By Doug Leier

The fish and wildlife variety in North Dakota is truly impressive. From paddlefish and pallid sturgeon in the Missouri River, to trophy catfish and the recent repopulation of sturgeon in the Red River.

We’re home to mountain lions, moose and elk, also the unique furbearers including river otters, fishers, bobcats and American martens.

While few outside of the state would recognize the variety, North Dakotans take pride in sharing the water and land with these unique residents. One of the more notable is the bighorn sheep.

The story and history of bighorn sheep is equally impressive.

“The last native bighorn confirmed in the state was killed in 1905 at Magpie Creek,” said Brett Wiedmann, North Dakota Game and Fish Department big game management biologist. “And we know that in the late 1800s, Theodore Roosevelt hunted bighorns in North Dakota and killed a bighorn at Bullion Butte, but the animals were scarce by then.”

Fast forward to 2024 and the latest survey was a record 364 bighorn sheep in the grasslands of western North Dakota, up 5% from 2022 and 16% above the five-year average. The count surpassed the previous record of 347 bighorns in 2022.

Department biologists count and classify all bighorn sheep in late summer, and then recount lambs the following March as they approach one year of age to determine recruitment.

Altogether, biologists counted 106 rams, 202 ewes and 56 lambs. Not included are approximately 40 bighorn sheep in the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park and bighorns introduced to the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in 2020.

Wiedmann was pleased to see an increase in the survey for the sixth consecutive year.

The northern badlands population increased 5% from 2022 and was the highest count on record. The southern badlands population dropped to its lowest level since bighorns were reintroduced there in 1966.

“We were encouraged to see a record count of adult rams, and adult ewes and lambs were near record numbers,” Wiedmann said. “Unlike the population declines observed in most other big game species following the severe winter of 2022-23, the increase in the bighorn population was attributable to two factors: higher than expected survival of adults and lambs during the extreme winter conditions of 2022, and better than anticipated lamb production and survival during 2023. Basically, bighorn sheep are incredibly hardy animals that can thrive during North Dakota’s most frigid winters.”

Currently, about 490 bighorns make up the populations managed by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, National Park Service and the Three Affiliated Tribes Fish and Wildlife Division, just shy of the benchmark of 500 bighorns in the state.

Bighorn sheep in North Dakota are a success story. When you think about it, there was only a 50-year gap between the time when the last confirmed bighorn was killed at Magpie Creek to their reintroduction by Game and Fish in 1956.

“A lot of credit goes to Game and Fish staff back in the mid-1950s,” Wiedmann said. “We were one of the first states (where) the bighorns were extirpated, and they took the initiative way back then to reintroduce that species. And since then, it’s just been a progression of introducing bighorns to the Badlands.”

The turning point, certainly, was when Game and Fish introduced bighorns from Montana to the Badlands in 2006 and 2007.

This is what Wiedmann had to say in 2006 about bringing bighorns in from Montana: “You try to find the closest match in terms of habitat that you can, and this is the first time since 1956 that we’ve transplanted bighorn stock from habitat so similar to ours. Bighorn sheep are creatures of habit, so this is important. Our hope is that when the sheep jump out of the trailer, they realize the Badlands offer the same grasses they’re used to eating, it’s the same clay soils they’ve walked on … it’s just like home.”

A bighorn sheep hunting season is tentatively scheduled to open in 2024.The status of the season will be determined Sept. 1, following the summer population survey.

FARGO — Amid struggles to hire and retain employees in a competitive job market, the city of Fargo is considering revamping its pay structure.

Fargo city commissioners gave mixed reactions to a presentation of the proposed changes during an informational meeting on Monday, June 17.

“Great plan,” Mayor Tim Mahoney said, “but if we can’t afford it, then it’s not going to work.”

The audience in the Fargo City Commission chambers on Monday was packed with Fargo firefighters following a

letter to the editor published in The Forum last November

where firefighters took their

concerns over pay and staff turnover to the public

.

“We have all the firemen here. They deserve a raise,” Mahoney said, “But we also want to be mindful of what we do to the taxpayers.”

The city’s Human Resources Director Jill Minette walked the commission through the proposed plan.

There are two options to consider, she said, Option A or Option B. Both include increases to employee pay across the pay step range, with Option B including higher pay caps.

For example, Minette said, an Equipment Operator III at the highest step makes about $73,000. Under the proposed changes, the pay cap on that position would rise to either $85,600 or $87,800.

There are 11 pay steps for city employees, she said. Under the proposed options, staff suggested increasing that to 17 steps and raising the pay cap.

If approved, the new plan would increase the pay amount at every step along the way and result in a higher pay cap for every position. Employees advance a step up the pay scale on an annual basis, in addition to COLA raises.

“This would have a substantial increase with the retention of the workforce,” Minette said.

In the existing pay structure, firefighters have 10 steps and police have nine. Under the proposals, they would both have 11 steps. Having fewer steps shortens the amount of time staff need to work for the city to reach those higher levels of pay and boost retention.

Fargo firefighter salaries are capped at about $84,800, Minette said. Their salaries would top out at nearly $90,000 under Option A and around $92,200 under Option B. Under the existing pay structure, police officers hit their cap at $89,700, while under Option A the cap would be $94,800 and under Option B it would be $97,100.

Around 30% of city employees are already at the maximum pay for their job, Minette said.

Those employees receive a cost-of-living adjustment each year.

The city of Fargo has seen turnover skyrocket since COVID-19, going from 4.37% in 2017 to 6.31% in 2020 before jumping to over 13% in 2021 and 2022 and going to 11.32% in 2023.

However, these higher turnover rates are still below the national average, Minette said.

“Not all resignations are due to pay,” she added. “There are a multitude of reasons that people leave.”

The cost for implementing the new pay structure options is varied, with Option A ringing up at $3 million and Option B at $5.5 million, Minette said, with roughly 80% of that cost coming from the city’s general fund.

These costs include what the city of Fargo will have to pay for all the step increases that are already heading their way in 2025, Assistant Director of Human Resources Beth Wiegman told The Forum via email. That incoming cost is $872,000, she said, meaning that, if approved, Plan A cost an additional $2.1 million and Plan B be an extra $4.69 million.

While he said he backs pay raises for staff, Commissioner Dave Piepkorn questioned how these plans would impact the city’s budget.

Staff recommended that the commission approve Option B — the more expensive of the options — before the start of 2025.

However, Commissioner Denise Kolpack said she did not have enough context to decide between Option A and Option B, noting both options seemed to be “putting the cart before the horse.”

The commission needs to discuss the big picture of city finances before deciding what to do, she said.

She asked the finance, administration and human resources staff committee to decide the city’s compensation philosophy and pass that recommendation to the full City Commission for review.

Mahoney said it’s important for the city to offer competitive salaries for staff because the city trains “excellent” people who then leave to work in the private sector.

“It is a complex salary structure. It always was. But we’re trying to be competitive,” Mahoney said.

FARGO — The Fargo Post 400 Stars and the Dickinson Roughriders split an American Legion baseball doubleheader on Monday at Starion Field.

Post 400’s Colby Hanson and Chase Lura got the better of a pitchers’ duel against Dickinson’s Jeremiah Jilek in a 2-0 win. But Jilek exacted his revenge at the plate in game two, collecting three hits and driving in four runs in the Roughriders’ 10-3 victory.

In the first game, Hanson and Jilek battled through three scoreless innings but Post 400 broke through with two runs in the bottom of the fourth.

Fargo’s Gus Pankratz led off with a line-drive double to left field. Caleb Christianson followed with a ground ball that the Roughriders booted, allowing Christianson to reach and Pankratz to score the game’s first run.

Gus Werremeyer then moved Christianson to second with a sacrifice bunt and Gunnar Majerus lined a single to left to score Christianson.

Hanson and Lura did the rest, retiring nine of the last 10 Dickinson batters, with Lura allowing only a two-out walk in the sixth before recording a strikeout to end the inning.

Hanson allowed just two hits and two walks with eight strikeouts in five innings to get the win. Lura finished off the last two innings to get the save.

Majerus was 2-for-3 and Hanson, Pankratz and Kane Mathiason had Post 400’s other hits.

Jilek went all six innings, allowing one earned run on five hits. He walked two and struck out three.

In the second game, the Roughriders put the Stars in a hole early, taking a 6-0 lead with three runs in both the first and second innings. Post 400 got two runs back in the third but any momentum the Stars may have built evaporated when Dickinson got those two back in the top of the fourth. The Roughriders scored two more in the sixth.

Jilek was 3-for-4 with a double and he drove in four runs and scored twice. Kyler Kudrna was 2-for-4 with a double and a triple and two RBIs. Jack Price was 2-for-4 with an RBI and Cameron Wolf was 3-for-3 with an RBI.

Jace Kovash got the win, allowing two earned runs on seven hits in six innings. He didn’t issue a walk and struck out four. Post 400 loaded the bases on three straight singles in the bottom of the seventh but the Roughriders’ Jack Price relieved and got the final three outs.

The Stars’ Hudson Stein tripled twice in three trips and drove in two runs. Mathiason had a hit and an RBI and Cayden Neuharth had a triple and a double and scored two runs.

The Stars fell to 6-7 overall and they play next at the Jr. Jay College World Series Classic on June 19-22 in Omaha, Neb. Dickinson is 5-3 overall.

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.