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Office of Gov. Dennis Daugaard
500 E. Capitol Ave.
Pierre, S.D. 57501
605-773-3212
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, September 19, 2014
CONTACT: Tony Venhuizen or Kelsey Pritchard at 605-773-3212
EDITORS/NEWS DIRECTORS: Please consider the following column from Gov. Dennis Daugaard. For an audio recording of the Governor’s weekly column, visit http://news.sd.gov/player.aspx.
Custer State Park Buffalo Roundup 2014
A column by Gov. Dennis Daugaard:
When I was a young boy, I always looked forward to the cowboy films at the theater.
My friends and I loved the rugged, silent cowboy stars. We wouldn’t have been caught dead using the word “romance,” but looking back, I can see that we were captivated by the romance of the Wild West, with its cowboy heroes, untamed prairies, bucking horses, wagon trains, Plains Indians and, of course, massive herds of magnificent buffalo. What an incredible animal – strong as an Olympic weightlifter, fast as a champion sprinter and exuding danger and mystery.
More than 125 years ago, long before South Dakota became a state, buffalo roamed the prairies in numbers almost beyond belief. I read somewhere that an Army officer who led a company of cavalry through the state in 1871 told of camping on the plains and being surrounded by a herd of buffalo so large that it took five full days for all of the animals to move past the soldiers’ camp. One estimate put the size of that herd at 4 million buffalo. Imagine that, if you can.
By the time South Dakota became a state, Nov. 2, 1889, the buffalo had all but been hunted out of existence in our region. Scotty Philip and a few other early settlers used herd management and sound breeding practices to make sure the buffalo did not disappear, and today, as we celebrate the 125th anniversary of statehood, herds of buffalo thrive in several places.
One of the largest herds in the state is at Custer State Park. The Custer State Park herd numbers more than 1,300 animals spread across some 71,000 acres of open land.
Each year, park employees who manage the herd join with a number of volunteers for a spectacular, Wild West-style roundup. Park rangers and other experienced wranglers use horses and vehicles to bring the buffalo together to be sorted and vaccinated. It’s an important part of herd management. More than that, it’s a wonderfully exciting experience for park visitors.
Each year the roundup draws as many as 14,000 spectators to Custer State Park. This year’s Buffalo Roundup takes place on Friday, Sept. 26. If the chance to see one of nature’s most magnificent creatures live and running weren’t enough, the roundup weekend includes an art festival (Sept. 26-28 in the park), western and Native American entertainment, a chili cook-off and a Dutch Oven cook-off.
The Custer State Park Buffalo Roundup is an experience of a life-time. I’ll be there, and I invite you to be there, too.
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