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1/21/2010
Argus Leader - Part of Buffalo Gap may be vehicle-free, Johnson seeks to protect grassland
- Thom Gabrukiewicz

Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., said this week he plans to introduce legislation that would create a wilderness area within the Buffalo Gap National Grassland.

It would be the first grassland in the U.S. to be designated as a wilderness area and would set aside 40,000 to 50,000 acres for protection.

"These lands have long been managed as wilderness anyway," said Johnson, who plans to introduce the legislation within the next two months. "The uses won't be changed at all. I believe it's time to move forward on this."

By putting lands into a wilderness designation, they would be off-limits to motorized use, oil and gas drilling, mining and road building. The lands, however, would continue to be open to hunting, hiking, fishing, horseback riding and grazing.

South Dakota conservationists have pushed for the designation since the U.S. Forest Service first recommended the change to the Bush administration in 2002. To create a wilderness area, a member of South Dakota's congressional delegation had to sponsor a bill.

"The prairie grasslands are the fastest dwindling and the least protected ecosystem in the U.S.," South Dakota Wild Grassland Coalition Manager Cheryl Warren said. "There's not much of it left. We support Senator Johnson's leadership and vision in this. We think permanent protection is not too strong a step for lands like these - lands that belong to all Americans."

Johnson announced his support for the measure in a Sunday column he wrote for the Rapid City Journal. On Wednesday, he discussed his plans to sponsor the bill.

"I had the opportunity to study the legislation," he said. "I made some changes and some compromises. The compromises I sought made it an option for passage."

The lands up for consideration include:

• Indian Creek, 29,600 acres. The area includes the Sheep Mountain Table and the broad Cheyenne River valley.
• Red Shirt, 16,600 acres that includes scenic Schumacher Canyon.
• Chalk Hills, 4,600 acres. This area was made famous with the filming of actor Kevin Costner's movie, "Dances With Wolves."

The Buffalo Gap National Grasslands encompasses 591,000 acres in southwestern South Dakota.

Johnson's version of the legislation would keep the six-mile-long Indian Creek Road open by excluding it from the wilderness boundaries.

"That right there was the major opposition to this around here," said Terry Mayes of Rapid City, a sportsman and board member with the South Dakota Wildlife Federation. "A lot of people heard that the road would be closed, and I think it's a tremendous decision on (Johnson's) part to keep it open."

The measure is getting a lot of support among Rapid City's business leaders.

"Preserving a wilderness area in our nearby grasslands could provide a unique attraction for everyone, local residents as well as tourists," said Rapid City businessman Billy Cannon, who is the president of the Black Hills Sportsmen Club.

Wilderness designations are covered under the Wilderness Act of 1964. Since President Lyndon Johnson signed the act, more than 106 million acres of public lands have been protected from development and all mechanized travel. The lands are divided among the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

The state has two wilderness areas, the Black Elk Wilderness Area, designated in 1980 and consisting of 13,426 acres, and the Badlands Wilderness Area, established in 1976 and encompassing 64,144 acres.

Reach Thom Gabrukiewicz at 331-2320.

Additional Facts: At a glance

New legislation would set aside up to 50,000 acres in Buffalo Gap National Grassland as a wilderness area, which would ban motorized vehicles, drilling, mining and road building. It would stay open to hunting and fishing. and horseback riding. Indian Creek Road also would remain open.