Badlands on the Brink

North Dakota Wilderness and Wild and Scenic River Proposal

In 1964, Congress passed the Wilderness Act "to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring source of wilderness."

Almost 30 years after the passage of the act, the promise is yet to be fulfilled. North Dakota is one of only three states that has not passed a comprehensive statewide U.S. Forest Service wilderness bill. Meanwhile, the amount of wilderness in the state that qualifies for protection is rapidly diminishing.

Five hundred thousand acres of the Little Missouri National Grassland, situated in the western North Dakota badlands, qualified for wilderness designation in the early 1970s. By 1977, when the second Roadless Area and Review Evaluation was complete, the number of acres eligible for wilderness protection was cut in half. Today, only slightly more than 150,000 acres of potential wilderness remains.