Whiting: Looking to Drill Inside National Forest System -- North Dakota, USA

Link here.

Near Belfield, inside National Forest System. Initially eight acres disturbed and then down to 2.5 acre pad. The gathering system will be a pipeline, so no road. There was an old well there some years ago but the area has been reclaimed.

Now, this is going to show my ignorance. I almost hate to post this for fear of the comments that will come in.

I am not aware of "National Forest" inside North Dakota.

Actually, that's not quite true. There are at least two huge "You Are Entering National Forest" signs in North Dakota, probably on US Highway 85, if I remember correctly. I always got a kick out of those signs, because as you "entered the forest" there were no trees.

When I was a junior in high school, I had a wonderful English teacher. She must have been from New York. She told us one day that when we grew up we should go to New York (state, I assume), and just stand in front of a tree, waiting for a New Yorker to ask you what you were doing. She told us to tell the New Yorker that we were from North Dakota and had never seen a tree before.

Speaking of which, some years ago, my brother asked me if I wanted to see his horse running wild somewhere on the North Dakota prairie north of Williston. He told me to drive about fourteen miles north of Williston on US Highway 85 and when I saw a tree -- yes, it would be the only tree -- that would be at the intersection of the gravel road that I was to turn right on. And so I did. I drove about fourteen miles north, and there it was: a lone tree. And a gravel road. Some miles down that road I saw two horses running wild, including my brother's horse.

At wikipedia, where all national forests are listed, North Dakota is not included. When  you pull down a Google map of the National Forest System, Teddy Roosevelt National Park (TRNP) pops up, as does Little Missouri National Grassland (LMNG).

I assume the National Forest System has jurisdictional / admin control for National Grassland. I don't know where TRNP starts/stops with relation to the LMNG (perhaps the "park" is inside the LMNG).

My hunch is that the well will be outside the park itself. Idle chatter. I post this mostly to help educate folks that may be unfamiliar with North Dakota geography. And to reminisce.