Jewel+Cave+National+Monument

toc Drive a few extra miles past Custer, South Dakota, and before long, you'll reach a world apart from the rest of the Black Hills. The road has little along it to offer a glory-seeking tourist--no Deadwood casinos, no legendary motorcycle campgrounds, and certainly no concert venues--but with a peek at the map, you'll be encouraged that you haven't made a wrong turn, and that eventually, you'll hit Jewel Cave National Monument. Jewel Cave is one of the largest caves in the world and one of two impressive caves in the Black Hills. Certainly, in its depths, you reach a world unique from the world above. Yet that world directly above the cave is also a world apart from the rest of the Black Hills, as it is here that the largest fire in Black Hills history ravaged the forest.

=What was the Jasper Fire?=

The Jasper Fire was a huge fire, so big that it burned "approximately 90% of the land area of Jewel Cave National Monument" ("The Jasper Fire"). It began on August 24, 2000 and burned so fast on the first day that it ate up about seven football fields of forest every minute. The fire even threatened the visitor's center for Jewel Cave, and to save the historical documents and office computers, rangers hid them inside the cave, where they were perfectly safe. The effects of the fire are still easy to see, and in 2007 the National Park rangers reported having to close hiking trails on many days when wind might blow burned trees onto passing hikers ("The Jasper Fire").

=Who controls the monument?=

Jewel Cave is a national monument and was declared one in 1908 by President Roosevelt ("History and Culture"). As a national monument it falls under the control of the federal government, which means its employees work for the United States and that any profits from the tourists go to the National Park Service. In 1996 that also meant that the parks could not stay open when the federal government shut down due to a political battle over the budget. The park is so important to the surrounding community, bringing in tourists, that at the time the governor of South Dakota even sought to take over Jewel Cave to manage it instead of the federal government (Pritchard).

=Works Cited=


 * "History and Culture." __Jewel Cave: nps.gov__. 9 May 2008. National Park Service. 15 May 2009 .
 * Pritchard, Paul C. "State of the parks: the national parks are not for sale nor up for grabs by state officials who see them as lucrative tourist attractions." __National Parks__ 70.n3-4 (March-April 1996): 6(1). __Expanded Academic ASAP__. Gale. SDLN, South Dakota State Library. 15 May 2009 .
 * "The Jasper Fire." __Jewel Cave: nps.gov.__ 27 August 2007. National Park Service. 15 May 2009. .
 * W, Paul. "xcountry-18-01." __Flickr__. 17 April 2006. 15 May 2009. .