Every great landscape in the public domain of the United States needs a vigilant advocacy group. We are that entity for the North Dakota Badlands. Our ethos is civility and constructive engagement, not environmental absolutism.
Now, at a time when there are unprecedented pressures on the North Dakota Badlands, from directions we could not have foreseen, we of the Badlands Conservation Alliance want to call your attention to our deepest concerns.
For us, the Badlands of North Dakota are a spiritual place. Essentially, spirituality is a knowing, a feeling, a sense of something beyond and greater than one’s self that cannot be defined or explained—it is a mystery.
Follow gf.nd.gov/legislation for news about outdoor legislation in North Dakota.
Every great landscape in the public domain of the United States needs a vigilant advocacy group. We are that entity for the North Dakota Badlands. Our ethos is civility and constructive engagement, not environmental absolutism.
Now, at a time when there are unprecedented pressures on the North Dakota Badlands, from directions we could not have foreseen, we of the Badlands Conservation Alliance want to call your attention to our deepest concerns.
For us, the Badlands of North Dakota are a spiritual place. Essentially, spirituality is a knowing, a feeling, a sense of something beyond and greater than one’s self that cannot be defined or explained—it is a mystery.
Protecting this place is not only about conservation—it is about public health, well-being, and preserving opportunities for future generations. In a fast-paced, consumer-driven culture, the Badlands offer something increasingly rare: space to slow down. They invite us to step away from screens, to reconnect with silence, stars, and the rhythms of the natural world.
BCA has been working with the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), and the Western Energy Project to provide scoping comments to the Bureau of Land Management regarding the upcoming 3rd Qt Oil & Gas Lease Sale(s) slated for August. These lease sales could have significant impacts within five miles of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, and along the Maah Daah Hey Trail.
Badlands Conservation Alliance opposes the proposal by the Recreation Aviation Foundation (RAF) to reestablish the airstrip formerly known as the Eberts Airstrip within the Dakota Prairie Grasslands.
BCA encourages our membership and all North Dakotans to submit comments on the administration’s goal to eliminate elements of the ESA in the interest of extractive industry development and corporate profits over the long-term environmental habitat health for future generations.
BCA launched the Badlands Conservation Corps, a collaboration between BCA and Strengthen ND to bring AmeriCorps field crew members to work on short-term service projects to improve the grasslands of western North Dakota.
The Public Lands Rule comment period ends on Monday, November 10th, 2025.
Starting a Badlands Conservation Corps (BCC) is a positive direction for the state of North Dakota.
Join us for a film screening and discussion series featuring Walt Dabney, a nationally recognized public lands leader whose 43-year career spanned the National Park Service (NPS) and Texas Parks and Wildlife.
From May to July, 2025, the six-person BCC field crew provided approximately 1,800 hours of service. Working alongside 13 project partners, BCC maintained 40 miles of trails, removed 4.75 miles of fencing, installed or repaired 30 mile markers and other posts, placed eight benches, and reinforced two erosion-preventing bridges.
My first two years as your Executive Director have paid dividends through relationship building. This was evident in our BCC field crew and how well it has been received. My goal for the next 25 years, BCA will serve as both ‘watchdog,’ and a ‘boots on the ground solution’ to improve western ND for future generations.
USDA's public comment period ends on Tuesday, September 30th.
The Roadless Rule comment period will end on September 19. Let's stop this while we still can.
News from western North Dakota for June and July, 2025.
The Badlands Conservation Corps (BCC) is a collaboration with the Badlands Conservation Alliance (BCA) and Strengthen ND to bring AmeriCorps field crew members out to work on short-term service projects to improve public lands, the Three Affiliated Tribes National Park, as well as the grasslands of western North Dakota.
Badlands Conservation Alliance’s 2024 annual meeting was held in Bismarck at the Bismarck Veterans Memorial Public Library on Saturday, November 16th. The event celebrated BCA’s 25th anniversary and featured speaker Michael Barthelemy, Director of Native American Studies at Nueta-Hidatsa-Sahnish College.
Ben Rawlence, a British writer and journalist, has researched and compiled a fascinating look at the seven major trees in six ecosystems of the northernmost forest, the treeline forest.
