78
FEBRUARY 2013
•
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
to the cameras she’s set up around the res-
ervation. About the sizeof ahouse cat, with
big pointy ears and a black-tipped feathery
tail, the swi fox sawits populationdecline
dramatically in the Great Plains around
the turn of the 20th century. It’s a fero-
cious predator—at least if you’re a prairie
dog—and is revered by the Lakota, who
named an elite class of warriors a er the
animal. “It’s a tough li le cri er,” she says.
In 2009 Ecoffey brought 54 of the foxes
to this windswept prairie and fi ed them
with radio collars, and she’s beenmonitor-
ing their progress ever since. In itself, her
mission to help reintroduce the animals to
their former territory has been successful.
But Trudy Ecoffey represents more than
the gradual return of an endangered
species. In away, she’s also an olive branch
from the U.S. government to the Oglala
Lakota, a Sioux Nation tribe it evicted
from a swath of the reservation 70 years
ago to create the bombing range and,
later, Badlands National Park. This land
has been a source of dispute and disap-
pointment for decades; now, suddenly, it’s
grounds for hope.
“
Something needed to change between
the National Park Service and the tribe,”
says Ecoffey. Last year it did—and that,
in turn, has given rise to something that
could change thewaywe think of national
parks in America. As go the foxes, so too
go the Lakota.
IT’S LATE AFTERNOON,
and the
Badlands are painted in a purplish light.
The landscape is a labyrinth of ravines, a
placeof austerebeautyandabundantwild-
life. In just a few minutes I spot bighorn
sheep, pronghorn, bisonand evena bobcat,
slinking across the road.
But there’s always been more to this
place than what the paved roads reveal.
You can see it right there on the parkmap:
the South Unit, a vast wilderness within
thePineRidge reservation. And contrary to
what the friendly woman at the park gate
told me—“Not much to see down there”—
there is in fact plenty to see. It just takes
perseverance. You need a high-clearance
vehicle, and it’s best to do some research
ahead of time because practically the only
signs you’ll see arewarnings not to “disturb
unknown objects” (since, as the signs also
say, “they could accidentally explode”).
Rapid City
SOUTH DAKOTA
NEBRASKA
Badlands
National
Park
90
Pine Ridge
Oglala
Wounded
Knee
W
H
I
T
E
R
I
V
E
R
W
O
U
N
D
E
D
K
N
E
E
C
R
E
E
K
KEY
PINE RIDGE INDIAN
RESERVATION
NORTH UNIT
SOUTH UNIT
South Unit
North Unit
FORMER BOMBING
RANGE
