South Dakota outdoor recreation officials pair with a nonprofit for a $10 million campaign for state parks and recreation projects.
The campaign aims to support 28 projects across the state. Game, Fish, and Parks officials said these projects would be long delayed without outside support.
Kristina Coby is the Executive Development Director of the South Dakota Parks and Wildlife Foundation, the nonprofit behind the campaign. She said private donations go directly to support Game, Fish, and Parks.
“Our donor dollars, your donor dollars, are passed over to Game, Fish, and Parks to help fund their priority projects. For instance, right now, we are at the tail end of a $3 million fundraising campaign to help expand the outdoor campus in Sioux Falls,” said Coby.
Projects outlined in the new campaign range from hiking trails, playgrounds, bridges and a proposed $1 million welcome center at Custer State Park.
Jeff VanMeeteren is the Director of Parks and Recreation. He said donations help the organization build projects that would normally be overlooked.
“We’ve purposefully put together a laundry list of probably over two dozen projects here across the state - with the idea that if somebody wants to come up and write the big check and do them all, we would love that. We’d really like that. But also there’s people out there that say ‘I want to do this, at this particular area because this particular area means something to me,'” said VanMeeteren.
Kevin Nyberg is the president of the South Dakota Retailers Association. He agreed with Coby that private donations are needed to continue growing outdoor recreation.
“I like to say, and we have kind of embraced it, that great places don’t just happen. We need to give those places, the Outdoor Campus, Palisades, Good Earth, Bison Centennial, we need to give them support. More than they can get on the public side,” said Nyberg.
The foundation aims to raise the funds and support projects in a five-year time frame.
