A culturally significant area in southeastern South Dakota is now a new state park.
A Senate Bill passed this legislative session found its way to Sioux Falls for the governor’s signature. His pen stroke officially designates 615 acres in Lincoln County as Good Earth State Park at Blood Run. It’s an historic landmark because of Native American culture dating back to the 1500s.
"It’s got a great cultural history,” Daugaard says. “We can, with the help of the tribes and with respect to their culture and ancestry, learn about that and teach about that, so we can all appreciate the people who came before us.”
Good Earth State Park at Blood Run spans from Lincoln county across the Missouri River in Iowa. Daugaard says people from both states worked to preserve the site and create the park.
“Most of that 3,000 acres, I should mention, is in Iowa, but the most beautiful pieces I believe, and I’m very objective about this, are in South Dakota,” Daugaard says.
Thursday afternoon, Daugaard signature officially creates the park and designates $2 million to construction. Private donors have given another $2.5 million for property purchasing and development. The Parks and Wildlife Foundation is now raising money for a visitor center.
Good Earth State Park at Blood Run is the first state park created in four decades.