"Our purpose in presenting it to you is to get your ideas on what you think the park needs that we don’t have. After our initial presentation we’re going to break off into small round table discussions where you can talk to all of us to tell us what you like, what you don’t like, what your concerns are and what ideas you may have to make the plans better. We’ll take all the feedback we’ll be getting from everyone and using it to create the best possible plan for the expansion of Palisades State Park.”
First, Van Meteren gave some details about the park’s current situation. Palisades State Park became a state park back in 1972. Currently it has 34 campsites with six cabins, one lodge and about 2 miles of trails. The Bridge that connects King and Queen Rock, in the traditional King and Queen Rock hiking area, was built in 1908 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
“Right now the park is at approximately 98 percent occupancy,” he said. “The only reason that number isn’t at 100 percent all the time is because of last minute cancelations, and you can be certain that when a camping spot opens up we don’t have much trouble getting it filled. I should also mention what we call our day use visitors, people who come to the park just for picnicking, hiking or swimming. Our number of day use visitors is also something we want to increase. The park has an annual visitation of approximately 90,000 people. Sadly, this means that our staff has had to turn people away at the gate during peak times in the summer because we just don’t have enough parking for them. With this new land acquisition and the plans we’ve been working on, we can change all of that for the better.”
These plans include the possibility of building between 50 to 70 new campsites. Adding 4 new miles of hiking and biking trails. Larger and more frequent picnic and day use space. Additional access and boat landings for kayaks, canoes and fishing along the Splitrock Creek. A disc golf course (frisbee golf), and an off-leash dog/pet park with exercise and training facilities. And an Archery trail.
SDGFP Assistant Director Al Nedved used power point slides and graphics to outline maps of the park on the proposed plans.
“We want careful planning to make the best use out of every acre,” he said. “The creek is and still will be the lifeblood of the park. The rock and timber along the water, and the trails we will connect and place all around it is the natural beauty that people come to Palisades for. We walked the whole of the area this morning and this natural beauty, added with the fun amenities that we’ve planned, will provide a dynamic experience to our visitors. We’re also planning a new Welcome Center in the Park. This will not only provide regional offices for some our staff, but it can serve as a spot for local permanent historical exhibits, and serve as an educational location, similar to what we do at Good Earth or our Outdoor Campus locations.”
The SDGFP is also seriously considering moving the park entrance to the south-west side of the new addition of the park, along 484th Ave., a county road that is often used as a back road to Brandon. Another item on the table is a proposed bike trail that will run the length of the park, and also, trying to find a way to connect that bike trail to the City of Garretson.
Also speaking about the project in the initial presentation was former South Dakota Governor, Dennis Daugaard.
“As you may or may not know, I live in rural Garretson,” Daugaard said, “my home is about nine miles from where we’re sitting, right between Sherman and Baltic. The first major part of this expansion opportunity crossed my desk when I had only about six months to go in my final term of office. We were contacted by the Cooley family that they were interested in selling their land. I love Palisades State Park, and I go there whenever I can, which is not as much as I would like. So my office has some discretionary funds set aside for South Dakota economic development opportunities and when the Cooley land became available I thought that it would be an excellent use for those resources. I’m also both pleased and grateful to our new governor Kristi Noem for her proposal, and our legislature’s appropriation for $500,000 to the project.”
“I’m very excited to see this move forward,” he said. “This project will improve the quality of life for the citizens of our state, nation and our international guests. There is much work that needs to be done, bringing the new park land up to the standards our state parks are known for, planting trees, native grasses and developing infrastructure that enhances the natural beauty already there.”
Dick Brown of the SD Parks and Wildlife Foundation spoke about fundraising for the project. They are the 503(c)3 foundation that forms the charitable arm of SDGFP.
“The funds given and appropriated so far have covered the cost of the land acquisition, but that’s just the beginning,” Brown said. “With the plan as is, we’ll need to raise about $1.6 million dollars to get a good start. We will be looking for donations. Every donation matters, but we will start looking for big donors and see where it goes. ”
“From my 2014 election campaign, I had a good deal of money that I simply didn’t need to use,” said former Gov. Daugaard. “Talking it over with Linda we decided to donate $50,000 dollars of that money to this project. An investment in the future our state, and money well spent.”
The round table discussions at both meetings were very productive and lively. Some difficult issues were discussed.
As first example, Chad Hanisch of Infrastructure Designs engineering had a good conversation with the aforementioned Al Nedved. Hanisch, along with former Palisades State Park Supervisor Travis Theilen had worked hard to obtain grant money for a bike trail that connected Palisades State Park to Garretson two years ago. They failed to get the grant, simply because of the road problems along 485th Ave. (i.e. the River Ridge Golf course road.) The problem is that the road itself is a township road, and the township simply doesn’t have the finances to cover its regular maintenance. There was an agreement in place between the township, the county and the state to make funds available to keep the road paving up to standard, however, that agreement expired two years ago and no one has had the political impetus to rectify the situation. Simply moving the entrance would not solve that problem for anyone, as emergency services (such as the Garretson Ambulance and Fire Department) need an a expedient route to serve people in the park. There were productive conversations about how to make both the emergency services route and a bike trail connecting to Garretson feasible.
The other elephant in the room was the Queen and King rock bridge. Hard questions were asked. It is a historically treasured icon, but is it adequate to the park’s needs now? How long will it last? If it was maintained and left in place, how long will it last? If we can’t replace it, where else will vehicles be able to cross? Will there need to be a new bridge added somewhere? Many ideas were proposed and discussed by the people present, though this will no doubt be a big challenge as the project moves forward.
“We were very pleased with the turnout for these meetings,” said Palisades State Park Supervisor Luke Dreckman. “We got what we were looking for, which was good ideas and good discussion on how we can make our plans better. We’ll use what we got from these meetings and create and refine new plans from all of this. We’re extremely pleased with all of this feedback.”
“I am really impressed with the turnout and participation from the community,” said Van Meteren. “We’ll have a lot to take back to the drawing board and that’s a good thing.”
