VIEWPOINT | Protecting the Black Hills

From House Majority Leader Scott Odenbach

“People only protect what they love.”

That’s why I brought House Concurrent Resolution 6010 — to bring more awareness, to people both in the Black Hills and throughout South Dakota, that if we overdevelop this place we all love, we’ll lose what makes it great. The measure would create an interim legislative committee on preserving and protecting the Black Hills of South Dakota.

The peaceful pines, the majestic beauty, the way of life we’ve enjoyed for generations, risks being overrun with California-style development if we think that “economic development” is the only reason we exist. We need to ask whether an 1876 model of growth and development still makes sense in 2025.

Are there changes to state or local law that we should consider? Are there proactive steps we could take that we haven’t thought of? Dare we ask, do we want or need more open-pit mining in this area? Will another hundred septic tanks upstream from your house make your quality of life better? Will another government sponsored housing development or TIF-rebate scheme be the best way to spend your hard-earned tax dollars? Will we be able to effectively fight wildfires if every area is packed with homes like in California? Many people, maybe more than any other issue, are asking me these questions privately. HCR 6010 is just saying the quiet part out loud.

In addition, I have found over the past five years that when we bring issues involving the Black Hills, many lawmakers from outside of the region often do not understand the unique issues we face, whether that be the mining severance tax for Lead, gaming revenue in Deadwood, or the need to balance East-river levels of growth with preserving our way of life here. For many people outside of the region, the Black Hills is only a place to build a vacation cabin, or rent a huge AirBnB for a weekend. Since bringing my measure, many East River legislators have engaged me in conversations about our home here in the Black Hills. And that’s a good thing.

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