Group Wants Badlands Ranch To Be National Monument

MEDORA, N.D. (AP) — The National Trust for Historic Preservation is pushing to turn a scenic ranch in the western North Dakota Badlands into a national monument.

However, the idea isn't yet being actively supported by the U.S. Forest Service, which owns the former Eberts ranch.

The 8-square-mile ranch is across the Little Missouri River from former President Theodore Roosevelt's Elkhorn Ranch site. The Forest Service's Dakota Prairie Grasslands bought it from the Eberts family in 2006.

Grasslands Supervisor Dennis Neitzke tells The Bismarck Tribune  the agency will continue managing the site for multiple uses — grazing, mineral development and public recreation. He isn't sure how national monument status would impact that.

National Trust spokeswoman Jennifer Buddenborg says the ranch is a national treasure, and her organization wants to increase protection for it.