The four
state-owned resorts in Custer State Park will soon have wireless
Internet, and parks officials are hoping to extend the increasingly
popular Wi-Fi service to public campgrounds nearby.
Other state parks
are likely to follow in coming years, as officials add Wi-Fi to the
more traditional campground amenities.
Custer State Park
Superintendent Richard Miller said Tuesday that the State Game
Lodge, Sylvan Lake Lodge, Legion Lake Lodge and Blue Bell Lodge
will have the service when they open for the season next month.
Miller is working with Regency CSP Ventures Limited Partnership,
the concessionaire at the resorts, to determine which state
campgrounds might be reached by the Wi-Fi service at the
resorts.
"What we need to be
able to piggyback on their service is a direct sight line, from the
antennae to the campground," Miller said.
Miller thinks the
State Game Lodge and Legion Lake Lodge are the best bets for
extended campground service. Blue Bell and Sylvan Lake will be more
complicated, because of trees and rocky terrain, he
said.
Wi-Fi service is a
camping amenity that park users are increasingly requesting across
the nation. The service will become more common in South Dakota
state parks in coming years, state Game, Fish & Parks
Department parks director Doug Hofer of Pierre said.
The campground area
downstream from Oahe Dam is the only state park or recreation area
currently offering wireless service. But Hofer said state parks
officials are exploring the possibility of adding wireless service
to popular campgrounds at the Lewis and Clark State Recreation Area
near Yankton.
There's no question
that an increasing public demand will make the service more common
in the state-parks system, he said.
"We do have people
who ask for it," Hofer said. "Many people travel with their PCs
anymore. And it's almost standard in hotels and motels. So it's
probably natural that it's starting to spill over into campgrounds
around the country."
The Wi-Fi service
at the Oahe downstream area, which is a few miles north of Pierre,
was installed by a service provider before the dedication of the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial at the state Capitol complex in September
of 2006, Hofer said.
"The company
offered to donate it," he said.
Contact Kevin
Woster at 394-8413 or
kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com.
