Page 6 ■ Thursday, February 2, 2012


BAKKEN NEWS


Group: remove minerals from sale


By LAUREN DONOVAN Bismarck Tribune


to take an unusual step and remove some state-owned minerals in a specially pro- tected area of the Badlands from an up- coming lease auction. Gov.


open to the request, or at least to post- poning sale of the minerals, when it’s heard today at the Board of University and School Lands meeting. Mike McEnroe, of The Wildlife Soci-


Jack Dalrymple said he’ll be A wildlife group wants state offi cials


acre, plus royalties, he said. But McEnroe, along with Wayde


Schafer of the Dacotah Sierra Club, said the state would only be honoring a de- cade-old intention. The special protection area was cre-


ety’s state chapter, said several tracts of state-owned minerals scheduled for auc- tion Feb. 7 are either in or near a road- less area of the Little Missouri National Grasslands in which the Forest Service has made its own minerals unavailable for oil wells and other development. The original plan was for the state


ated in 1998 in a swap approved by Con- gress. In that swap, Burlington Resources traded 9,600 mineral acres for others in the grasslands so the Forest Service could preserve some total 65 sections in the Kendley Plateau and Bullion Butte area from future oil and other development. Both features are south of Medora,


with the plateau to the east side of the Little Missouri River and Bullion Butte to the west, in an area that’s roadless with some of it designated suitable for wilder- ness. McEnroe and Wayde Schafer said the


Department of Trust Lands to add its school land minerals into the protected area years ago, but McEnroe said it’s not too late to act now. The state will auction 73,000 acres


in 833 tracts, a substantial sale and one worth many millions in lease and roy- alty income to the state’s education trust fund, already bulging with $1.7 billion. Land Commissioner Lance Gaebe said the land board is mandated to man- age school lands to benefi t the trust and taking 2,500 acres off the table, as McEn- roe suggests, would be a fi rst. The leases would be worth as much as $4,000 an


original plan in then-Gov. Ed Schafer’s Vision 2020 was that the state would do the same with school lands inside the swap area; that is, trade for federal min- erals elsewhere so the whole area would be unavailable for more oil wells. That never got accomplished, not


LAUREN DONOVAN/Tribune


State-owned minerals in the area around Bullion Butte could be withdrawn from a state lease auction Feb. 7. This distinctive land feature south of Medora in a protected part of the Little Missouri National Grasslands.


during the rest of Schafer’s term or the 10 subsequent years of the Hoeven ad- ministration. Gaebe said he was in the dark about the whole concept and there were no maps or records in his offi ce to provide guidance. Now it’s Dalrymple’s turn at the issue


and he, too, said he knew nothing about the swap plan until now. He said that’s reason enough to post-


pone leasing those acres so the board can catch up to the details of the stalled deal. He said the land board’s job is to opti- mize the value of school lands for the state’s children, but the value of some land may be in conservation. “There’s no rush to get anything on the auction bill if we have any notion that it has other value,” Dalrymple said. He said it’s possible the state may still be able to swap its minerals for federal min- erals elsewhere in the grasslands. McEnroe admits he didn’t ride the is- sue all the way through to make sure the state acres were included. “We drifted off to other priorities,” he


said.


McEnroe said it’s not too late for the state do the right thing now. “The rest


of the grasslands is open to everything. What’s going to be left for those who like to hike, hunt, or even take photographs? There’s not much of our Badlands heri- tage left,” he said. Wayde Schafer said nine of the state-


owned parcels listed for auction are in- side the federal swap area and of those, two are in an area that the Forest Service has designated as suitable for wilderness. He said there are some pre-existing oil wells in the area. Forest Service spokeswoman Babete


Anderson said its minerals there are now designated as “administratively unavail- able,” but the agency would have to pro- vide access to state-owned minerals. (Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 701-220-5511 or lauren@westriv.com.)


Sage grouse, bighorn sheep habitat vs. oil wells


By LAUREN DONOVAN Bismarck Tribune


for state agencies to quit working at cross purposes, with one trying to preserve habitat for sensitive species while another leases oil rights in the middle of the same habi- tat.


the state Wildlife Society chapter, said an example is the state Game and Fish Department’s work to conserve sage grouse habitat to keep the bird off the federal En- dangered Species list at the same time the state Depart- ment of Trust Lands plans to lease minerals in the area. He said the state needs a strategic plan to protect


natural and other resources instead of rushing to lease as much land as it can as quickly as possible. “We need to do it right instead of fast,” McEnroe


said. He’s asked the school lands board to withdraw state- owned minerals on several land parcels that are located


Mike McEnroe, who heads legislative matters for An advocate for North Dakota’s wildlife said it’s time


in a sensitive area of the Little Missouri National Grass- lands from its Feb. 7 lease auction. On Jan. 25, he added more tracts to the list. The same


day, the Game and Fish Department offered its own, similar list of parcels for special consideration when the Board of University and School Lands met Jan. 25. Together, they’re asking the state to remove or con-


sider removing 5,340 acres from 73,000 acres of state school land minerals scheduled for auction. Gov. Jack Dalrymple said he’s open to the idea, but he said most of the acres that are up for lease have already been leased and are up again because they’ve expired. One tract on both lists also is in the grasslands, in


prime range for bighorn sheep, a species the Game and Fish Department has been managing and nurturing for decades, and two more nearby are alongside the Little Missouri River. Land Commissioner Lance Gaebe said two additional


is striving to sustain habitat for sage grouse before its numbers decline to the point the bird has to be placed on the federal Endangered Species list. Another fi ve tracts on McEnroe’s “removal” list are


in Mountrail County bordering the Lostwood Nation- al Wildlife Refuge. McEnroe said the tracts should be withheld until the state and the USFW can fi gure how to mitigate any impact. McEnroe said his chapter submitted a wildlife report


to state agencies earlier last month, recommending the state develop an overall plan for oil development and that state agencies start communicating with each oth- er.


tracts Game and Fish wants considered for removal are in Golden Valley and Bowman counties in the same area where it, along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,


sensitive school lands when, in this case, the auction consists of 73,000 acres and 15 pages of legal descrip- tions. If nothing else, McEnroe said he hopes the right peo-


ple will start talking. “Some good will come of this if we get a bigger dis- cussion and awareness of it,” he said.


He said it’s diffi cult for the public to even identify


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