Black Hills Land Use

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Black Hills Land Use

• By Jasmin Mahmutovic

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Off Road Vehicles

• Currently 90 of the Black Hills National Forest
  is legally available for off roading.
• In the past decade, land management officials say
  that there has been a rise in the number of off
  road vehicles from 5 million to 36 million
  nationwide.
• Many of these off road vehicles end up in
  national forests.
• This increases the need for the regulation of off
  road vehicles

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Off Roading Concerns

• If off road use is unmanaged, the natural
  resources of the land will be damaged to a
  greater extent.
• Destroys some types of plant life
• Riding in botanical areas would result in damage
  to trees and tree roots
• Compaction of the ground

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Actions Taken

• The Forest Service will provide more restrictive
  rules for all national forests in response to
  increased off-road travel
• There could be an off-road trail system in the
  Black Hills
• That would outline where one could go
• And it would reduce land available for off roading

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Mining

• Currently there are 15,000 active mining claims
  to extract gold, silver, lead, and many other
  minerals
• Due to the 1872 Mining Law, a major portion of
  the privately owned land is acquired for mining

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1872 Mining Law

• Allows mining companies to take valuable hard
  rock minerals including gold, silver, and uranium
  from public lands without royalty payment to the
  taxpayer.
• The Law also contains no environmental
  provisions. In which taxpayers are often left to
  clean up the mess that companies leave behind.  
• Over 131 years later, the law is still in effect
  and applies to over 270 million acres of federal
  land

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Mining Concerns

• Mining operations continue to fragment the Black
  Hills, causing pollution, habitat loss, and
  significant damage to water-quality
• Discharge leaches hazardous substances into the
  water
• Bird deaths and fish kills have occurred due to
  acid mine drainage.

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Actions Taken

• The Homestake Mine in Lead discharged at least
  100 million tons of gold-mill tailings and
  hazardous substances into Whitewood Creek.
• The State of South Dakota and other Trustees now
  have drafted a restoration plan to clean up this
  waste

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Works Cited

• The Argus Leader
• The Rapid City Journal
• http//www.fs.fed.us/