SD Senate approves state park at Blood Run site

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PIERRE (AP) — The South Dakota Senate has approved Gov. Dennis Daugaard's proposal to create a new state park at the Blood Run nature area along the Big Sioux River southeast of Sioux Falls.

Senators voted 31-2 to send the measure to the House for further debate.

The bill would designate the 600-acre site as South Dakota's 13th state park. The Good Earth State Park would be the first state park created in more than 50 years.

Blood Run was designated a national historic landmark in 1970. The area along the Big Sioux River bordering Iowa was used by thousands of Oneota Indians into the early 1700s. The area includes a large oak forest, rolling hills, flood plains, riverside bluffs and burial mounds.