Interior to Make July 3 Mount Rushmore Fireworks Call as 100% of County Faces Drought
Updated
Updated · POLITICO · Jun 30
Interior to Make July 3 Mount Rushmore Fireworks Call as 100% of County Faces Drought
2 articles · Updated · POLITICO · Jun 30
Summary
Federal and South Dakota officials will make a same-day go/no-go decision on July 3 fireworks at Mount Rushmore, with Interior saying the show will not proceed until final safety reviews are completed.
Pennington County, home to the memorial, is 100% under moderate to extreme drought, though local fire danger eased from very high on Monday to moderate on Tuesday and federal forecasts also show moderate risk by Friday.
Interior says it has added staff, deployed an incident management team and prepared a fire response plan through the new U.S. Wildland Fire Service, while arguing years of forest thinning and fuel clearing have reduced hazards.
Opponents including the Sierra Club and some local residents say even moderate conditions make fireworks too risky and point to Rapid City's roughly 6 inches of year-to-date precipitation versus a normal near 10; the event contract allows a light show instead.
The July 3 display would be Mount Rushmore's first fireworks since 2020, reviving a long political fight that also draws tribal opposition over wildfire danger and the Black Hills' sacred status.