Mount Rushmore a humid continental climate ("Dwb" in the Köppen climate classification). It is inside a USDA Plant Hardiness Zone of 5a, meaning certain plant life in the area can withstand a low temperature of no less than . The two wettest months of the year are May and June. Orographic lift causes brief but strong afternoon thunderstorms during the summer. Tourism is South Dakota's second-largest industry, and Mount Rushmore is the state's top tourist attraction. In 2012, 2,185,447 people visited the park. In the 1950s and 1960s, Sioux Benjamin Black Elk (son of medicine man Black Elk) was the "Fifth Face
Mount Rushmore birds, including songbirds, nuthatches, and woodpeckers, inhabit the surrounding pine forests. Terrestrial mammals include the mouse, least chipmunk, red squirrel, skunk, porcupine, raccoon, beaver, badger, coyote, bighorn sheep, bobcat, elk, mule deer, yellow-bellied marmot, and American bison. The striped chorus frog, western chorus frog, and northern leopard frog also inhabit the area, along with several species of snake. Grizzly Bear Brook and Starling Basin Brook, the two streams in the memorial, support fish such as the longnose dace and the brook trout. Mountain goats are not indigenous to the region. Those living near Mount Rushmore are descendants of a tribe