Badlands National Park is receiving a grant supported by the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund to help students explore the outdoors.
The extra dollars are earmarked for students from Kadoka and the Pine Ridge Reservation’s Red Cloud Indian School.
One of the purposes of the National Park Service is to get people outdoors to experience and appreciate some of the 84 million acres of land set aside for our use.
Badlands National Park spokesperson Julie Johndreau says key among those “people” are the country’s youth. The $7,000 grant the park has received is primarily designed to assist with transportation costs: the biggest barrier to park visits for some students.
“Although fairly close to the Badlands,” Johndreau explains, “a lot of times kids don’t get to visit the park and really learn about the resources here, and really learn what the National Park Service is all about…and different career opportunities for them also.”
Johndreau says Badlands National Park is specifically focusing on recruiting students from the Pine Ridge Reservation as the Oglala Sioux Tribe prepares to take over operation of the park’s South Unit.