The State of South Dakota is pausing efforts to facilitate the Little Spearfish Canyon and Bismarck Lake land transfer with the federal government.
Katie Cerrol is with the South Dakota Game Fish and Parks department. She says the consulting firm Peaks to Plains will finish up an inventory analysis of the proposed areas…
“Then we’re going to close out their contracts," Cerrol says. "So, in other words, there won’t be any formal meetings taking place in May, they’re postponed. And really that allows us to pause. So we’re pausing those planning efforts.”
Ceroll says the state may use information gathered from the analysis to work with the forest service to improve trails. She says the state may also work to create a trail from Savoy Pond to Roughlock Falls.
Before the contract was closed, state lawmakers put the transfer on hold. They needed the one-time land transfer money to plug up a budgetary shortfall.
The idea of a land transfer was unpopular to hundreds of residents who attended a public meeting in Spearfish earlier this year.