An Evening with Jay Grantier

Jay Grantier has been vital to the BCA mission since its very first meeting, in part because he has authentic roots in the North Dakota badlands. His father was a cowboy in the "way back" time when cattle were first making their way to the badlands from Texas. Jay spent some of his young years on the fabled Triple V (VVV) ranch south of Bullion Butte. He pursued a career as a mechanical engineer, but his heart has always been in the broken country west of Belfield. I had the good fortune to have dinner with Jay at a riverside restaurant in Bismarck last summer. Jim Fuglie and Lillian Crook were there, too, and since both Jim and Jay have significant hearing loss, it was sometimes a circus; but once we settled in with our entrees and Jay began to tell us stories of his family's life in the place we hold dearest in all four of our hearts, it was a magical evening on the big river that eventually absorbs the flow of the sacred Little Missouri. He gave me a copy of a family history he has written. I wish there were a granting agency to encourage every rancher and cowboy in the North Dakota badlands to write the story of their family, their relationship with the badlands, their management philosophy, and their best sense of the future of the badlands. Jay has contributed financially to the success of BCA, but it is his attachment to the badlands that is his greatest gift to North Dakota.