Location: Badlands/Conata Basin is a 300,000 acre area located in southwestern South Dakota, 50 miles east of Rapid City and immediately south of the town of Wall (map).
Importance of
the area: Thanks to
reintroductions of
bison, bighorn sheep, black-footed ferrets, and swift fox,
Badlands/Conata
Basin is now one of the most complete Great Plains ecosystems in the
United States. Conata Basin contains the
only
large black-tailed prairie dog complex on public lands in the country
(>20,000 acres), which is why Conata Basin is also home to the
world’s most
successful black-footed ferret restoration effort (over 250 ferrets). Conata Basin’s prairie dog towns are also
home to 250 pair of burrowing owls: more than the entire known
population of
the rest of the state.
Ongoing conservation efforts: Prior to Forest Service land consolidation efforts, the checkerboard land ownership pattern prevented the Forest Service from managing for many species. Now, with a large consolidated core of federal land in Conata Basin, wildlife is thriving. Recent studies by The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund and Predator Conservation Alliance all chose the Badlands/Conata Basin area as among the very best restoration and conservation areas for prairie dog and related species in the Northern Great Plains. Because prarie dog colonies are so important to so many species in this area, Forest Service and Badlands National Park biologists periodcially conduct detailed inventories of the extent and condition of Conata Basin's prairie dog colonies. Follow this link to view maps and aerial photos that show locations of the extensive prairie dog colonies in and around Conata Basin.
