NATIONAL PARK SERVICE • U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Foundation Document Overview Badlands National Park South Dakota Contact Information For more information about the Badlands National Park Foundation Document, contact:
[email protected] or (605) 433-5361 or write to: Superintendent, Badlands National Park, 25216 Ben Reifel Road, Interior, SD 57750 Purpose Significance Significance statements express why Badlands National Park resources and values are important enough to merit national park unit designation. Statements of significance describe why an area is important within a global, national, regional, and systemwide context. These statements are linked to the purpose of the park unit, and are supported by data, research, and consensus. Significance statements describe the distinctive nature of the park and inform management decisions, focusing efforts on preserving and protecting the most important resources and values of the park unit. • The park’s geological and paleontological resources provide insight into climatic history, biological diversity, The purposes of BADLANDS NATIONAL evolution, and geological processes particular to the PARK are based on the various pieces of boundary between the Eocene and Oligocene epochs, as legislation that resulted in the creation well as a unique opportunity to trace the evolution of the of Badlands National Park and the prairie ecosystems of the Great Plains. legislation governing the National Park • The long history of research in the White River Badlands Service. Badlands National Park is to be has contributed greatly to the science of vertebrate managed to accomplish the following: paleontology in North America. • Protect the unique landforms and • The park contains spectacular scenery, predominantly scenery of the White River Badlands highly eroded landforms that comprise a concentrated collection of rutted ravines, serrated towers, pinnacles, and for the benefit, education, and precipitous gulches.