North Dakota Badlands Song by Bart Koehler

“North Dakota Badlands Song”

Original lyrics by Bart Koehler May 29, 2022

WELL, WE CALL THEM THE BADLANDS

BUT THEY ARE REAL GOOD LANDS

THE WESTERN EDGE OF NORTH DAKOTA/WILD GRASSLANDS

THEY’LL ALWAYS BE THE GOOD LANDS TO ME

THEODORE ROOSEVELT JOURNEYED TO A  REMOTE CABIN

IN THE HEART OF THE LITTLE MISSOURI RIVER COUNTRY 

TO FIND PEACE AND TO FIND SOLACE AFTER HIS HEARTBREAK AND MISERY

WORKING AT HIS ELKHORN RANCH MADE HIM THE MAN HE WAS DESTINED TO BE

FACING CHALLENGE AFTER CHALLENGE AFTER CHALLENGE MADE HIM THE MAN HE NEEDED TO BE OUT ON THE LONESOME WILD PRAIRIE

NOW STAND ATOP BULLION BUTTE AND LOOK AROUND YOU AND SEE WHAT YOU CAN SEE

ALL THE WAY UP NORTH TO LONE BUTTE

THERE ARE STILL REMNANTS OF WHAT THESE GRASSLANDS USED TO BE

THE ORIGINAL NATIONAL GRASSLAND WAS 1 MILLION ACRES HIGH AND WIDE

WITH 250,000 FOR WILDERNESS But most of those wild places have faded away….Now THERE ARE ONLY 60,000 ACRES LEFT of what used to be WILD there’s been a tragedy going on out thataway!  We can’t let anymore wild lands slip away…..

THE LAST OF WILD NORTH DAKOTA IS STILL STANDING…..YES. THE BEST OF WHAT TR SAW WITH HIS OWN EYES AND TIME FOR US TO SAVE ALL THAT’s LEFT BEFORE THEY are just a memory 

WE CAN’T LET THESE BADLANDS DIE!

Repeat the last line (above) and end