A coalition of conservation groups and Native American tribal citizens on Friday proposed to President Joe Biden to designate nearly 140,000 acres of rugged, beautiful badlands as North Dakota's first national monument. multiple tribal nations Says the indigenous and cultural heritage of the area will be preserved.
The proposed Mah Dah Hay National Monument would consist of 11 non-contiguous, newly designated units in the Little Missouri National Grassland totaling 139,729 acres. The proposed units would incorporate the popular recreation trail of the same name and neighboring Theodore Roosevelt National Park, named for the 26th president, who farmed and roamed the Badlands as a young man in the 1880s.
“When you tell the story of the landscape, you have to tell the story of the people,” said Michael Barthelemy, an enrolled member of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation and director of Native American Studies at Nueta Hidatsa Sawhney College. “You have to tell the story of the people who first settled in those places and the symbiotic relationship between the people and the landscape, how the people worked to shape the land and how the land worked to shape the people.”
The proposed monument will be managed by the US Forest Service. National Park Service Oversees several national monuments, which are similar to national parks and are usually designated by the President to protect features of the landscape.
Supporters have traveled to Washington twice to meet with officials from the White House, the Interior Department, the Forest Service and the Agriculture Department. But the effort faces an uphill battle with less than two months left in Biden's term and potential headwinds in the incoming administration of President-elect Trump.
Scott Skokos, executive director of the Dakota Resource Council, said if unsuccessful, the group will turn to the Trump administration, “because we believe this is a good idea no matter who the president is.”
dozens if not hundreds Oil and natural gas wells According to the supporters' map, mark the landscape where the proposed monument would stretch. But there are no oil and gas leases, private holdings or surface occupations in the proposed units, and no grazing leases would be removed, said John Bradley, executive director of the North Dakota Wildlife Federation.
The proposal is supported by the MHA Nation, Spirit Lake Tribe and Standing Rock Sioux Tribe through council resolutions.
If built, the monument would help tribal citizens stay connected to their identity, said Democratic state Representative Lisa Finley-Deville, an MHA Nation enrolling member.
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum Trump's choice to lead the Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service. In a written statement, Burgum said: “North Dakota is proof that we can protect our precious parks, cultural heritage and natural resources and responsibly develop our vast energy resources.”
The office of North Dakota Senator John Hoeven said Friday was the first he had heard of the proposal, “but any effort that would make it harder for ranchers to operate and that could restrict many uses, including energy development, “Is going to raise concerns for the senator.” Hoven.”