The Badlands National Park is a 244,000 acre park that consists mainly of prairies. The park is home to numerous geological formations, especially buttes , steep, isolated hills, and it contains a large number of prehistoric fossils. The features of the park first formed 500,000 years ago when water began eroding the rocks. Erosion has continued to the present day, resulting in a constantly changing landscape. The area of the park has been used by humans since at least 900 AD. Around 1775, the nomadic Teton Sioux moved into the area after acquiring guns from traders.

The Badlands became a national monument in 1939. Since that time, the National Park Services has reintroduced four animals that were formerly extinct in the area: bison, Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, black-footed ferrets, and the swift fox.

The park is home to the Minuteman Missile historic site. This is one of the newest historic sites in the United States; congress designated the former missile silo a historic site in 1999. The site was one of several Cold War era nuclear missile facilities hidden across the United States. The site was decommissioned after the signing of the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

Researched, written, and narrated by University of West Florida Public History Student Michael Lawhorne.