National Park Service Denies South Dakota Request for Mount Rushmore July 4 Fireworks

The National Park Service has denied South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s request for fireworks at Mount Rushmore to mark the Fourth of July, citing the risk of sparking wildfires. It marks the second consecutive year that the Republican governor has been turned down by the agency for a fireworks event at the national memorial. The U.S. Department of Interior, Mount Rushmore National Memorial Superintendent Michelle Wheatley in a letter dated on Monday said that a fireworks celebration at Mount Rushmore would not be “safe and responsible.”

In the letter to the South Dakota Department of Tourism, Wheatley noted the March 2021 wildfire that closed the memorial for three days. “Current drought conditions and the 2022 wildfire outlook indicate that fireworks would cause a high likelihood of a wildfire ignition,” she wrote. Local Native American tribes objected to the celebration being held on land they hold as sacred. “There is ample …