Outdoor Campus headed for Rapid City
The new Outdoor Campus in Rapid City is more outdoors than campus right now. In fact, the new Game, Fish & Parks Department facility is little more than a spot on a map right now.
But what a spot.
The Outdoor Campus will be located just off Sturgis Road half a mile west of West Chicago Street in West Rapid City. It’s a very woodsy area, with meadows, trees, a pond and a small, spring-fed creek. It’s an island of wilderness surrounded by rock quarries and neighborhoods. And it’s almost completely hidden from view. If you don’t know it’s there, you’ll never find it.
But the GFP hopes more people will be able to find it. In fact, the agency is hosting a kids fishing event there on Saturday, May 16, from 9 a.m. until noon. If you’re headed out there from Rapid City, take Sturgis Road and turn left at Dean Lane, right across from the Hills Materials quarry.
The GFP will break ground on the new building this summer, open the doors in the fall of 2010, and begin offering educational programs in the winter of 2010. Activities will include youth programs, community programs, nature trails and interactive exhibits. In addition, the new building will house GFP staff offices, a research lab and the Dakota Digital Network studio.
Children will learn about hunting, fishing, outdoor skills and outdoor education. One of the Outdoor Campus’ mottos is: “No Child Left Inside.”
The project is still in the fund-raising stage. They have about $325,000 of the $1.1 million to buy the property. No estimate on construction costs.
The western Outdoor Campus idea has been kicking around awhile. At one point, the GFP Commission wanted to build it next to the Cleghorn Fish Hatchery along Rimrock Highway. That site is now occupied by the popular Braeburn Dog Park. Rapid City dog lovers, not wanting to give up their park, staged a sign-carrying protest at Braeburn. GFP started looking elsewhere.
If you want to find out more about the Outdoor Campus, check out the GFP website.
By the way, the OutdoorCampus staff is pretty active on Twitter and Facebook. You might check them out.
