BCA invites you to dedicate yourself to a place.

 

BCA shares a commonality for the shady draws, scoria buttes, 
and gumbo flats that center on the heartbeat of the Little Missouri River.

BCA is a family, dedicated to the landscape, its native creatures, and each other:
a band of kinfolk willing to raise our voices for the well being
of those who dare not and those who can not.

BCA hopes you recognize this place and seeks your help.

 

News

News
Why the Badlands Matter and Why We Must Protect Them
The Future of the Badlands, Clay Jenkinson
Why the Badlands Matter and Why We Must Protect Them
The Future of the Badlands, Clay Jenkinson

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.

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The Future of the Badlands, Clay Jenkinson
The Threat to the Badlands
The Future of the Badlands
The Threat to the Badlands
The Future of the Badlands

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.

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The Future of the Badlands
A Spiritual Essay
The Future of the Badlands
A Spiritual Essay
The Future of the Badlands

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.

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The Future of the Badlands

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About

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Prairie Legacy Wilderness

Our proposal for wilderness on the Dakota prairie grasslands.

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Wild Badlands

Featured
BCA Coordinates Conservation Groups Meeting
Shannon Straight
BCA Coordinates Conservation Groups Meeting
Shannon Straight

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.

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Shannon Straight
Filling the Gaps in North Dakota
Cara Greger
Filling the Gaps in North Dakota
Cara Greger

Starting a Badlands Conservation Corps (BCC) is a positive direction for the state of North Dakota.

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Cara Greger
Badlands Conservation Corps: 2025 Project Season
Nora Swenson
Badlands Conservation Corps: 2025 Project Season
Nora Swenson

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.

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Nora Swenson
Building Bridges and Protecting Public Lands
Shannon Straight
Building Bridges and Protecting Public Lands
Shannon Straight

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.

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Shannon Straight
Book Review: The Treeline by Ben Rawlence
Bill Knudson
Book Review: The Treeline by Ben Rawlence
Bill Knudson

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.

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Bill Knudson