North Dakota

Dokken: Black bear sightings rise in North Dakota as population expands

Published

1 year ago

October 25, 2024

Dokken: Black bear sightings rise in North Dakota as population expands

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in nearly three decades of covering the outdoors, it’s that wildlife sightings or encounters that are beyond the ordinary get people’s attention.

Such was the case Oct. 18, when multiple trail camera photos of as many as five black bears converging on a bait pile set for deer east of Grafton, North Dakota, showed up on social media. As of Thursday morning, Oct. 24, the posting had been shared more than 1,000 times – just from that site.

Brad Dokken

In this age of trail cameras and social media, it’s hard for critters to hide.

No doubt bear sightings in North Dakota have become more common in recent years, a trend that should come as no surprise, given strong black bear populations just across the Red River in northwest Minnesota.

Growing up in northwest Minnesota, I remember when bear sightings were a relatively uncommon occurrence. Over time, though, bears became more abundant as the population expanded west from more heavily forested areas in northern Minnesota.

Now, bears are common in northwest Minnesota – and a similar story may be playing out in North Dakota.

Stephanie Tucker.jpg — Stephanie Tucker, furbearer biologist, North Dakota Game and Fish Department. (Photo/ North Dakota Game and Fish Department)

Stephanie Tucker, Game Management Section leader and furbearer biologist for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department in Bismarck, said she has seen the Grafton trail camera photos and confirmed they’re legitimate.

“As I mentioned to the reporting party, bears are notorious for taking advantage of a free meal, and large bait piles can attract multiple bears because they are pretty tolerant of one another when food is not in short supply,” Tucker told me in an email. “We highly encourage folks to remove any food attractants for at least two weeks if they don’t want bears around.”

Not that many years ago, the thought was that North Dakota didn’t have a known breeding black bear population –

the Game and Fish Department still says as much on its website

– and that any bears seen in the state were simply passing through.

No more, Tucker says.

“Actually, we have confirmed breeding on our side of the (Red) river, not to mention bears are definitely over-wintering in our state,” she said.

Game and Fish tracks bear and other furbearer sightings through an

online reporting feature

it launched a few years ago. So far this year, the department has received more than 20 reports of bear sightings, of which more than 15 were verified.

Only a couple of those reports turned out to be unfounded.

The number of black bear reports Game and Fish received between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024, was up from previous years, as well, Tucker says.

ND bear chart 2024-25.jpg — North Dakota bear sighting reports since 2004.

“Each bear can – and typically does – get reported multiple times, so the graph is not necessarily a reflection of the number of bears present,” Tucker said. “For example, we’ve had at least two black bears (maybe more) that were wandering around western North Dakota this summer and fall, which were reported to us at least eight times.”

So far, at least, the department doesn’t have any plans to launch a formal research project to learn more about bear populations in the state, Tucker says. Nor –

as she told me last year about this time

– are there any plans to establish a hunting season.

“I’m not convinced we need to let some hunters harvest some bears to find out more about them in North Dakota,” Tucker told me in a story I wrote in September 2023. “They are pretty conspicuous and with the prevalence of trail cameras, we have a pretty good idea of what is going on.”

And while no formal study is on the horizon, Tucker says she encourages the public to report bear sightings, either with the

online reporting feature

or by contacting the department through more traditional means.

“We really, really appreciate any (and) all information the public has been – and hopefully continues – to provide us about bears in their area,” Tucker said.

gf.nd.gov/wildlife/id/carnivores/black-bear

bearwise.org

Brad Dokken joined the Herald company in November 1985 as a copy editor for Agweek magazine and has been the Grand Forks Herald’s outdoors editor since 1998.

Besides his role as an outdoors writer, Dokken has an extensive background in northwest Minnesota and Canadian border issues and provides occasional coverage on those topics.

Reach him at bdokken@gfherald.com, by phone at (701) 780-1148 or on X (formerly Twitter) at @gfhoutdoor.

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North Dakota

Today in History, 1957: North Dakota woman one of 173 to die on U.S. roads on Christmas night

Published

3 hours ago

December 26, 2025

Press Room

Today in History, 1957: North Dakota woman one of 173 to die on U.S. roads on Christmas night

On this day in 1957, U.S. traffic deaths during the Christmas holiday reached 173 nationwide, including a North Dakota woman killed in a Minnesota crash.

Here is the complete story as it appeared in the paper that day:

N.D. Woman Yule Crash Victim

Death Toll Across U.S Reaches 173

Traffic deaths on Christmas night were only seven from the National Safety Council’s fatality estimate for the holiday period amid warnings the final toll would exceed it.

Among those killed on the nation’s highways during the brief holiday was a North Dakota woman.

She was Mrs. Martin E. Sitz, 54, of Park River, N.D., who died in a car-truck collision on Highway 2 about seven miles east of Fosston, Minn., late on Christmas Eve.

See more history at Newspapers.com

Her death raised the Minnesota traffic toll for 1957 to 666. That is 38 more than at this time a year ago.

No motor vehicle fatalities had been reported in North Dakota up to 11:30 last night.

Before the holiday got under way, the Safety Council estimated 180 persons would die in traffic mishaps between 6 p.m. (local time) Tuesday and midnight Wednesday.

Nearing the close of the 30-hour period, traffic deaths across the country had reached 173, according to the Associated Press.

At least 26 other persons died in fires and 14 were killed in miscellaneous accidents, bringing the total to 213.

Unseasonably mild weather in most parts of the country brought auto travel above normal.

Mrs. Sitz’ 51-year-old husband was seriously injured in the Minnesota crash and Archie Piotrias, 64, of Argyle, Minn., the truck driver, suffered chest injuries. They were hospitalized at Fosston.

Mr. and Mrs. Sitz, who had resided in Park River for several years, were on their way to the Twin Cities to spend the holidays with members of their family.

Mrs. Sitz’ death was the first fatality reported from a Christmas holiday in Minnesota, which is in the midst of its worst traffic year in history.

Park River is in Walsh County about 120 miles north and 17 miles west of Fargo-Moorhead. Fosston, in Polk County, is in northwestern Minnesota about 50 miles east and 60 miles north of Fargo-Moorhead.

In South Dakota, Alan Gates, 21, of Pierre died Wednesday of injuries suffered early Saturday when his car rolled over on U.S. 14, a mile east of Fort Pierre, S.D.

Gates, who had been attending Huron (S.D.) College, was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Jess Gates.

James Matthews, 21, of Pierre, and Connie Bartels of Fort Pierre, who were riding with Gates, have been released from the hospital.

The death was the 176th on South Dakota highways so far this year and 10 fewer than on this date a year ago.

Kate Almquist is the social media manager for InForum. After working as an intern, she joined The Forum full time starting in January 2022. Readers can reach her at kalmquist@forumcomm.com.

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North Dakota

North Dakota Capitol Christmas Display Turns 90 This Year

Published

15 hours ago

December 25, 2025

Press Room

North Dakota Capitol Christmas Display Turns 90 This Year

(Photo by Kyle Martin/For the North Dakota Monitor)

(North Dakota Monitor) – For 90 years, the North Dakota Capitol’s window lit Christmas tree has been an annual holiday staple.

The Christmas tree design in the Capitol windows first appeared in 1935, said Sarah Walker, head of reference services for the State Historical Society of North Dakota, who has researched the display.

Construction on North Dakota’s Capitol was completed in 1934, replacing the Capitol building that was destroyed by fire in 1930. Walker’s research from newspaper stories showed that architects and the superintendent of the Capitol Commission discussed using the tower to display designs.

The first Capitol lighting display was in 1934 as construction on the building was wrapping up, Walker said. It depicted a cross in the windows to commemorate Easter.

Later that year, the star of Bethlehem, containing 120 lights and measuring about 16 feet in diameter, was the first Christmas decoration for the building, although it was affixed to the top of the building and not displayed in the windows, she said.

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North Dakota

2 killed, 1 injured in semitrailer collision in North Dakota

Published

1 day ago

December 25, 2025

Press Room

2 killed, 1 injured in semitrailer collision in North Dakota

STREETER, N.D. — Two people were killed and a third was injured Wednesday, Dec. 24, in a head-on collision between two semitrailers in North Dakota.

The crash occurred at about 8:34 a.m. on state Highway 30 about 3 miles south of Streeter, which is about 47 miles southwest of Jamestown.

A 2026 International truck pulling a semitrailer was traveling northbound when it collided head-on with a southbound 2025 Kenworth truck pulling double semitrailers, according to the North Dakota Highway Patrol.

The driver of the International, a 39-year-old man from Moorhead, and the driver of the Kenworth, a 54-year-old man from Wishek, North Dakota, were pronounced dead at the scene, the patrol said. A 41-year-old male passenger from East Grand Forks, Minnesota, who was riding in the International, suffered serious injuries and was airlifted to Sanford Hospital in Bismarck.

The highway was closed with a detour in place for approximately six hours, the patrol said.

In addition to the patrol, the Stutsman County Sheriff’s Office, Logan County Sheriff’s Office, North Dakota Department of Transportation, and several local fire, rescue and ambulance units responded.

Names have not yet been released and the crash remains under investigation.

Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.

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