23rd Annual Youth Range Day

98 seventh and eighth grade students from Wall, Philip and Kadoka Area Schools attended the Annual Youth Range Day event hosted by and held at the Gene Williams Family Ranch north of the Badlands National Park, on September 30, 2026.  The event is coordinated by the Jackson County Conservation District with assistance from NRCS,  The National Park Service and the Interior Volunteer Fire Department.
The purpose of this event, is to help students of the area, gain a better understanding and appreciation of our range resource and its importance on a local and national level. 
Staff from the Badlands National Park, the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Interior Volunteer Fire Department provided professional education instruction at six outdoor Soil, Range, Wildlife, Cultural Resources/Paleontology/Archeology, Rainfall simulator and Fire Fighting in the Badlands educational stations. Students were rotated through 45 minute educational workstation sessions.
We had another perfect weather day and a delicious noon lunch at the outdoor site was provided to all in attendance and students were bused back to their respective school at the end of the day.