Bismarck, North Dakota — A new tribal national park in North Dakota’s rocky Badlands is opening a previously unseen section of the spectacular landscape to hikers and other outdoor enthusiasts as part of a Native American tribe’s efforts to protect the land and promote recreation.

The Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation founded Three Affiliated Tribes National Park by purchasing 2,100 acres (850 hectares) of a former ranch on the south bank of the Little Missouri River, next to the Fort Berthold Reservation’s limits.

The area was once part of the tribe’s treaty lands, but a government allotment legislation reduced the reservation’s size, according to Mary Fredericks, director of the tribe’s Parks and Reserve Program. The reservation’s limits have been enlarged to encompass the park.

Tribal Chairman Mark Fox stated that the goal is to build a park for cultural and recreational activities such as canoeing, kayaking, and wildlife viewing.

“It’s part of our history, our lands, very significant to us, the whole area,” Fox told the crowd. “This is just another strong move to reclaim some of our lands and then do something very effective with them, so to speak,” to benefit tourism and the economy through recreation.

Park officials are taking care to plan and develop the park in a way that considers its influence on the terrain.

“This place will be here in perpetuity, and it will be better when we finish than it was when we started, and that’s what we’re aiming for,” Park Superintendent Ethan White Calfe said.

North Dakota’s Badlands—the term refers to the tough terrain—are a stark, erosive, colourful environment with stunning formations, petrified wood, and ancient fossils. Hikers, campers, hunters, bicyclists, and others who like the outdoors visit the region.

The park, which had a soft opening in September, is exclusively open to foot traffic with a free online permit. Park officials require visitors to register their plans, and hikers must park in a grassy lot. By the end of the summer, organisers want to have completed 10 miles (16 kilometres) of paths, according to Fredericks.

Plans for a visitor centre and campground are in the works. Park officials also want to concentrate on native prairie and soil restoration in the eroding environment, where some native plants that thrive in the area have been displaced by exotic species, according to White Calfe.

“We’re looking at how we can make this region seem like it did 300 years ago. “How do we help this area heal so that it is in a much more balanced state?” White Calfe asked.

Fredericks described the scenery as attractive and picturesque, but also deceptively steep.

A state highway runs through the park, dropping from a level to a steep river bottom. People may see sections of the park while driving, but not the interior, she explained.

Fredericks said that the park may eventually serve as a gateway for tourists to the reservation. Lake Sakakawea, which spans the reserve, as well as Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the Maah Daah Hey Trail, offer opportunities for outdoor recreation.

According to Fredericks, the MHA Nation profits from oil development on its reservation, which let the tribe to afford the park’s acreage.

“But in that we have to be careful and preserve and conserve,” she went on: “I’m very, very proud of our tribal council for having the foresight to buy this land with the intent of making it into a national park … because we don’t know what’s going to happen 50 years from now and what our landscape is going to look like, but we can preserve this part of it.”

The park is adjacent to Little Missouri State Park, which has 40 miles (64 kilometres) of Badlands trails that are popular with horseback riders.

The craggy scenery “has an almost spiritual feel to it.” “It’s peaceful,” state Parks and Recreation Department Director Cody Schulz remarked.

Schulz said that state park officials have been working with the tribe on its goals for nearly two years, including collaborating on projects like connecting trail systems. Fredericks stated that tribal park officials are partnering with anyone who is willing.

According to White Calfe, the park provides an opportunity to “tell our own story, our own narrative from our own perspective in a setting like this.” That’s quite valuable.