The News from Wind Cave

Wind Cave Ferrets Have Babies

Wind Cave National Park officials say the reintroduction of black-footed ferrets in the park is showing signs of success a year after the rare animals were first released.

Fourteen baby ferrets, called kits, were recently trapped and released during four nights of surveying.

Elk Bugling Programs Begin at Wind Cave National Park

Listening for the bugle of the Rocky Mountain elk is the subject of ranger programs this September at Wind Cave National Park.

The elk’s high-pitched whistle heralds the arrival of fall and the mating season of the Rocky Mountain elk. Throughout the month of September, rangers are giving brief interpretive programs about elk before leading a caravan to a nearby pullout to listen for them.

Elk Bugling Programs Begin At Wind Cave National Park

Fall at Wind Cave National Park is the mating season for elk. During this time, the male elk bugle, or create a high-pitched whistling sound, as they battle for dominance in the herd.

Listening for the bugle of the Rocky Mountain elk is the subject of ranger programs this September at Wind Cave National Park. The elk’s high-pitched whistle heralds the arrival of fall and the mating season of the Rocky Mountain elk.

South Dakota's Wind Cave offers night hikes to see black-footed ferrets

WIND CAVE NATIONAL PARK, S.D. (AP) — Visitors to Wind Cave National Park this summer have the chance to see black-footed ferrets at night.

To mark the one-year anniversary of the reintroduction of the creatures to the Black Hills park, rangers are offering night hikes through prairie dog towns in hopes of seeing the rare animal.

The program starts at Elk Mountain Campground at 9 p.m. every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday through Aug. 16. No reservations are necessary.

Why national parks, coal-fired power plants may be neighbors

Nature photographer Hullihen Moore specializes in vistas of Virginia's Shenandoah National Park, but worries he'll soon be unable to see his beloved ridgelines through a yellowish haze of industrial emissions.

On some days, thick air already obscures mountains just a few miles distant, he says. So adding six new coal-fired power plants nearby, as is proposed, might make view-gazing impossible.

Shenandoah isn't the only national treasure whose scenic values are up in the air, however. From Virginia to Utah, the air quality of at least 10 national parks, including many with crystalline views, is threatened by plans to build at least two dozen new coal-fired power plants, parks advocates and air-quality experts say.

The little-known reason places with names like Badlands, Wind Cave, and Great Basin could soon see sullied air is a federal proposal that would lower the bar for developers seeking permits to build upwind of the parks, these critics say.