Little Missouri River Crossing in Southwestern North Dakota Being Considered; Gravel Pit Near South Unit Of Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Updates

November 8, 2015: forest service says owners can start process for mining gravel near the south unit of the park but a lot of stuff must be accomplished first. 

January 7, 2015: plans to mine gravel from the Elkhorn Ranch near the Theodore Roosevelt National Park will move forward.

September 14, 2013: Feds unable to find 25 acres out of their million acres of North Dakota land to swap; Roger Lothspeich will go forward with plans to develop his North Dakota gravel mine.

November 1, 2012: that land swap isn't working out too well. 

June 24, 2012: update here. If link broken, google Obrigewitch Jay Day Short Ranch five possible locations. There are no less than seven "Obrigewitch" wells in the current boom.

June 5, 2012: this seemed to have happened awful quickly so maybe I'm missing something, but this sounds like the end of the story. 

A plan to build a Little Missouri River bridge and road near Theodore Roosevelt’s historic Elkhorn Ranch vaulted the property to being named one of America's most endangered historic places.

Tuesday, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named the ranch site — a remote part of Theodore Roosevelt National Park at Medora — among 11 most endangered sites for 2012.

The trust has named more than 230 sites in its 25-year history and only a few have been lost since then, it says.

In the big scheme of things, I think this is the right decision. In the big scheme of things, this is not even a speed bump for the development of the Bakken.

June 4, 2012: from the Bismarck Tribune -- great-grandson of TR asking President Obama to declare the potential "gravel pit" a monument --

Roosevelt said he's offended by Montana businessman Roger Lothspeich's declaration that he’ll either take $2 million to go away, or open up gravel pits on the ranchlands. (Eberts Ranch)

Original Post

Link here to the Dickinson Press.

Data points:

• bridge needed to connect ND State Highway 16 with US Highway 85 in the heart of North Dakota's southwestern oil patch
• $15 million estimate
• Billings County wants the bridge; environmental impact/others require complete search from Medora (interstate) north toward Watford City (McKenzie County) to determine best spot
• I haven't looked at the maps, but I think where the Billings County folks want the bridge is in the Whiting Lewis & Clark prospect 

A new bridge may or may not require much gravel, but the new roads in the area certainly will, as pointed out by Don (thank you).

This story may surface again: link to the Bismarck Tribune regarding the Eberts Ranch /  Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Data points:

• the family ranch was bought by the government for the park, 5,200 acres, 2006; $5.5 million
• the government did not buy the mineral rights
• is now called the "Elkhorn Ranchlands"
• significant amount of gravel available for mining
• possibility that one of the larger mineral rights owners could sell his/her mineral rights to government or conservation group to prevent mining

Hmmm....20 years of legal wrangling and environmental impact statements and permits .... or ...