Dorgan vows to block historic designation for ND Badlands site where Roosevelt once ran cattle

Sen. Byron Dorgan believes that adding scenic North Dakota Badlands to the National Register of Historic Places will restrict land use and has told the U.S. Forest Service that he will attempt to block the nomination. "I've told them, essentially, 'Knock it off,'" Dorgan, D-N.D., said Friday. A historic designation in an area where Theodore Roosevelt ran a short-lived cattle ranching business more than a century ago would violate an agreement about its use made when the government bought the property, Dorgan wrote in a stern letter to Forest Service Chief Thomas Tidwell. "I was happy to pass legislation in Congress that resulted in the acquisition," Dorgan wrote in the September letter. "But further designations of this land would violate the agreement. "I will oppose this nomination," Dorgan wrote. State and local officials believe the historic designation would add another layer of bureaucracy to the Badlands and could prevent oil and gas development, lessen the amount of land open for grazing and stymie plans for a proposed bridge over the Little Missouri River...read more