Located just miles from Badlands National Park in South Dakota is the Pinnacles area. This is a hidden gem ideal for dispersed recreation and dispersed camping. The easy accessibility has made this area a popular destination for those who want a pristine and gorgeous camping spot away from the hustle and bustle of the national park.
The problems have come from users being forced to use as the Forest Service states, “a relatively concentrated area”. Many of the proposed “solutions” are restrictive management practices such as implementing a reservation system, restricting off-road travel and limiting the number of dispersed camping spots. The USFS should at least consider allowing more areas to be used for dispersed camping in order to alleviate some of the burden on this concentrated area. Through the current proposal, only 70 designated campsites would be allowed. We are still waiting on getting current data to show that is the average number of campsites through the peak seasons as the Forest Service suggests. The plan proposal also states, “An increase [in campsites] may occur due to increased public demand for additional sites.” It sounds as if there is already an increased public demand if there are current overuse issues. BRC believes many of the concerns the Forest Service is looking to address can be solved with better management, rather than closures. Better signs, education and road management can alleviate issues while still allowing access for dispersed camping.
You can see the Forest Service public meeting presentation here.
Please add your voice to ours and submit a comment using the action alert below and let the Forest Service know, dispersed camping is an important part of accessing and enjoying public lands. Comments are due on June 13, 2022.
Cover Image photo credit: Instagram user, @BlackHillsBuilds
Please keep this area open for camping!! We leave it cleaner than we found it and hope that is how all folks treat it! Thank you
Please don’t restrict this area for camping. So many people enjoy camping there and with the way todays generation is with everyone being addicted to technology, it’s a great way to step out of reality!
1. The agency should adequately consider that the public prefers dispersed camping spots and that is consistent with the need for social distancing.
2. The agency should adequately consider that there is an inadequate number of dispersed camping spots in the project area and the preferred alternative should address this significant issue.
3. The agency should adequately consider that the pandemic and social distancing requirements have significantly increased the public need for more OHV opportunities.
4. The agency should adequately consider that the pandemic and social distancing requirements have significantly increased the public need for more dispersed camping opportunities.
5. The agency should adequately consider that abundant dispersed camping sites and motorized trails are essential to keep the public healthy and sane during and after this pandemic.
6. The agency should adequately consider that dispersed camp sites fill a significant need for retirees, family weekenders, boondockers, and nomads whose lives are fulfilled by these motorized dispersed camping opportunities.
7. The agency should adequately consider that all existing dispersed motorized camp sites need to be included in the plan as well as new sites to meet the growing need.
8. The agency should adequately consider that some reasonable visual evidence of public use on multiple-use land including dispersed camp sites is acceptable.
9. The agency should adequately consider that all dispersed camp sites are highly-valued contemporary cultural sites.
10. The agency should adequately recognize that a healthy human environment depends on adequate access to dispersed camping and motorized recreational opportunities.
11. The agency should adequately consider that it uses every opportunity to close dispersed camp sites, motorized spur routes, and motorized roads and trails and has not adequately evaluated and considered the cumulative impact of that trend on the human environment.
12. The agency should adequately consider only site-specific data that compares any purported impact of significance from motorized recreation and dispersed camping to the naturally occurring levels of impact and change.
13. The agency should adequately consider only site-specific data that demonstrates that closures of motorized and dispersed camping opportunities produce significant benefit to the natural environment.
14. The agency should adequately consider the closing of dispersed camping sites and motorized recreation opportunities based on vegetation and resource management concerns because this strategy is not aligned at all with the significant public need for these recreation opportunities.
15. The agency should adequately consider that the negative impacts on the natural environment from dispersed camping sites is relatively insignificant when compared to the natural level of environmental impacts.
16. The agency should adequately consider that any significant negative impacts on the natural environment from dispersed camping spots can be mitigated to a reasonable level in most locations.
17. The agency should adequately consider that wilderness visitors deposit their waste in the wilderness and RV campers dispose of their waste at treatment facilities.
18. The agency should adequately consider that self-contained campers have an acceptable and minimal environmental impact and more dispersed camping sites need to be created to serve this popular form of recreation.
Please find a way to keep dispersed camping free and easily accessible. Maybe creating volunteer camp host positions can be part of the solution. There are many who would jump at the opportunity and be a perfect fit.
If you really cared about this issue you would have provided a way for people to give feedback. This is just sloppy writing.
There is a link buried in the PDF, but it does not work. I’ve contacted the Forest Service and told them this (just now), but there are only 3 days left before the deadline for comments.