As “friends” of Rapid City parks we sometimes ask you to write letters, make calls, show up at a meeting, help at an event.

We’re looking for volunteers who want to help monitor the more than 20 miles of trails in our parkway by becoming “trail partners.” This program of the Rapid City Parks and Recreation Department puts volunteers on the paths on foot, bicycle or park vehicle to promote proper and safe use, monitor the trails for hazards, and foster good stewardship of the parks’ trail system. Friends of Rapid City Parks would form a crew of “partners” who then would receive education and training from parks and rec professionals.  Partners are expected to spend a minimum hours per month patrolling the trails at times, dates and locations of our choosing.

If you are interested, let us know by sending an email with the subject line “trail partners.”  You can contact us by clicking here.

We are just starting a photo album of our favorite places in the Rapid City park system. We hope you’ll add your favorite park photos to the site.

The proposed expansion of Central High School will take a smaller bite out of the greenway thanks to actions Friends of Rapid City Parks have pressed on school and city officials.

Since learning that initial plans for a new science wing, gym and parking would encroach on park land set aside after the 1972 flood, FRCP members have successfully advocated changes to move the science wing to the north and place parking areas to the east, keeping both out of the 100-year floodplain that lies south of the existing high school buildings.

FRCP board member Don Frankenfeld raised the issue prior to a school board meeting in November, when members of the school board learned that the land on which they proposed building was designated park by state law.  Frankenfeld told city officials “If anybody thinks it’s going to be a cakewalk to desecrate parks of Rapid City, you’ve got more thinking to do.”

School officials scrambled to find a way out of the dilemma, and proposed moving the science wing to the north. Steve McCarthy, president of FRCP, lauded the school board for the action, but said it wasn’t enough, and FRCP continued to advocate getting parking spaces out of the greenway as well.

You can see more on FRCP’s actions to change the plans for Central in articles below.

Friends of Rapid City Parks is launching this site to keep you informed about what’s happening in our “ribbon of green.”

Whether news about city actions that affect the park, opportunities to volunteer, informative events, action alerts, or inspiring images from Rapid City’s greatest natural asset, you can find it all here.

Advocates for keeping development out of the greenway were quoted often in November as the controversy over the Central High School Expansion unfolded.

You can read about it on the Rapid City Journal’s website. We’ve excerpted some of FRCP’s quotes below:

November 14:

Not so fast, said representatives from Friends of Rapid City Parks, who vowed to fight the build through any legislative change or a public vote.

“If anybody thinks it’s going to be a cakewalk to desecrate parks of Rapid City, you’ve got more thinking to do,” Don Frankenfeld said. “You’re trying to do something that’s illegal. This is a major league screw-up.”

Frankenfeld said the law [prohibiting development in park land] is there for a reason: to protect parks from the encroachment of buildings. Attempting to quietly change the law by going to the Legislature with an emergency bill is foolish.

“You might win, but you’re not going to win easily,” he said.

December 10:

Parks advocates have been critical of the school district’s plans because of its encroachment into city park land, but a representative of the Friends of Rapid City Parks spoke in support of the measure Thursday.

As part of the district’s changes, a loading zone will be turned into parking and a proposed parking lot that would have encroached further into park land will be moved to fill the space between the new gymnasium and Mount Rushmore Road.

Suzanne Martley said the revised plans provide “a great solution” to what they saw as real problems.

Still, the group will continue to keep its eye out for future encroachments on the floodplain.

“It’s more than just real estate,” Martley said. “There have been more than 60 encroachments on that floodway since the flood. These little bitty chippings, a corner here, a parking lot there, a basketball court there, continue to take away one of Rapid City’s greatest assets.”

The following story appeared on KEVN on November 18, 2009 after the school board changed the plans for the Central High School science building. You can view the interview with FRCP President Steve McCarthy here.

They came with their game face on ready to put up a fight but instead members of the local organization Friends of the Parks walked away pleasantly surprised. Instead of moving forward with plans to expand Central High School on park land the Rapid City School District announced Thursday night that it will build somewhere else. The district was informed last week that the land it planned to use for the expansion is considered park land and under state law, the school isn’t allowed to build on it. Board members considered asking the state legislature to change the law or to put it to a public vote but neither of those options was a guarantee and would delay construction. Thursday night the board announced some unexpected news, they will move the science addition from park land on the southeast corner to an existing parking lot on the northeast corner. Steve McCarthy says, “This is a surprise, a wonderful surprise, and I congratulate the school board for really considering how important our parks are to Rapid City citizens, and I think it’s important for them too to maintain this park system.  It’s nice to see the parks move up on the agenda.” McCarthy says although the new plan is less intrusive the board still wants to build more parking spaces on park land which he opposes. The board argued that Central’s tennis courts and parking lot are to be torn up and that land donated back to the parks so in turn, it’s an even trade. The proposed basketball courts and indoor running track would still be built on park land but would be used as a community recreation center which complies with state statute. In order for that part of the plan to move forward, the district needs city council approval. It goes before the council next month. As for moving the science wing to the north side, board member Suzan Nolan says – by doing so – the district will actually be saving money in the long run.

Megan Palera

Second in a Series

Join Friends of Rapid City Parks, Democracy in Action and The Dahl Fine Arts Center in exploring Our Green Past. The event is the second in a series of programs related to the exhibit “Green” and will feature Mt. Rushmore Superintendent Gerard Baker speaking on Teddy Roosevelt, the first environmental President.

Local authors will be on hand to discuss environmental themes in their books, essays, stories and poetry.

The free event runs from 2 to 4 p.m.

Dear Mayor and Council Members,

To quote the carol: “Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, please to put a penny in an old man’s hat. If you have no penny. . .” why not spend $200,000 you don’t have?

In the alternative, we urge you to take action to curb waterfowl populations and feeding in Rapid City’s Parks. The council has received consistent, expert advice from resource managers at local, state and federal levels: feeding wild waterfowl is not beneficial. You can’t control the populations of geese and ducks if you won’t stop the practice of feeding them.

The council has backed away from a feeding ban, citing tradition as the rationale. Traditions are important, but when they are no longer beneficial — and are in fact harmful — they should be replaced with new traditions. Feeding wildlife has never been a good activity. Allowing — even encouraging — feeding demonstrates poor leadership on the part of the city as stewards and managers of our public resources. A better course of action would include education about the harm caused by feeding, providing metered binoculars for wildlife watching from afar, erecting signs explaining the kinds of birds and waterfowl we have, or any of a host of other activities that are already available from outdoor educators and organizations such as Project WILD, Ducks Unlimited, Audubon and others.

To burden the Parks Department, already stretched to the limit performing basic care and maintenance of our parks, with this clean-up duty and a capital expenditure for unbudgeted equipment is irrational. It is particularly imprudent when the council has repeatedly refused to appropriate funding for already needed additional park staff. Park officials point out that even with the equipment, cleaning up after the birds is a Herculean task. As long as the public is allowed to lure ducks and geese out of the water to gobble inappropriate food and make the resultant deposits on the sidewalk, the pollution of our parks and waters will increase.

Please do what is right. Educate the public. Ban feeding. Control the population. If you control the feeding and find that the equipment and additional park personnel are still needed, consider the costs in the normal course of budgeting.

Sincerely,

Suzanne I. Martley
Executive Director

The year has been a busy one for Friends of Rapid City Parks. In addition to our biennial city election forum to hear what candidates think about the parks and greenway, we helped sponsor the Fat Tire Fest, supported construction of the new Vicki Powers Memorial Park, staffed a booth at a city forum on Green/Sustainable, supported the Lions Club in development of a trail on park land west of Canyon Lake, and advocated successfully for the removal of an illegal structure in the greenway.

Each year has its big issue: 2008 saw the fight to keep an apartment complex out of the floodway west of the Cleghorn Fish Hatchery, and this year we advocated to limit incursions into the greenway by proposed expansion at Central High School.

The parks are quiet under a blanket of snow this month, but with your support Friends of Rapid City Parks will remain on watch. We hope you will use the website as a tool to keep informed and stay in touch.

Let us know what you think!

The Rushmore Lions Club is partnering with the city to build a 2/3 mile loop trail on a 10-acre parcel west of the bridge at Canyon Lake (entrance to Chapel Valley).

After discussions with the Club, Friends of Rapid City Parks supports the trail, which will retain the natural character of the area without any structures or removal of existing trees and undergrowth. The surface of the trail will be a permeable gravel, similar to that used on the Mikelson Trail.

According to landscape architect Randy Lyons, they want to maintain bird and wildlife habitat in the area. The Lions Club will provide the manpower to develop and maintain the trail, pick up litter and downed branches and brush.