods, Protect the Wild covers Leave No Trace principles, the local ecosystem, the Junior Ranger program, and practical tips and tricks for visiting your national forest responsibly.Join in from 1 to 3 p.m. with a Forest Service presenter.Getting there: […]
The Black Hills Nature Shop is joining Custer’s Crazy Days with a two-day sidewalk sale outside association headquarters at 833 Mt. Rushmore Road.The tables will hold close-out merchandise, ding and dent items, one-off samples, and odds and ends. Look for adult and youth apparel, books, puzzles and games, household goods, and plush animals. Quantities are […]
National Grasslands Visitor Center staff will be presenting interpretive programs every other Monday at Badlands National Park’s Cedar Pass Amphitheater throughout the summer.
Colorado-based historian Kurt Skinner brings the country’s 26th president to life in a one-evening performance at the Elk Mountain Campground Amphitheater in Wind Cave National Park. A retired military officer-turned high school history teacher, Skinner is a lifelong student of Roosevelt’s legacy and has performed as the president at national parks and historic sites across […]
Coyote howls, yips, and barks: they are actually saying something. And that is just the start. Pronghorn can run 55 mph with more stamina than any other animal alive. They picked up that speed running from an American cheetah that went extinct thousands of years ago, and never lost it. A mountain lion can clear […]
Artist and educator Marty Two Bulls Jr. comes to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument to discuss his work and the Winter Count project he helped develop with the Oglala Sioux Tribe. His talk, Winter Counts, traces his artistic career, including his artist residency at the Sanford Underground Research Facility and his role as artist laureate […]
