Welcome to the Grand River National Grassland

Welcome to the Grand River National Grassland. . The Grand River National Grassland in encompasses 155,000 acres in northwestern South Dakota. The Grand River Ranger District, in Lemmon, South Dakota administers the Grand River and Cedar River National Grassland. The Cedar River National Grassland encompasses 6,700 acres and is located in Southwestern North Dakota. , Built in 2004, the Blacktail Trail was established to enhance recreational opportunities on the Grand River National Grassland. Whether you enjoy hiking, biking, or horseback riding, this seven-mile trail will provide you the opportunity to see many types of wildflowers and wildlife common to the area. Interpretive panels placed along the trail in 2006 give visitors an opportunity to learn about the history and ecology of the grasslands, discover creatures that once in inhabited this land, and learn about creatures that live on the prairie today. , The interpretive panels along to Blacktail Trail were made possible through USDA, Forest Service Centennial Funds. Our sincere gratitude goes to Harold Severson, Kim Anderson, and students of Lemmon High School for building the rock foundations that support the interpretive panels. , Grasslands forever and for everyone. , Today National Grasslands present a scene of quiet beauty, are rich in natural resources, and provide diverse recreational uses. They give a little hint of past human misery or of parched earth turned into dust by burning winds. But these lands have known strife, poverty, and dust; they are part of the story of the National Grasslands , a story that is a lesson for the future. , Why are these lands National Grasslands? , In the 1860s, the lure of a free land brought thousands of homesteaders west. By 1904, nearly 100 million acres of western land had been homesteaded into 500,000 farms. In the 1920s and 1930s, many farmers suffered economic hardships that were accompanied by devastating natural events like droughts, floods, insect infestations, and erosion. For many, these challenges, along with the advent of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl, were too much. In the 1930s, the federal government bought back more than 11 million acres of these lands from the homesteaders. Some of these acres were sold back to private landowners and others are public lands administered by different federal agencies, including the 4,000,000 acres of National Grasslands administered by the Forest Service. , Enjoy the great outdoors!