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3/13/2006
The Brookings Register: (Opinion) Let’s preserve the prairie
- Janet Gordon Branum

“It is the vision that has set the direction for my life,” writes rancher Dan O’Brien in his book “Buffalo for the Broken Heart.” [sic] “No matter where I am, I can still close my eyes and see that sight from the north slope of the Black Hills: grass swaying in the wind to infinity and a sky that takes up half the world.”

Preserving some of those lands for future generations to experience is the purpose of the Cheyenne River Valley Grasslands Heritage Proposal. It would provide wilderness designation for a small but meaningful portion of our beautiful grasslands. From the time of the earliest South Dakotans, this unique and wild piece of the earth has left its imprint on all of us who call it home, whichever side of the Missouri we live on.

These immense open spaces offer some of the nation’s best places to hike and hunt, camp and climb, horseback ride, canoe, watch birds and wildlife, or simply absorb the spectacular scenery. Our experiences in this land with the uniquely powerful juxtaposition of badlands and wild, beautiful, vast prairie landscape gave South Dakotans many of our core values of steadfastness, independence, and old-fashioned community.

In the two centuries since Lewis and dark [sic] traversed the landscape of South Dakota, we have made great economic progress.

But much of that progress has seen us plow under and pave over much of our state’s wildest natural lands. Commemorating Lewis and Clark’s journey reminds us how fortunate we are to still have some wild prairie grasslands, badlands, and forests where we – and future generations – may yet experience and even relive a bit of the original South Dakota landscape.

That is why I am very heartened to know that a variety of South Dakota citizens are working together to make sure we truly preserve some of this irreplaceable heritage before it’s too late. Ranchers, sportsmen, conservationists, small business owners and others are collaborating to sustain this legacy for our children and grandchildren, and dozens of various interest groups and citizens have signed on in support.

This proposal would protect some 70,000 acres of public land as wilderness in southwestern South Dakota near Rapid City. After a process of careful planning and public comment, part of the proposal has already been formally recommended for wilderness protection by the Bush administration.

It is that recommendation upon which local citizens have built their specific boundary proposals.

Those of us who inhabit South Dakota and the hundreds of thousands more who visit each year recognize that we are blessed with magnificent places to get away from the often stressful busyness of our lives to enjoy the quiet wonder of a prairie that feels endless.

For the sake of our children and those yet to come, we are surely obliged with the responsibility to realize what we have, and take action to pass down some of this relatively untouched land as it has been passed down to us. Such wild places have formed a rich part of our prairie heritage – and must be part of theirs.

Conservation has always been an admirably bipartisan commitment among South Dakotans. The Cheyenne River Valley Grasslands Heritage Proposal deserves the support of every member of our congressional delegation.