ND leaders urge support for National Park horses

The North Dakota legislature has readied a resolution urging the Secretary of Interior and National Park Service to keep wild horses in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

The National Park Service is considering eliminating the herd as part of an updated livestock management plan.

Governor Doug Burgum says he believes if all sides work together it’s possible to keep a couple hundred horses on over 46,000 acres of land.  “The Park Service says the mission is to preserve Roosevelt’s conservation legacy.  They have also said their job is to not preserve his ranching legacy.  But we can’t…an shouldn’t…separate these two.”

Supporters say horses have been a part of the Badlands landscape since the park was established in 1947.   Park officials are accepting written comments on the management plan until January 31st.  Burgum says it’s important for supporters to let their voices he heard.

The resolution also supports maintaining a herd of longhorn steers in the north unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Sixty-eighth

Legislative Assembly

of North Dakota

Introduced by

Senators Bekkedahl, Elkin, Kessel, Patten

Representatives Kempenich, Steiner

A concurrent resolution urging the Secretary of the Interior and the Director of the National Park

Service to modify its proposed livestock management plan, and to continue to allow for

interpretative, cultural, and historical purposes a herd of longhorn steers in the North Unit of the

Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the presence of a wild horse herd in the South Unit of

the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

WHEREAS, Theodore Roosevelt was an American statesman, conservationist, historian,

and writer, who served as the twenty-sixth President of the United States; and

WHEREAS, before becoming President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt ranched

and hunted in the 1880s near Medora, North Dakota, and is credited with saying, “I never would

have been President if it had not been for my experiences in North Dakota”; and

WHEREAS, Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy was commemorated with the establishment of

the South Unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park in 1947, and the North Unit in

1948; and

WHEREAS, in 1978, the areas were given national park status and renamed as the

Theodore Roosevelt National Park, which is the only national park named directly for a single

person; and

WHEREAS, while not native to Theodore Roosevelt National Park originally, the longhorns

and wild horse herds, present in the era of Theodore Roosevelt, have been an integral part of

the recent history of Theodore Roosevelt National Park and should therefore be preserved in

some form for the benefit of the public narrative;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF NORTH DAKOTA, THE

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN:

That the Sixty-eighth Legislative Assembly urges the National Park Service to preserve the

longhorn steers and wild horses residing within Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the

United States Congress to assist with preserving the historic herds; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Secretary of State forward copies of this resolution to

the United States Secretary of the Interior, the Director of the National Park Service, and each

member of the North Dakota Congressional Delegation.