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<br /> <br />ABOUT <br /> <br />THE <br /> <br />VERMILLION <br /> <br />RIVER <br /> <br />BAS <br /> <br />'''{he last two and a half years have been too wet in many parts of South Dakota. Homes, farmland, crops, roads, <br /> <br />and bridges have been ruined by floodwaters. Spirits have been down. What to do? Who can help? How can we prevent <br /> <br />or at ICIlst lessen t he impact of flooding along rivers, creek beds, lakes, and ponds?" <br /> <br />TIlE ..@5~ETTINC; <br /> <br />The Vermillion River Basin drains 2,185 <br />square miles of the southeast corner of South <br />Dakota. It is a semi-arid region, with annual <br />precipitation of22-25 inches. The Vermillion <br />River has its headwaters in the lake country of <br />Kingsbury County and runs roughly from <br />north to south until it drains into the <br />Missouri River near Burbank, South Dakota. <br />Along the way it is fed by the Litde Vermillion <br />River, Saddle Creek, and Turkey Ridge Creek, <br />and several smaller tributaries. Elevations <br />within the Basin range from about 1,800 to <br />1,100 feet above mean sea level, providing a <br />20-mile-wide drainage corridor of low topo- <br />graphic relief and slow meandering streams. <br /> <br />!-I 1ST () It y <br />The Vermillion Basin was probably inhabited <br />only seasonally by Native Americans until the <br />1700s, when migrating bands of the Sioux <br /> <br />Tom Sorenson, South Dakota Public Radio <br /> <br />people are known to have occupied the area. <br />The 1858 Yankton Treatywith the Sioux opened <br />the Basin to Euro- American setdement. Most <br />cities and towns in the Basin were established <br />in the 1880s after the railroads reached the <br />region. South Dakota became a state in 1889. <br />Since the 1930s, the Basin has main- <br />tained a population density of 25-35 people <br />per square mile. About 95% of the Basin's <br />land is dedicated to agriculture, dominated by <br />forage and grain crops, especially corn and <br />soybeans. Most of the Basin's economy is based <br />direcdy or indirectly on agriculture. <br /> <br />LANDSCAPE AND HABITAT <br />When it was first settled, the Vermillion Basin <br />was mostly tall- or mixed -grass prairies in the <br />uplands, and wetlands in the potholes and <br />lake basins. Now about 90% of the landscape <br />is in dryland and irrigated crops. There are <br />still ribbons of native woodland vegetation <br />along the larger streams, providing valuable <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />wildlife habitat. The wetlands in the I <br />tion of the Basin are largely intact, b <br />those in the lower Basin have been, <br />altered. A variety of small mammals (wr <br />foxes, squirrels, raccoons, muskrat <br />and coyotes, to name a few), songbirc <br />and pheasants occupy the woodl <br />remaining prairie habitats, along with <br />deer. The Vermillion River provides <br />areas for Missouri River fish. Up to 48 <br />fish have been identified-typical f, <br />stream. The larger lakes provide good ' <br />fisheries, along with habitat for d, <br />morants, herons, and other shore and v <br /> <br />RECREATION <br />The principal centers for recreation' <br />Vermillion Basin are Lake Thomr <br />Vermillion Lake, municipal parks, . <br />small hunting and fishing 'areas. Th, <br />heavily used for hunting, fishing, an, <br />Wildlife observation at Lake Thomp, <br /> <br />