The Badlands, along with the surrounding Buffalo Gap National Grassland, protects the country's largest prairie grasslands, several species of Great Plains mammal (including bison and black-footed ferret), prairie falcons and lots of snakes. The National Grasslands Visitors Center has good displays on the wealth of life in this complex ecosystem, which the uninformed may dismiss as 'boring.'
Rangers can map out back-road routes that will let you do looping tours of Badlands National Park and the grasslands without ever touching I-90.
