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Pine Ridge, South Dakota

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the West Oglala Lakota unorganized territory. It lies in ZIP code area 57770. It stands on Wolf Creek. The Survey maps it on the Pine Ridge quadrangle. 3,138 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,235 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Pine Ridge within Oglala Lakota County

Population over time

2 figures

Pine Ridge fell from 3,308 to 3,138 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
20103,308
20203,138-170 (-5%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

3 surveys from 9 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

3,553 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3,553 fires within 5 miles of Pine Ridge between 1992 and 2020, burning about 8,769 acres in total. 36 started naturally. 59 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning937
Fireworks786
Misuse of fire by a minor782
Equipment and vehicle use303
Other causes301
Missing data/not specified/undetermined251
Smoking62
Arson/incendiarism59
Natural36
Power generation/transmission/distribution19
Recreation and ceremony15
Firearms and explosives use2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2013Debris and open burning1.0 acresPine Ridge AgencyGUPPY
9 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acrePine Ridge AgencyDEYOTCH
9 September 2012Smokingunder an acrePine Ridge AgencyORANGE
9 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acrePine Ridge AgencyGUPS
9 September 2011Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acrePine Ridge AgencyPLAY GROUND II
9 September 2007Arson/incendiarismunder an acrePine Ridge AgencyBIG TRASH
9 September 2006Other causesunder an acrePine Ridge AgencyWOODY
9 September 2003Other causesunder an acrePine Ridge AgencyTACOBRAVO

Every fire recorded in Oglala Lakota County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Pine Ridge: 2 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Stout PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Tribal Gravel PitsSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Storms near this place

60 of 76 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Pine Ridge in 76 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 45 hail, 24 thunderstorm wind, 3 flash flood, 2 tornado. The reports record 1 death and 2 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2001LightningPine Ridge1 killed, 1 hurt, $1,000no account filed
May 2003Thunderstorm WindPine Ridge1 hurt, $20,000Strong winds blew over and destroyed a mobile home near Slim Butte. An 18 year old man inside the home was injured. Another mobile home nearby had its roof ripped off.
August 2014HailPine Ridge$50,000no account filed
May 2003Thunderstorm WindPine Ridge$20,000Strong winds and hail broke windows and damaged siding, roofs, and skirting of 16 mobile homes.
June 1999Tornado (F0)Pine Ridge$20,000A mobile home was destroyed by the tornado. Otherwise it remained in rural areas and was short lived. Path width and length estimated from law enforcement reports.
August 2013Thunderstorm WindPine Ridge$5,000Trees were blown down at the Pine Ridge IHS Hospital.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindPine Ridge$5,000Strong winds tore the roof off a mobile home.
May 1994HailPine Ridge$5,000no account filed
May 1994HailPine Ridge$5,000no account filed
July 2025HailPine Ridge-Pennies to nickels, reported.
July 2025HailPine Ridge-Public submitted pictures.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindPine Ridge-The spotter estimated wind gusts at near 60 mph.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindPine Ridge-The spotter estimated wind gusts at 60 mph.
May 2023Flash FloodPine Ridge-Flooding along Potato Creek inundated the bridge on BIA2. The heavy rain washed gravel off several tribal roads and water inundated several fields and low-lying areas.
May 2023FloodPine Ridge-Minor flooding continued along Potato Creek and along several other smaller streams across the area. Normally dry creeks and low-lying areas were inundated.
October 2023Thunderstorm WindPine Ridge-Small branches were downed by the wind.
July 2021Thunderstorm WindPine Ridge-The spotter estimated wind gusts at 60 mph.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindPine Ridge-The spotter estimated wind gusts at 60 mph.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindPine Ridge-The spotter estimated wind gusts around 60 mph.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindPine Ridge-The spotter estimated wind gusts at 60 mph.
July 2018Thunderstorm WindPine Ridge-Wind gusts were estimated near 70 mph.
August 2014Thunderstorm WindPine Ridge-The spotter estimated wind gusts at 80 mph.
August 2014HailPine Ridge-Wind gusts were estimated around 50 mph.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindPine Ridge-Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindPine Ridge-Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph.
July 2009Thunderstorm WindPine Ridge-Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph.
June 2006Tornado (F0)Pine Ridge-Brief tornado touchdown near Slim Buttes.
August 1997Thunderstorm WindPine Ridge-ROOF BLOWN OFF DORMITORY.
July 2023HailPine Ridge-no account filed
July 2023HailPine Ridge-no account filed
July 2023HailPine Ridge-no account filed
May 2018HailPine Ridge-no account filed
July 2018HailPine Ridge-no account filed
July 2018HailPine Ridge-no account filed
July 2018HailPine Ridge-no account filed
May 2016Thunderstorm WindPine Ridge-no account filed
September 2016HailPine Ridge-no account filed
September 2016HailPine Ridge-no account filed
June 2015HailPine Ridge-no account filed
June 2015HailPine Ridge-no account filed
August 2015HailPine Ridge-no account filed
June 2015HailPine Ridge-no account filed
August 2014HailPine Ridge-no account filed
May 2011HailPine Ridge-no account filed
June 2009Thunderstorm WindPine Ridge-no account filed
June 2009HailPine Ridge-no account filed
July 2009HailPine Ridge-no account filed
April 2008HailPine Ridge-no account filed
July 2008HailPine Ridge-no account filed
August 2008HailPine Ridge-no account filed
June 2006HailPine Ridge-no account filed
June 2006HailPine Ridge-no account filed
June 2005Thunderstorm WindPine Ridge-no account filed
June 2005Thunderstorm WindPine Ridge-no account filed
June 2005HailPine Ridge-no account filed
June 2004HailPine Ridge-no account filed
May 2003HailPine Ridge-no account filed
June 2003Flash FloodPine Ridge-no account filed
June 2003HailPine Ridge-no account filed
July 2003Thunderstorm WindPine Ridge-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Oglala Lakota County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Denby11.8 miles8
Wounded Knee12.8 miles8
Slim Butte14.4 miles8
Oglala14.9 miles8
Manderson15.2 miles8
Porcupine19.0 miles8
Evergreen22.3 miles8
Wakpamani22.6 miles9

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Pine RidgeAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2086753The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1265681. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.