Dakota Nature Park is a Brookings treasure

After moving to Brookings and into our new residence in 1985, we found ourselves with a couple of trashcans of rubbish that needed a trip to the dump.

“Where’s the dump?” I asked a neighbor. I got a quick Brookings dump history before I got an answer.

“The dump was east of town where Larson is now, but since the 70s, the City has run a landfill south of town. Drive south of town on Main Street, you’ll see it just past the softball fields.”

Yes indeed, we saw it, a mountain of garbage that overlooked ugly, water-filled, sand and gravel pits. I found the gatekeeper in a shabby plywood shack beside the dusty entrance road. He took a quick glance at my trash and in a gruff voice muttered “Two bucks.”

Back we went into the bowels of the dump. Wind-blown plastic bags adorned every bush and tree. We splashed and bumped our way over a dump road, past piles of discarded concrete, then past discarded tree trimmings and other wood, then past a stack of large appliances, and finally we came to the garbage mound. We saw wildlife there – garbage gulls!

Today, that dump is the 135-acre Dakota Nature Park on the corner of 22nd Avenue and 32nd Street South.

The transformation from city dump to city treasure is a wonderful story. The place is amazing not just because of the dump transformation, but because of the outdoor experiences and educational opportunities that a visitor finds at our doorstep. The brochure says “…a place where nature prevails and all humans are guests.”

I asked Ron Eggen, a long-time City Parks and Rec employee, if he knew anything about the dump transformation. He replied “I know everything about it.”

Ron said “we recycled all of the appliances, and dredged the ponds deeper. The dredge material was used to cover the garbage pile.” He had a fond memory of driving to the top of the highest hill in town, which was the top of the garbage dump that had been capped and graded.

Ron said that he looked over the woodlots, small lakes, and open spaces and dreamed of an outdoor recreational area that he wanted to call Prairie Pothole Park.

Ron is quick to credit the head of Parks and Rec at the time, Allyn Frerichs, for being a champion of the dump transformation. Several donors helped along the way, and the City always had some funding and vision for what would become a city treasure. In 2023, the South Dakota Wildlife Federation gave Brookings their Educator Conservationist of the Year Award, not only for the Nature Park but for the City’s offering of other smaller parks where nature is the theme. Members of the Brookings Wildlife Federation and other citizens worked with landscape architects to design the park in 2010.

Brookings got national attention when the Nature Park’s story was recounted in Parks & Recreation Magazine (Dec. 2013, p 16-17), from the National Parks and Recreation Association. A picture caption in the article has this: “Once a site for dumping refuse, the grounds of the Dakota Nature Park now attract people for fishing, boating, hiking, and other self-guided activities….”

A 5,000-square-foot welcome center has a classroom, large atrium, wildlife displays, and a four-season porch. The building looks like a mountain lodge with its large windows, timber frame construction and cedar-shake shingles. The solar gain and the efficient geothermal heating and cooling system are energy conservation measures.

Visitors explore the park using several miles of paved trails that connect with the Allyn Frerichs Trail that almost circles the City. I can’t visit without thinking “This was a dump?!” Let’s visit three major natural areas 1) the four lakes, 2) the prairie hills, and 3) the woodlots.
Look down into the water from one of the floating docks or from one of the two iron bridges. One of the iron bridges once carried cars across the Big Sioux River. The highway department, the City of Brookings, and several local equipment operators recycled the bridge.

The Department of Game Fish and Parks stocks the ponds each year with adult bluegill, largemouth bass, channel catfish, and rainbow trout. They call them “catchable size” fish.

You might wonder about water quality since these fishing lakes are near the old dump. Studies are routinely conducted and have never found toxins in the water or in the fish. Amazing – perhaps a testament to the engineering (e.g., soils, slopes, clay seals, berms) that went into the reclamation and restoration.

You can get on the water by renting a canoe or kayak from the visitor center. Fishing, including ice-fishing, is allowed on all ponds; youth under 18-years-old don’t need a license in South Dakota. You can paddle to the Park’s only island. It was planned as an island for camping, but it was never used that way. Today it might be called Goose Nest Island.

When looking into the clear lake waters, try to see into history when prairie lakes were clear.

For example, at Lake Campbell, a survey team in 1870 described the lake: “…a beautiful lake of clear, deep and fresh water with sandy or rocky shores...”

The bird community at the Park is awesome – take binoculars. Some 95 bird species have been seen at the park so far this year. There are owls and raptors, waterfowl, song birds, and grassland birds. From waterfowl to warblers, the variety is there. Visiting ornithology classes from SDSU say there is “high biodiversity because of high habitat diversity.”

Now, let’s hike up to the top of the prairie hill. I can’t walk this trail without thinking “There’s a dump under foot?!” Here you will see native prairie grasses. Try to see back in time when the settlers described the Dakota prairie as a “sea of grass that waved like the ocean.” Their covered wagon reminded them of a ship moving through the sea – a prairie schooner.

Information displays along the path will help you identify prairie grasses and flowers. Look for a seedhead that looks like a turkey foot (3 short seed extensions). This is the native prairie plant called bluestem, or big blue. Settlers that bluestem was as tall at the saddle on a horse. Look for Indian grass (seed head like a feather), and the airy heads of switchgrass. I know that the root systems of prairie grasses reach deeper than the plant is tall. This feature saves the plant for regrowth after prairie fires, but I wonder – are the roots into that garbage layer??

Let’s go for a hike on a woodland trail. There are deciduous hardwoods, conifers, and wetland willows. I always notice the Alders at the beginning of one trail – strange to see a deciduous tree/shrub with cones! The Quaking Aspen and Silver Maple really show off in the fall! Visit during each season to fully appreciate this park. The trails are open even if the visitor center is closed.

One of my favorite trails is a boardwalk elevated over a wooded wetland. Cattail wetlands are an iconic prairie habitat. The trail connects to “pine trail,” which is a dense planting of pine trees on the north edge of the park.

There is much to see and do at Dakota Nature Park. Go on a virtual tour with The Friends of Dakota Nature Park ( https://friendsofthedakotanaturepark.home.blog/). But, be sure to visit in person also. Why?

Psalm 19 proclaims two books – the book of scripture and the book of nature. The Dakota Nature Park doesn’t list any spiritual goals, but there I think you can renew your sense of wonder at the natural world and see firsthand an example of good stewardship.

When in one of the wooded areas of the Park, I always recall the saying “One generation plants the trees: another gets the shade.”

That cliché kind of sums up the evolution of this special place in Brookings.