Letter: Maah Daah Hey area is a ND treasure

Rob Port’s column, ”

The Maah Daah Hey monument sounds interesting, but the proponents should be ready to compromise

,” returns to Rob Port’s knee-jerk “left-wing” baiting of very moderate conservation groups, and bellyaching over the hurt feelings of Big Carbon. He should really look again at a map of the Maah Daah Hey area and see that it is already “comprised,” a non-contiguous patchwork. 

Instead of demeaning Indigenous Nations and their interests in the area, Port should also dig deeper. A little investigative research would also tell him that this area includes the northeastern limit in the range of the Ponderosa Pine. It is North Dakota’s most unique woodland. At one time it was designated a national forest, North Dakota’s only one, until the USDA renamed it a national grassland for some reason. It is also the trailhead for North Dakota’s longest off-road bicycle trail. Hunting and camping would still be allowed as a national monument.

The U.S. is already the world’s No. 1 oil producer, and North Dakota is in the top 3 states in that regard. The oil companies will live. Their funding of science-denialism is a big piece of their opposition to protecting our public lands. We need to fight back against MAGA anti-conservationism and Mccarthyism. A Maah Daah Hey National Monument would not just be a feather in North Dakota’s hat, but also for the U.S.

Ron Gaul lives in Fargo.