1
Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge
Nature preserve
4,564 acres0.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Outdoors · Shelby
Shelby, SD parks, trails & bike paths
About 36% of Shelby is conserved land, roughly 11,932 acres. There are about 9.7 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge (0.5 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Shelby, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Shelby outdoors
Conserved land
36%
11,932 of 33,118 acres
Trails
9.7 mi
0.2 mi per sq mi · 2 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
1
named on the map
Bike routes
0.0 mi
0.0 mi lanes · 0.0 mi off-road paths
Conserved land is a share of the whole town area. Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number or a place below to zoom in© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Parks & preserves with trails
Ranked by mapped trail miles. Directions go to the nearest marked trailhead or public parking.
Who protects the land
11,932 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 7,437 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. The places listed above are parks and preserves people visit.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes0.0 mi
- Off-road bike paths0.0 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.0 mi
Public lands
The biggest protected places in Shelby
From USGS PAD-US: who manages each one and whether visitors are welcome.
Conservation Easement 8,630 acNational Wildlife Refuge 7,897 acState Conservation Area 545 ac
| Place | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sand Lake National Wildlife RefugeNational Wildlife Refuge | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | 7,897 | Restricted |
| Putney #3State Conservation Area | State fish & wildlife | 545 | Restricted |
History
Historic places to visit
Houghton CemeteryCemetery
Nearby
Shelby and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shelby | 36% | 9.7 mi | 1 |
| Brainard | 44.9% | 10.1 mi | 1 |
| South Detroit | 14.5% | 19.8 mi | 0 |
| Columbia | 21.7% | 4.2 mi | 1 |
| Lansing | 40.4% | 2.8 mi | 1 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Shelby's trails yet. Muddy, icy, a bridge out, where to park: a quick post helps the next person.
Sources: trails, parks, preserves, courts and bike lanes © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), map data as of 2026-09-28. Conserved land: USGS Gap Analysis Project, Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US). Measured against the Census town boundary.
How we measure
"Trails" are OpenStreetMap paths, bridleways, public tracks and unpaved footways, plus footways inside a park or preserve or on a named trail route. Sidewalks are left out. Areas are counted on a 24.3-meter grid, so overlapping parcels count once. "Conserved" includes conservation easements, which protect land from development but are usually private property. Trailheads are the nearest marked trailhead, public parking lot or information board within about 150 meters of a preserve. Dog rules come from OpenStreetMap when someone has tagged them; otherwise we show what's typical for the land manager, or say the rules aren't recorded.