Black Hills Parks & Forests Association

06/03/2026

Happy Cave Week to all those who celebrate.

Which should be everyone. Because caves are awesome.

Even if they give you the claustrophobic heebieejeebies, caves and karsts are great habitats for bats, vital distribution and filter mechanisms for our groundwater, and important settings of stories in many cultures.

Happy Cave Week from Wind Cave National Park! We are home to the world’s sixth-longest cave, with nearly 170 miles mapped. That makes us the third-longest in the United States! Wind Cave is also considered by many to be the world’s most complex cave due to its many passageways lying under about one square mile of land, all tangled together. What’s more, studies of air flow and air volume make us think Wind Cave is likely less than 10% mapped!

06/01/2026

It's National Forest Week, so it's a great time to remind you the Pactola Visitor Center is open for the 2026 season!

Pactola sits on the largest reservoir in the Black Hills, off Highway 385 between Rapid City and Silver City. The Forest Service runs the visitor center. BHPFA runs the store inside it, stocked with Black Hills maps, field guides, kids' books, plush, and gifts.

Riding the motorized trail system this summer? You can grab your U.S. Forest Service - Black Hills National Forest motor vehicle use permit here too. Stop in before you head out.

Open Friday to Monday, 9:00 to 4:30, Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend for your weekend roadtrip enjoyment! Park store sales fund education and stewardship across the Black Hills and Nebraska parks and forests.

blackhillsparks.org

05/27/2026

One more retail spot to fill at Wind Cave's park store. Weekend shifts, starting now through October.

BHPFA runs the park store inside the visitor center at Wind Cave National Park. The job is both retail AND visitor information: ringing up books and gifts, helping visitors figure out which tour fits their group, answering park questions.

Part-time or full-time, $14-$15/hour. Weekend availability required. Immediate start.

Apply or ask questions: [email protected] or 605-745-7020
Full posting: https://blackhillsparks.org/employment/

05/20/2026

Never been on a Moon Walk? This summer is the year. The U.S. Forest Service - Black Hills National Forest just released its 2026 schedule.

A Moon Walk is a guided night hike, free, on the Saturday closest to each full moon June through September. 7 PM start, lasts about two hours. Different ranger district, different Forest expert, different topic each time.

The 2026 lineup:

June 27: Cone Collection and Reforestation, with forestry technician Jed Burgers. Bearlodge Ranger District, Reuter Springs Trail near Sundance, WY.

July 25: Let's Turn On the Dark, with wildlife biologist Amy Hammesfahr. Bat biology at Little Elk Creek, Northern Hills Ranger District. The drainage is rocky, sturdy shoes recommended.

August 29: Walking through the Past to See the Future. Multiple Forest staff at historic Meeker Ranch outside Custer, built in 1887 by former Pony Express rider Frank Cunningham Meeker.

September 26: Meet Your Friendly Insect Neighbors, with USFS entomologist Megan Wilson. The 97% of forest insects that aren't pests. Willow Creek Trailhead, Hell Canyon Ranger District.

BHPFA has helped support these popular programs for years. We also make the annual Moon Walk Collector's Pin. The pin is $5, sold only at the walks while supplies last. Sometimes a few make it out to the BHPFA online store after the season, sometimes not.

Bring a light jacket, wear closed-toe shoes (no sandals), and allow extra drive time at all four sites.

Full schedule and directions: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r02/blackhills (search "Moon Walk")

05/16/2026

In 1981, a ranch dog named Shep cornered a black-footed ferret. The species had been declared extinct two years before.

Every wild black-footed ferret alive today descends from the 18 survivors biologists found after that encounter. They're one of the rarest mammals in North America, and one of the country's best conservation success stories.

The Conata Basin population on Buffalo Gap National Grassland is the proof. Twenty-plus wild generations. Self-sustaining since the 1990s.

For Endangered Species Day, Cha Duggin from the Nebraska National Forests & Grasslands team wrote up where the recovery stands now. Spotlight surveys at night. Vaccinations against canine distemper and plague. Living cell cultures preserved like seeds in a vault, in case the genetics are ever needed again.

Travis Livieri, the biologist who's been at this since the early years: "These are probably the most valuable black-footed ferrets on the planet. They're expressing their genetics where it matters, on the landscape."

Read the full article: https://blackhillsparks.org/news-events/black-footed-ferret-conata-basin/

A tangible way to help: BHPFA's Black-Footed Ferret Protection Program plush ferrets and embroidered caps ($35 each) send $20 per sale directly to ferret conservation on Buffalo Gap.

05/13/2026

Who is Bark? You'll find out this week.

(Spoiler: she's a beaver.)

BHPFA's newest children's book and matching plush release in a few days. Picture book. Plush version. The full origin story of one very determined dam-builder.

Details at bhpfa.org/bark.

05/11/2026

1,500 wildflower species bloom in the Black Hills. Most of us walk right past them.

Two field guides by Connie McKinney fix that. Both organize wildflowers by color and bloom season, so you don't need a botany background to identify what's at your feet.

Black Hills ($15.99) covers Wind Cave, Jewel Cave, and BHNF.
Wildcat Hills ($13.99) covers 400+ species across Scotts Bluff NM and the rest of western Nebraska.

May is peak bloom. Grab one before your next hike:

https://blackhillsparks.org/shop/park-stores/wind-cave-n-p/wildflowers-of-the-black-hills/

05/08/2026

Looking for a last-minute Saturday plan? Come find out why that squirrel is yelling at you.

She's telling the whole forest you're closer than you think. Tomorrow at Wind Cave, you can learn to listen back.

Can you tell if a hawk or coyote is nearby just by hearing how the birds change their tune? That's the kind of thing "Learning the Language of Nature" teaches. A 4-hour field workshop on alarm calls, animal behavior, and reading the Black Hills landscape through its living voices. 1-2 mile hike on easy terrain, small group capped at 10.

Registration open through tonight.

Saturday, May 9 | 9 AM - 1 PM | Wind Cave NP
$40 adult | $20 child | $100 family

https://blackhillsparks.org/nature-workshops

05/04/2026

Once thought extinct. Now the star of your kid's next art project.

The National Grasslands Visitor Center is celebrating 30 years of black-footed ferret recovery with a K-12 poster contest. Four grade divisions. Crayons, markers, paint, whatever. One ferret, one sheet of paper. Submit by June 22. Winners announced July 6, with BHPFA prize baskets on the line.

Full rules and submission info: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r02/nebraska/events/black-footed-ferret-poster-contest-2026

04/23/2026

1,348 visitor interactions last year. Up 45% from 2024. That's the power of the Wind Cave Ambassadors.

These are volunteers who post up on select trails at Wind Cave National Park. They track trail conditions, gather use data, and answer the questions real hikers have. Where does this go? Can I see bison? What about dogs?

They also help visitors understand why trail rules and wildlife habitat matter. No lectures. Just conversations at the trailhead.

Rankin Ridge pulled the most traffic last year, peaking in June, and the 2026 season kicks off in May.

It's National Volunteer Week. If you've crossed paths with an Ambassador on a Wind Cave trail, say thank you in the comments.