Ridgeline

A Guided Nature Trail 

National Park Service 

U.S. Department of the Interior 

Theodore Roosevelt National Park 

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the box when you fnish hiking. 

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Be aware of the following: 

Cliff Edges Stairs Rattlesnakes Wildlife Poison Ivy 
 

Ridgeline Nature Trail 

Lakota people called this land mako shika, or “land of no good.” French explorers 

called it les mauvais terres á traverser, “bad lands to travel through.” The English 

name is badlands. It is dry, maze-like, and rugged. Survival can be tough. Even 

so, many plants and animals do survive and even thrive here. Learn more as you 

follow the numbered trail posts. 

1. Look deeper 

As you hike this trail, look closely. The 

juniper trees surrounding you now 

are hard to miss. Also notice the many 

other plants, including chokecherry, 

crisply scented silver sagebrush, 

and many grasses and small fowers. 

Animals eat most of these plants and 

American Indians have long used them 

for food or medicine. Some plants are 

toxic. In order to survive, people and 

animals had to learn which plants could 

help or harm them. 

Silver sagebrush 

(Artemisia cana) 

Choke cherry 

(Prunus virginiana) 

Prairie wild rose 

(Rosa arkansana) 

Purple conefower 

(Echinacea angustifolia) 
2. Mako shika 

Imagine traveling across the Great 

Plains in a covered wagon and coming 

upon this scene. The name badlands is 

understandable. Next, imagine yourself 

as a hunter on foot—butte tops become 

good lookouts and valleys become 

good places to travel undetected. Now 

imagine yourself as prey, using the 

lookouts and hiding places to evade 

predators. Once you get to know the 

badlands, you can use the rugged 

landscape to your advantage. 

Continue straight ahead to follow the guided nature trail. 

3. Grasslands 

Grasslands look simple at frst 

glance, but upon closer inspection 

are complex. Hundreds of species of 

plants live in the park, most of them 

grasses and wildfowers. Grasslands 

support grazers, animals that eat 

mostly grass, such as bison. In fact, 

grasslands depend on grazers. Grazers 

fertilize the soil with their manure. 

Their pointed hooves pierce the soil 

allowing rainwater to fnd its way into 

the ground. By grazing selectively, they 

help many plant species thrive. 
 

Shrubs, like the silver sagebrush in Browsers and fres keep shrubs from 

front of you, provide cover for small overtaking the grasslands. Without 

mammals and birds and are also food them, tree and shrub cover increases, 

for browsers (animals that eat shrubs shading out smaller plants and 

such as deer, elk, and pronghorn.) reducing the prairie’s diversity. 

4. Shrubs 

Silver bufaloberry Rubber rabbitbrush Golden currant 

(Shepherdia argentea) (Chrysothamnus nauseosus) (Ribes aureum) 

Continue straight ahead to follow the trail posts in numerical order. 

5. Expressway 

Travel through the badlands is much means more chances of introducing 

faster since the construction of plants and animals that aren’t originally 

Interstate 94 in the 1960s. Increased from this area. Some introduced 

travel to and through the badlands species are damaging; others are not. 

Caution! Steep cliff edges ahead 
6. New Neighbors 

Not all of the plant species you see and nutrients for soil. Plants that have 

were here 200 years ago. Those that been introduced are called non-native 

were here before European settlement species. Many non-native species blend 

are called native species. The prairie into the environment and do not pose 

depends on native species to play their a threat; others become a problem. 

part in the environment–as food or These problem species are called 

shelter for animals, or as protection invasive species. 

7. Invaders 

Invasive plants, such as Canada cannot be eaten by native wildlife. 

thistle, often spread quickly and take Their spread reduces the amount of 

over large areas, crowding out native food available for grazers. Theodore 

species. Some invasive plants, like leafy Roosevelt National Park is actively 

spurge, slow the growth of nearby fghting to keep invasive species from 

plants by releasing toxic chemicals overtaking the native prairie. 

from their roots. Many invasive plants 

Canada thistle Leafy spurge Smooth brome 

(Cirsium arvense) (Euphorbia esula)) (Bromus inermis) 

Continue straight along the ridge to the next post. 

8. Variety 

As you look out across the landscape, Trees grow where they can get enough 

notice its diversity: some areas have water, usually along streams or 

trees; some are grassy; and some are northern sides of hills where the sun 

almost bare. This is the infuence of doesn’t dry up moisture as quickly. 

terrain on plant life. Do you see the Grasses are adapted to dry areas like 

pattern? the tops and southern sides of hills. 
9. Cooling Down 

You are entering the north slope of southern slopes. The cooler, wetter 

the ridge you’ve been walking along. conditions of the northern slopes 

Notice there are fewer grasses and allow juniper, skunkbush sumac, and 

more trees and shrubs. Grasses thrive dogbane to grow. 

on the sunnier, drier hilltops and 

Rocky Mountain juniper shrubby cinquefoil spreading dogbane 

( Juniperus scopulorum) (Potentilla fruticosa) (Apocynum androsaemifolium) 

10. Having it All 

Imagine living here without modern between habitats to fnd the food 

conveniences. On a hot day, you and shelter you need. Many animals 

would fnd shade in the cottonwood depend on the mix of habitats of the 

trees along the river. When hungry, badlands just as people would. For 

you could fnd edible roots in the example, elk use juniper woods for 

grasslands and berries in wooded cover and graze in open prairies. 

and shrubby areas. You would move 

11. Bird Food 

In the summer and fall, the shrubs and migrations to places further north. 

trees around you abound with berries, These bountiful berry patches are 

which feed some of the nearly 200 bird critical fuel for the migrating birds’ 

species in the park. Some birds live journey. The cover of their branches 

here year-round, but many migrate provides a protected resting spot or a 

here for summer or come through on place to nest. 

western meadowlark lark sparrow spotted towhee 
12. Burning Up 

Fire is a healthy and important part of 

the prairie ecosystem. Together, fre 

and grazing keep soils healthy and stop 

trees and shrubs from overtaking the 

prairie. Do you see any evidence here 

from past fres? 

Native plants are well adapted to 

occasional fre. Native grasses have 

very deep roots which store the energy 

plants need to regenerate after fre. The 

grass shoots that regrow are fresh and 

nutritious—preferred grazing for bison 

and other animals. 

Fire is a useful tool for fghting the 

spread of invasive plants. Many 

invasive species are less tolerant of fre, 

giving native species an advantage in 

the growing season following a fre. 

A hillside in the park one month after a prescribed burn 
13. Setting Fires 

The health of the grasslands was 

essential to the Mandan, Hidatsa, 

Arikara, and other plains tribes. To 

keep the prairie healthy, people have 

been setting prairie fres for thousands 

of years. 

Today the National Park Service 

prescribes and sets carefully controlled 

fres. These fres mimic the historic 

natural and human-made fre cycle that 

is so important to the prairie’s health. 

14. Preserving the Balance

Along the Ridgeline Trail you have seen 

how the habitats of the badlands, when 

in balance, create a place for many 

species’ survival and also how delicate 

that balance can be. 

The National Park Service strives to 

preserve the balance of the badlands 

for the beneft of wildlife, visitors, and 

the ecosystem we all share. 

As you continue to explore, notice 

how each habitat afects the plants and 

animals within it and how those park 

residents afect their habitats. 

Continue up the hill, then follow the trail to the left. 

Please return this brochure to the box at the beginning of the trail. Thank you! 

This trail brochure was written and produced by the rangers of 

Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It was printed using your fee dollars. 

Thank you for your support! 

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