Let’s pass on new park campground

A proposal for a new 176-site campground at Custer State Park sounds like it is dead on arrival when it is heard by committee at this year’s legislative session, and we must say, we are glad that is the case.
“With the amount of negativity from all walks of life in South Dakota, I highly doubt this bill will make it out of committee and on to the Appropriations committee where it will end up if passed,” Charlie Hoffman, R-Eureka, told Keloland News in an email.
The South Dakota Game Fish and Parks has proposed a new 176-site campground in response to demand for camping in the park, and Gov. Kristi Noem touted the idea in her Jan. 11 speech in her State of the State speech, saying, “We plan to add more campsites at Custer State Park to expand our ability to host people from in and out of state.”
The idea has been almost universally panned, particularly here in the Black Hills, where no one wants to see a large campground constructed in the park, let alone in the planned area, which is in Barnes Canyon near Wildlife Loop Road and the park’s airport. Game, Fish and Parks wants $10 million to build the campground. If you’re counting at home, that’s $56,818 per site.
The campground is a bad idea for a number of reasons, but the most obvious is that it would be building a nice, shiny new campground that directly competes with private enterprise in the area. Campgrounds in this county don’t need 176 more campsites to compete against, and if there is indeed demand for that many more campsites, let the private sector handle it. The state should not be using taxpayer money to construct a campground that will then directly compete against said taxpayers. The state already doesn’t pay property taxes on the park. Let’s not let it further hinder our county residents and campground owners.
We love Custer State Park for its wide-open spaces. Wildlife Loop Road is one of the most popular parts of the park, if not the most popular. The thought of cramming 176 more campsites worth of traffic up and down that road is enough to scare even the most enthusiastic of burro lovers. Traffic already moves relatively slow in the park as it is, particularly during the Rally, holiday weekends, etc. Throwing that much more congestion onto the parks winding roads doesn’t seem like a good idea, either.
Custer State Park is the crown jewel of our state park system. It’s gorgeous, awe-inspiring and nearly perfect in every way. It’s admirable the state wants to continue to upgrade the park, but it’s our opinion that adding another large campground would be substraction by addition. There are other ways to improve the park without making it look more like Disneyland.
Like most, we say pass on the Custer State Park campground. Leave Wildlife Loop—and the wildlife that call it home—alone.