Published: Thursday, March 21, 2013 1:08 AM CDT

Officials from the Missouri National Recreational River are introducing something new this year that they hope will attract more visitors to the park.

A new mobile ranger station has been developed, which officials will take to area parks and events in hopes of getting additional traffic to the river.

“We will take the trailer, which has a lot of displays and features, outside the immediate area,” said Steve Mietz, superintendent of the river for the National Park Service (NPS). “One of the places we’ve been asked to take the station already is Mount Rushmore. Millions of visitors that go there will see the trailer and check out what we have, and hopefully they’ll go to Yankton to see the river on their way back east.”

One of the goals of the ranger station is to attract people to the river who aren’t from the immediate area. Mietz is hoping the trailer draws a more regional — and even national — audience to the river.

“It’s really a mobile visitors center,” he said. “There are displays on the inside of the trailer, with a television and photos and other features of the river for people to look at on the outside.”

Officials plan on taking the trailer to state and county fairs to promote the area.

“The trailer will really explain a lot of the features that make the Missouri River so great,” Mietz said. “Having the station at local events will give people a lot of information about the river, so hopefully they’ll come to visit or seek additional information about all it has to offer.”

Dugan Smith, who is an interpreter for the NPS, said he plans on taking the trailer to sport shows and outdoor festivals in the region.

“We really want to get outside the immediate corridor here and get people to know that the Missouri River is a national park,” he said. “One of the first things we’ll take the station to is the Watershed Festival in Sioux Falls, which has about 3,000 kids visit.”

Smith said that, up until now, officials did not have the tools to be able to go to area events and attract people to the river, now, however, they can do that.

Another feature of the trailer is an interactive map, which highlights various areas of the river and things people can enjoy while visiting.

“We’ll have a cultural exhibit with the trailer where kids can make a map of the river, sort of like a puzzle,” Smith said. “There will also be a touchscreen where people can get more details about some of the cultural and historical aspects of the river.”

Officials are hoping the trailer is completed this month.

“We’ll likely have it at local events by May,” Smith said. “We’re excited to get it done and get it out on the road.”

Smith and Mietz both said they’re happy with the way the trailer looks so far, and many of their co-workers at the NPS have said the same thing.

“It’s a new tool we’ll be utilizing to get out there, and I’m not even sure anyone else with the NPS has done something similar yet,” Smith said. “There is a lot of self-contained programming we can do with the trailer wherever we take it, especially for when school groups visit.”

Mietz said the unique qualities of the Missouri River make the mobile station a great asset for officials.

“The park is so unique because it’s spread out over around 100 miles,” he said. “It’s different than a traditional visitors center. With the trailer, we can bring the visitors center to the people.”

Smith said planning for a new outreach program began a few years ago, but they weren’t sure what they were going to do. The trailer idea came up last spring.

“Other area parks have things they do like this, but usually they store equipment inside the trailer,” he said. “With this station, we can do activities inside for kids to enjoy. We hope it will draw kids in and get them interested in the national park.”

The cost of the project will end up being under $20,000. Mietz said the benefits should outweigh the costs.

“It’s pretty cost-effective for what we’ll get out of it,” he said. “It really should also help stimulate the local economy by bringing in people from outside the immediate area.”

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