Events & Programs
Nature workshops, guided hikes, homeschool adventures, and community events across the Black Hills and Nebraska. Find your next outdoor experience and register today.
Upcoming Events
Browse all upcoming BHPFA events below. Click any event for full details and registration. Use the search bar to filter by keyword, or switch between calendar and list views.
Events
Calendar of Events
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2 events,
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Meet Bark the Beaver in Rapid City. Bark is a real kind of Black Hills hero: a beaver who, after a road-painting truck leaves her with two yellow stripes, gets [...]
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Travel back to a time when lanterns lit the way and word of mouth spread the wonder, and the story of Wind Cave was just beginning. Ranger Elizabeth traces how [...]
Free
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2 events,
National Grasslands Visitor Center staff will be presenting interpretive programs every other Monday at Badlands National Park’s Cedar Pass Amphitheater throughout the summer.
Free
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The dead grasses, fallen trees, and animal remains scattered across the prairie are easy to overlook, but they are quietly keeping the whole ecosystem alive. Join Ranger Liz to discover [...]
Free
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1 event,
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Generations of people have called this stretch of prairie and cave country home. Join Ranger Madelyn to walk through a single day in the lives of those who came before, [...]
Free
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1 event,
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The prairie above is only half the story. Beneath it, bats and tiny microorganisms survive in the dark passages of one of the world's longest caves. Join Ranger Payden to [...]
Free
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1 event,
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Bison once nearly vanished from these grasslands, and bringing them back took decades of determined work. Join Ranger Alex for the story of the fall and rise of the Wind [...]
Free
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1 event,
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Join Ranger Coral to hear Lakota star knowledge stories shared by the National Park Service and learn why Wind Cave is regarded as a sacred place. As the prairie sky [...]
Free
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2 events,
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Celebrate the Fourth of July with the Black Hills' own fireworks: birds. Nature's Fireworks explores the roles birds play in a healthy forest, from pollinating plants to helping control disease, [...]
Free
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The history of Wind Cave was shaped by women geologists, explorers, and rangers whose names are too often left out of the telling. Join Ranger Frannie to meet the women [...]
Free
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1 event,
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Travel back to a time when lanterns lit the way and word of mouth spread the wonder, and the story of Wind Cave was just beginning. Ranger Elizabeth traces how [...]
Free
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1 event,
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During the 1930s, the young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps reshaped Wind Cave with roads, trails, and buildings still in use today. Join Ranger Madi to learn how their [...]
Free
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3 events,
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Join BHPFA and the Custer County Library for Teen Tuesday!
Free
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Join Park Ranger Ben Schutt for an evening look back at how one landmark, and the national monument named for it, changed over more than a century. In this Visitor [...]
Free
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Generations of people have called this stretch of prairie and cave country home. Join Ranger Madelyn to walk through a single day in the lives of those who came before, [...]
Free
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1 event,
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The prairie above is only half the story. Beneath it, bats and tiny microorganisms survive in the dark passages of one of the world's longest caves. Join Ranger Payden to [...]
Free
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2 events,
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Black Hills Parks and Forests Association invites you to join Education Specialist Tom Tonkin at the Custer County Library for Field Notes: Stories and Skills from the Natural World, an [...]
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Bison once nearly vanished from these grasslands, and bringing them back took decades of determined work. Join Ranger Alex for the story of the fall and rise of the Wind [...]
Free
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4 events,The National Grasslands Visitor Center, along with partnering nonprofit organizations and state and federal agencies, is hosting a celebration of one of North America's most endangered mammals, the black-footed ferret, [...]
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Spend the day learning how the Forest Service tracks, counts, and protects the wildlife of the grasslands. Meet a wildlife biologist, try the tools of the trade, and earn your [...]
Free
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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 [...]
Free
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Join Ranger Coral to hear Lakota star knowledge stories shared by the National Park Service and learn why Wind Cave is regarded as a sacred place. As the prairie sky [...]
Free
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2 events,
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During the 1930s, the young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps reshaped Wind Cave with roads, trails, and buildings still in use today. Join Ranger Madi to learn how their [...]
Free
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0 events,
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1 event,
National Grasslands Visitor Center staff will be presenting interpretive programs every other Monday at Badlands National Park’s Cedar Pass Amphitheater throughout the summer.
Free
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0 events,
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0 events,
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0 events,
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3 events,
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Get to know the plants that hold the grasslands together. Spend the day with a Forest Service botanist, key out a few species, and earn your Jr. Botanist patch.About Jr. [...]
Free
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Martin Gilmore is scheduled to present his program The History of the American West Through Song on Friday, July 17 at 7:00 p.m. at the Scotts Bluff National Monument Visitor [...]
Free
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Join Martin Gilmore for a musical journey where he will present traditional and original folk
Free
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2 events,
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Meet the animals that call the Black Hills home. The Wild Side of the Black Hills introduces the many animals of the region and the roles each one plays in [...]
Free
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Head to the quiet Wyoming corner of the Black Hills for a campfire sing-along in the Bear Lodge Mountains. Sally Svenson, the Songbird of the Black Hills, plays her original [...] |
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1 event,
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Read the clues people left on the land over thousands of years. Spend the day with a Forest Service archaeologist, see how the past gets pieced together, and earn your [...]
Free
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3 events,
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Join Jewel Cave National Monument for a day of cave related crafts and activities!
Free
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Meet the night shift. Join Wildlife Biologist Amy Hammesfahr at the Little Elk Creek Trail for a guided hike into the world of bats. You’ll learn what makes these mammals [...]
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Wind Cave National Park protects two very different worlds: the open prairie above and the intricate cave below. On clear nights a third world blankets both, the brilliant night sky [...]
Free
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0 events,
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1 event,
National Grasslands Visitor Center staff will be presenting interpretive programs every other Monday at Badlands National Park’s Cedar Pass Amphitheater throughout the summer.
Free
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1 event,
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Learn to read the landscape of western Nebraska. Park Ranger Christian Hedrick presents "Ethnobotany of the High Plains," an evening program on the native plants of the High Plains and [...]
Free
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0 events,
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0 events,
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1 event,
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Dig into the deep past of the grasslands, back to when this was the floor of an ancient sea and home to creatures long gone. Spend the day with a [...]
Free
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1 event,
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From the forest floor up, plants keep the Black Hills alive. This program looks at how plants make their own food through photosynthesis and cellular respiration, why they matter to [...]
Free
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Events
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Jr. Ranger Day: Paleontologist | NGVC
National Grasslands Visitor Center 708 Main St, Wall, United StatesDig into the deep past of the grasslands, back to when this was the floor of an ancient sea and home to creatures long gone. Spend the day with a [...]
Free -
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Plants | Black Hills NF
Pactola Visitor Center Pactola Reservoir, US Highway 385, Rapid City, SD, United StatesFrom the forest floor up, plants keep the Black Hills alive. This program looks at how plants make their own food through photosynthesis and cellular respiration, why they matter to [...]
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Jr. Ranger Day: Wildland Firefighter & Smokey Bear’s 82nd Birthday | NGVC
National Grasslands Visitor Center 708 Main St, Wall, United StatesMeet the crews who fight fire on the grasslands and find out how they keep the land and nearby communities safe. The day doubles as Smokey Bear's 82nd birthday, so [...]
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Survival Skills for Teens | Custer County Library
Custer County Library 447 Crook St, Custer, SD, United StatesJoin BHPFA and Custer County Library for a special survival skills program geared for ages 10 - 18.
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Happy Birthday, Smokey Bear! | Black Hills NF
Pactola Visitor Center Pactola Reservoir, US Highway 385, Rapid City, SD, United StatesSmokey Bear turns 82 on August 9, and the Pactola Visitor Center is throwing him a party all weekend. Join the celebration of the Forest Service's most famous bear and [...]
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Happy Birthday, Smokey Bear! | Black Hills NF
Pactola Visitor Center Pactola Reservoir, US Highway 385, Rapid City, SD, United StatesIt's Smokey Bear's actual birthday. Smokey turns 82 on August 9, and the Pactola Visitor Center party continues for a second day. Join the celebration of the Forest Service's most [...]
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Smokey Bear Birthday Party | Black Hills NF
Black Hills National Forest Supervisors Office 1019 North 5th Street, Custer, SD, United StatesSmokey Bear turns 82, and the Black Hills National Forest is throwing him a party in Custer. Bikers rolling in for the start of the Sturgis Rally and local families [...]
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Badlands National Park Evening Programs | NGVC
Badlands National Park Cedar Pass Campground Amphitheater 20681 South Dakota Highway 240, Interior, SD, United StatesNational Grasslands Visitor Center staff will be presenting interpretive programs every other Monday at Badlands National Park’s Cedar Pass Amphitheater throughout the summer.
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Guided by Tradition: Using Pawnee Oral Histories to Rethink Radiocarbon Dating on the Great Plains | Scotts Bluff NM
Scotts Bluff National Monument 190276 Old Oregon Trail, Gering, NE, United StatesGuided by Tradition: Using Pawnee Oral Histories to Rethink Radiocarbon Dating on the Great Plains is a free evening lecture at the Scotts Bluff National Monument Visitor Center. Carlton Shield [...]
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Learning the Language of Nature | Wind Cave National Park
Wind Cave National Park 26611 U.S. Hwy 385, Hot Springs, SD, United States"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 [...]
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Field Notes | Custer HQ
BHPFA Custer Headquarters 833 Mt Rushmore Road, Custer, SD, United StatesSpend 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 [...]
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Atlatl Program at Pinnacles | NGVC
Pinnacles Dispersed Camping Area Near FSR 7170 & FSR 7158, off Highway 240 (about 7 miles south of Wall), Wall, SD, United StatesThrow 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 [...]
Free
Explore BHPFA Programs
Not sure which program is right for you? Here’s a guide to what we offer across the Black Hills and Nebraska.
Nature Connection Workshops
Full-day hands-on workshops in animal tracking, wildlife communication, and nature journaling at Wind Cave National Park. Ages 8+.
auto_storiesHomeschool Nature Adventures
Monthly outdoor education for homeschool families at The Trailhouse in Custer. Guided hikes, storytelling, nature observation. Ages 5–12.
volunteer_activismFree Guided Programs
No-cost outdoor experiences including ranger-led hikes, nature walks, and seasonal events across Wind Cave, Jewel Cave, and Black Hills National Forest.
exploreSheJumps Partnerships
Women’s outdoor education in partnership with SheJumps. Multi-session workshops including Map & Compass navigation at Wind Cave National Park.
Stay in the Loop
Don’t miss a program. Subscribe to our calendar feed or reach out to schedule a private group experience.
