With the help from you and our partners, the Pactola Reservoir-Rapid Creek Watershed Withdrawal proposal received over 1900 comments. The public has spoken with the majority being in favor of the 20,574 acre Withdrawal. Thank you for taking action and submitting your comment.
In February 2025, the Trump Administration ordered the Dept. of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to initiate a 15-day review of all Biden Administration actions on national monuments and mineral claims withdrawals. That includes the twenty year, 20 thousand+ acre Pactola Reservoir-Rapid Creek Watershed Withdrawal Public Land Order No. 7956 signed by former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland this past December.
The Pactola-Rapid Creek Watershed Withdrawal had an unprecedented broad base of support within our community and the region. That was why one of our last Call-to-Action was for people to let Secretary Burgum know to support the Pactola-Rapid Creek Watershed Withdrawal.
The Pactola-Rapid Creek Watershed Withdrawal had an unprecedented broad base of support within our community and the region. That was why one of our last Call-to-Action was for people to let Secretary Burgum know to support the Pactola-Rapid Creek Watershed Withdrawal.
"Our goal is to have the federally-controlled surface and subsurface lands within the Rapid Creek/Castle Creek watershed upstream from Rapid City designated as a recreation area and subject to a mineral claim withdrawal." - RCWA
The Rapid Creek watershed upstream from Rapid City in the Black Hills National Forest is primarily used for recreation. Activities include hunting, fishing, bicycling, motorcycling, snowmobiling, boating, swimming, hiking, bird-watching, camping, equestrian activities, and ATV/UTV riding. Outdoor recreation brought $2.27 billion in direct and indirect income and 48,000 jobs to South Dakota in 2017. Direct spending on hunting alone in the Black Hills is about $89 million.
The Rapid Creek watershed is located in the central Black Hills and includes significant cultural resources, including Pe’ Sla, a key Lakota cultural site. The watershed is also important because it provides the water for the state’s second-largest municipality, Rapid City, for Ellsworth Air Force Base, and for reservations, smaller communities, and agriculture along the creek as it flows to the Cheyenne and Missouri Rivers.
The Rapid Creek watershed and its connected groundwater aquifers provides clean water for the state’s second-largest municipality, Rapid City.
FACTS:
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What's a "recreation area"?
There are two basic types of recreation areas on land that is controlled by the federal government, including land controlled by the Forest Service. Some recreation areas are designated by the U. S. Congress, as we are working to do for the Rapid Creek watershed, and are permanent (unless the law is revoked). An example of this is the Sheridan Lake recreation area in the central Black Hills (Sheridan Lake is not in the Rapid Creek watershed). This recreation area includes grazing, in addition to recreation opportunities and a business.
The second type of federal recreation area is administrative, rather than done by Congress. It is created by the federal agency that controls the land, and it lasts for 20 years. In most of the central Black Hills, this controlling federal agency is the U.S. Forest Service. The Pactola Reservoir area is an example of an administrative recreation area.
The second type of federal recreation area is administrative, rather than done by Congress. It is created by the federal agency that controls the land, and it lasts for 20 years. In most of the central Black Hills, this controlling federal agency is the U.S. Forest Service. The Pactola Reservoir area is an example of an administrative recreation area.
Why Now?Rapid Creek, called Mniluzahan (“mni” means water; “luzahan” means fast) by the Lakota, was recently designated as one of America’s Most Endangered Rivers because of the criticality of the watershed and the problems that could be associated with gold exploration and mining. Designating the Rapid Creek watershed west of Rapid City — of which Castle Creek is a part — as a recreation area will allow the existing land uses to continue without disruption from hard rock minerals exploration or mining on public lands or claims. Gold mining has consistently resulted in numerous water contamination problems.
Designating the Rapid Creek watershed above Rapid City as a recreation area would also mean withdrawing mining claims that have not been “proven” and protecting the area from threatened large-scale mining. A "mineral withdrawal" means that mining claims would be eliminated. Exploration and mining would not be permitted where the surface or the subsurface of the land is federally-controlled. Central Black Hills communities choose an agriculture-and recreation-based economy. 
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The recreation opportunities of the Rapid Creek watershed provides area residents and visitors with a variety of ways to escape to the beautiful great outdoors.
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The Future Recreation Area!
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