Jay Grantier has been vital to the BCA mission since its very first meeting, in part because he has authentic roots in the North Dakota badlands. His father was a cowboy in the "way back" time when cattle were first making their way to the badlands from Texas.
Read MoreFarrell spent five years researching and interviewing to write this book. The book is a sociological study of a community where the rich chase beautiful, tax-friendly places and as the author says, “game the system. In most counties in the United States, the population estimates from the census are similar to the number of people claiming residency for tax purposes. Not in Teton County. It has the largest discrepancy between the number of people who actually live there and the number of people who claim to for tax purposes.”
Read MoreI suppose I will claim that the Badlands belong to no one and to everyone: national status should be a shared sense of belonging for yucca, sheep, juniper, rattlesnakes, wolves, coyotes, Cottonwoods, scoria and gumbo, buffalo, wild horses, tourists, golfers, hikers, Cottonwoods, the watercourses, Cottonwoods, historical faith in our country and its hopes, Cottonwoods.
Read MoreIn 2021, I wrote a bit about one of the Badlands’ smaller charismatic denizens, the Ord’s Kangaroo Rat. This time it’s a much larger one, our Bighorn Sheep, its near extinction and recovery. The bighorn had its origin in the Old World during the last ice age. It is in the cattle family, the Bovidae, along with bison, mountain goats and a plethora of other Old World and domesticated species. They crossed to North America via the Bering Straits Land Bridge at the end of the Pleistocene, the oldest North American fossils having been dated at around 110,000 years.
Read MoreRecommended reading: The Designed Landscape of the North Dakota Badlands: Weldon and Marjorie Gratton, Faithful Stewards and Genuine Collaborators, by Steve C. Marten. North Dakota History, v. 80, no. 2, Summer 2015.
Read More“We oppose the use of eminent domain for this or any other project in the Badlands,” said BCA board president Christine Hogan, a retired Bismarck attorney. “Eminent domain is not the spirit of the North Dakota Badlands. Such tactics inevitably create bitterness in the ranch community. If Billings County wants a bridge, they should work to obtain the consent of the ranch owners whose private property would be impacted by the project.”
Read More“In 1999, the United States Forest Service's requirement to review and revise its management plans for the Dakota Prairie Grasslands sparked into life not only a controversy about politics and range management but also once again questions about wilderness in the Little Missouri National Grasslands.”
Read MoreExciting News!! Badlands Conservation Alliance now has an office!
After more than 20 years of relying on staff to work from home offices, we have moved into a dedicated office for staff, as well as the use of meeting rooms and other common spaces for board meetings, membership meetings, and coordinating activities. We will be co-located with other like-minded groups within the Bismarck offices of the ND Natural Resources Trust at 1604 East Capitol Avenue, Suite 103.
Board President Christine Hogan is leading a search committee for an Executive Director.
Read MoreBadlands Conservation Alliance, A Voice For Wild North Dakota Places, with a volunteer board of passionate Wilderness enthusiasts, seeks a full time manager to lead our staff-driven nonprofit organization into the future.
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