46% of Fort Thompson’s land is conserved: 3,088 acres
1.0 miles of mapped trail cross Fort Thompson, 0.1 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 24% of U.S. towns. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is Fort Thompson?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does Fort Thompson have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Fort Thompson is ahead of 24% of U.S. towns. Conserved land holds the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
Water is 18% of Fort Thompson’s area (2 of 13 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 38%.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
3,088 conserved acres
46% of Fort Thompson’s land. Water is left out: Fort Thompson has 10.4 square miles of land and 2.2 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Fort Thompson’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Francis Case Recreation Area Recreation Management Area | Army Corps of Engineers | 2,595 | Open |
| Sharpe Recreation Area Recreation Management Area | Army Corps of Engineers | 988 | Open |
1 places to go in Fort Thompson
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
The best walking months in Fort Thompson: April, August and September
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.2 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.5 | 15.2 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.6 | 8.9 |
| High (°F) | 29 | 34 | 46 | 59 | 71 | 81 | 88 | 86 | 78 | 62 | 46 | 33 |
| Rain (in) | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 2.2 | 3.3 | 3.7 | 2.8 | 2.5 | 2.0 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 0.5 |
January is the driest month (0.4 in) and July the warmest (highs of 88 °F). 3.7 inches fall in June, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 88 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Fort Thompson →
Questions about parks and trails in Fort Thompson
How much of Fort Thompson is conserved land?
46% of its land, against a typical 3% for a South Dakota town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Is there public land near Fort Thompson?
10,212 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Fort Thompson or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 1,663 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Fort Thompson have?
Ahead of 24% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Fort Thompson neighbors.
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →