The Forest Service is planning to sell a ranger work station in the Black Hills. The Pactola Work Center on Rimrock Highway includes forty acres with three cabins, a large garage, and several other outbuildings. As SDPB's Charles Michael Ray reports, the Forest Service first set aside the property for use in 1907.
Cindy Hockelberg is with the Black Hills National Forest. She says the Pactola Work Center was built at a time when horses were more common than computers and today the facility is out of date. Hockelberg says the money from the proposed sale is earmarked for maintenance and construction of newer facilities.
“The shop itself is really wonderful. Kind of an old log structure, you know a lot of Forest Service History there. I think a lot of folks are probably sad to see it go, but on the other hand recognize that we can’t afford as an agency not to maintain our newer facilities our ones we’re going to be keeping so this is just part of the process,” says Hockleberg.
Hockleberg says the assessed value of the property is being set at a later date. A local appraiser says similar sized plots of land in the Black Hills have sold for around a half-million dollars, the value of the buildings on the site would add to that figure. She says the Forest Service is accepting public comments on the proposed auction of the property.
The public can submit comments or concerns to:
Black Hills National Forest,
1019 N. 5th St, Custer, SD
57730
Attn: Pactola Work Center
or e-mail:
comments-rocky-mountain-black-hills @fs.fed.us
with Pactola Work Center as the subject.
The deadline is November 1, 2012. Questions can be directed to Cindy Hockelberg at the Black Hills National Forest Supervisors Office, (605) 673-9238.