Protecting Humans, Critters and the Little Missouri River Valley

U.S. Highway 85 is North Dakota’s deadliest highway. If you’re not familiar with it, it is the road that runs north and south along the western edge of the state, from our border with Canada to our border with South Dakota, through the North Dakota Bad Lands, some of the state’s most scenic and fragile … Continue reading Protecting Humans, Critters and the Little Missouri River Valley

Giving Away A Gravel Mine

The strange saga of Roger Lothspeich and the Elkhorn Ranch gravel pit has taken a bizarre turn. Lothspeich, you will recall, is the fellow who bought the “surface minerals” (gravel, scoria, coal and uranium) on a piece of land owned by the U.S. Forest Service directly across the Little Missouri River from Theodore Roosevelt’s ranch … Continue reading Giving Away A Gravel Mine

A Short (Well, Sort Of) Introduction To The Koch Brothers Influence In North Dakota

Sunday, January 10 update: As I predicted, look for much about Kevin Cramer in Rob Port's Sunday columns in the Forum Communications' newspapers. As I point out below, Rob owes much to Cramer's communications director Jason Stverak. So it's no surprise that Cramer is the hero of Rob's first Forum column today. Expect a regular diet. … Continue reading A Short (Well, Sort Of) Introduction To The Koch Brothers Influence In North Dakota

Whither The Meadowlark? A Message For North Dakotans Who Enjoy The Outdoors

Here’s a question for some of you who spend a lot of time in the outdoors in the fall: How was your pheasant season? “Good enough, I guess,” would be my response. All of us who hunt pheasants in North Dakota are loathe to say anything gloomier than that, because saying “It wasn’t all that … Continue reading Whither The Meadowlark? A Message For North Dakotans Who Enjoy The Outdoors