Work being done to bring fireworks to Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore National Memorial is still in the process of evaluating holding fireworks there on July 3.
On Jan. 30, Patricia Trap, acting superintendent of Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Rob Wallace, assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks for the Department of the Interior, and David Vela, acting National Parks Service director, met at Mount Rushmore to discuss the proposal.
“I’m here in particular because of [President Donald Trump’s] interest in the Fourth of July fireworks at Mount Rushmore,” Wallace said. “He’s very excited about this opportunity. I know he wants to work with [South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem] and be a great partner with her interest in the fireworks display. We are learning from the staff here about what we need to do to make that a successful and safe opportunity.”
In May 2019, it was announced that work was being done by South Dakota and the Department of the Interior to bring fireworks back to the memorial, which has not seen fireworks in over a decade.
Fireworks stopped being held at the memorial due to environmental issues — particularly groundwater pollution, fire hazards and damage to the surrounding environment. In January, President Trump, while signing the U.S.-China trade deal, said the fireworks at Mount Rushmore would be happening and expressed his interest in and desire to attend the fireworks.
Also in consideration is a construction project underway at the memorial that has already forced Hill City High School’s graduation from the memorial to Hill City for a second straight year.
This visit to the memorial was an opportunity for officials to do “a number of things,” Vela said.
“One is to get a better sense for all of the interests that pertain to this footprint,” Vela said. “President Trump and the Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt have been very focused on addressing our infrastructure across the National Park System while also making sure we’re able to enhance the visitor experience.”
Vela said they had a tour that day of the footprint to observe the progress being made on the memorial. They were also there, Vela added, to thank everyone for helping and being involved partners and to engage partners from the state and federal government as well as gateway communities that are “not only interested in tourism, but in helping to ensure we have an enhanced, enjoyable visitor experience.”
Officials are pleased with the progress being made on the footprint, Vela said.
The park is undertaking a planning endeavor and officials hope they will have the opportunity to release what their collective thoughts and perspectives are to obtain public comment, Vela said.
Officials want to obtain public comment as to what their collective thoughts and perspectives are as the memorial goes through the planning endeavor, Vela added.
“We are out here because the president of the United States and the governor are very interested in understanding what it is going to take to make this a great, successful event,” Wallace said. “We are months away. We are here asking the questions with the staff and the park to understand what it is we need to do to execute that in a way that the public is going to expect it to happen.”
During this planning process, Vela said he, Wallace and park planning leadership have sat down with the team from Mount Rushmore to get a sense for the issues they need to consider in order to make the fireworks a reality.
A number of boxes — such as traffic patterns and visitor flow — were able to be checked off during this visit, Vela said. Work is also being done to ensure security is adequately addressed the day of the fireworks.
The memorial is studying what it did with fireworks in the past and officials have a better understanding of local considerations, which is why the fireworks are being held July 3. This ensures they won’t take away from local communities and their Fourth of July celebrations.
Officials also want to make sure visitors to the memorial have an enjoyable fireworks experience.
Officials stressed that construction would not be a hindrance to the fireworks.
There were also meetings with local first responders and members of the law enforcement community so they could add their perspectives.
“So at the end of the day,” Vela said, “we have a planning product that reflects the needs and interests of President Trump, Secretary Bernhardt, the interests of the governor and clearly the park, and I think we are making tremendous progress and want to thank all members of the team for what they have done up to this point, and we have every confidence we will achieve our interests and objectives.”
With regard to environmental concerns, Trap said the memorial has all the resources to finish any fuels treatment. The memorial has been doing fuel treatment throughout the time since the last fireworks display there, so memorial officials feel they will have a safe environment for the fireworks.
“Even if we can’t complete the fuels treatment, we will be able to hold safe fireworks,” Trap said. “There will certainly be some kind of safety.”
Fire danger mitigation, Vela said, needs to be done even if the memorial is not having fireworks.
In terms of groundwater pollution, Vela said the memorial has “a lot of lessons learned,” and they are applying those lessons to the nature and type of fireworks.
“[The fireworks] would be more modern types of products,” Vela said. “And so, [groundwater pollution] is clearly an issue. Also, the other thing we learned from the past is that the proximity of where they are launched that it doesn’t leave any lasting impacts upon the landscape.”
The memorial has done a good job of monitoring and also mitigating groundwater pollution and damage to the stone surrounding the memorial, Vela said.
When there is a planning endeavor of this size, time is needed to evaluate substantive comments and then work needs to be done to incorporate those comments, he added.
There is no firm date as to when an official announcement pertaining to fireworks at the memorial will be made, Vela said.
“We want to complete in a very timely and efficient way and check all of those boxes,” Vela said. “I think we are confident that is going to happen. We will be able to provide additional information on what that looks like in the very near future.”