The Black Hills National Forest is changing. Years of damage from wildfires and pine beetles have shifted the conversation about the sustainability of the forest and the viability of the forest products industry. This month theSDPB Spotlight coverage has focused on the forest.
In order to begin to understand the Black Hills, you need to spend some time there. For me, the forest sounds a little different every time I visit. It's muffled once and ringing the next. One time I sat in silence for an hour and never heard another footstep. Other times I've been in the Black Hills I've heard rustling and rumbling ... a disquiet. But the forest always seems to smell exactly like I remember it does... sweet and fragrant and blanketed with pine.