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Rapid City deserves an outdoor education center
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FarkKiwanis-Mary Hall Park may be the best-kept secret in the Rapid City parks system.
The little nature area does not attract the thousands of daily visitors that flock to Canyon Lake Park, the crown jewel of the city Parks Department, but it has its own beauty.
With little fanfare, the park has developed into an outdoor classroom for students at nearby West Middle School and others, thanks to dedicated volunteers and innovative science teachers like West’s Ann Hast.
But Mary Hall Park doesn’t have the space, location, facilities or budget to be the environmental classroom Rapid City needs.
We think the state Game, Fish & Parks Department should take a lesson in nature education from Hast and make another, larger outdoor campus available in Rapid City as soon as possible.
So does Stan Adelstein, who has taken a pretty little parcel of land in a park-like setting along Sturgis Road off the market while the state decides if it will build an outdoor education center on it. “GF&P has first option on it,” Adelstein said. “If they’ll make me a reasonable offer, I’ll make some kind of donation, too, because I think it is such a great thing for this city.”
By state law, the Rapid City businessman, philanthropist and former state senator can’t negotiate or enter into any contracts with state government for one year after he leaves office. That deadline will pass in January of 2008, and we hope GF&P will be ready to negotiate for 25-35 acres of Adelstein’s land when it does.
GF&P wildlife division director Doug Hansen expects the project to cost somewhere between
$10 million to $12 million for the facilities, which would include an education center, museum and the regional headquarters for GF&P. The GF&P Commission has taken action to set aside $6 million. Adelstein and the state must wait for land appraisals, price negotiations and government budgets to play out in the months to come.
Sioux Falls has a popular Outdoor Campus built by GF&P 10 years ago. One is long overdue in Rapid City.
It would be a win-win situation for all involved.
GF&P would get a high-visibility location for its regional headquarters. Adelstein would get a park-like barrier between his beloved Synagogue of the Black Hills and encroaching development. Tourists would get an interesting and educational vacation destination. Area schoolchildren would benefit from untold environmental lessons.
Most importantly, the taxpayers of South Dakota would reap the benefits of a terrific partnership between private philanthropy and public funds that will benefit generations to come.
Like Mary Hall Park, this would be a place we could all treasure.
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