North Dakota
North Dakota’s future goes beyond oil and gas industry
I am an outfitter, and although our company guides mountain bike trips instead of hunting buffalo, when we bring folks from all over the country to the North Dakota grasslands, we are keeping alive the rich history of the region.
North Dakota is where Theodore Rossevelt’s relationship with the great outdoors was formed. When personal tragedy struck, Roosevelt turned to the rainbow-colored Badlands, and it is this special place that is credited with his lifelong respect for America’s public lands.
As Roosevelt’s career took off, he gave back to nature by reminding us that land in its natural state has inherent value. The idea that we should be wise about how we harvest resources from the earth is what created the National Park system and set the stage for all Americans to look beyond our current needs to the needs of future generations.
Today, oil and gas is a major economic driver for the North Dakota economy. The Bakken oil field is the home of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the 144 mile long
Maah Daah Hey
bike trail. Right now these important recreation assets and cultural treasures are coexisting with extensive oil production all around them.
By careful placement of well pads and access roads there is an opportunity to maintain the beauty and natural experience provided by both the National Park and the trail.
The Maah Daah Hey trail is only a small part of the region’s economy today, but it stands to grow in importance in the future. Many communities that once depended on resource extraction have now fully pivoted to recreation. The quality of life that outdoor access provides has brought enduring prosperity to former mining and timber towns in every western state, bringing both visitors and business investment.
However, the
recently proposed MT/Dakotas Q3 oil/gas lease sale
includes two parcels that are on the boundary and in the viewshed of the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. These proposed parcels are also near the Maah Daah Hey Trail.
In my home town of Moab, Utah, when parcels on the world famous Slickrock Bike and OHV Trail and the campgrounds near Canyonlands National Park were nominated to be leased, businesses and residents spoke up and pointed out that diminishing these places would be a real threat to the Moab economy.
When uranium mining in Moab declined it was exactly these places that allowed Moab to survive and prosper. The people of North Dakota should have the same opportunity.
Senator Daines of Montana disagrees. He recently introduced a bill that would force all parcels on every available acre of public land to be leased, even though oil and gas production in the U.S.
hit a record high in 2024
and Bloomberg predicts that a
record glut will follow shortly.
Plus, the latest data from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) shows that only
50% of lands leased for oil and gas have actually been developed
, leaving an extensive stockpile of existing leases ready to drill right now.
Daines’ bill is bad for both the oil and gas business and the recreation industry. Land managers will be forced to offer all kinds of parcels no one has asked for, local interests will be silenced, permits to drill will be delayed, and he will be dooming some communities to little, if any, economic prospects when demand for oil peaks, which
Goldman Sachs predicts will be in 2034
. Anyone with a 10-year-old knows that 2034 is right around the corner.
The Theodore Roosevelt National Park and Dakota National Grasslands are owned by all Americans and the bottom line is that market forces are what drive economies, not politicians. Senator Daines will not be able to force private developers to drill or even bid on leases, making his efforts to upend the oil and gas leasing system futile.
Instead of throwing out the baby with bathwater, the current leasing system should be maintained and land managers should continue to consider other important land use needs, starting with the deferral of these two parcels.
Even though Daines is prepared to ignore North Dakota’s heritage, some of us can imagine a future for the Dakota Badlands beyond oil and gas — something we learned from Teddy Roosevelt himself.
Ashley Korenblat is CEO of Western Spirit Cycling, a North Dakota outfitter.
Oregon State got all they could handle from the visiting North Dakota State Bison on Monday night, and it was a Josiah Lake drive-and-finish with under three seconds left that lifted the Beavers to a 67-65 victory on opening night.
Wayne Tinkle’s squad came out strong, bursting out to a 7-0 lead in the opening minutes. But the Bison were able to respond, jumping out to a 13-10 lead with 11:26 left in the first half. Oregon State was then able to reclaim the lead after a couple of Isaiah Sy three-point jumpers, pushing ahead by five points. The Bison would go on a 19-12 run to end the half, however, and the Beavers trailed 32-30 heading into the locker room.
The opening minutes of the second half saw multiple lead changes, with neither side able to gain much separation. After they fell behind 53-49, the Beavers went on a run, and found thesmelves ahead by six with just 5:49 left to play.
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But the Bison wouldn’t go away. Sparked by back-to-back dunks from Markhi Strickland, NDSU went on a quick 6-0 run to tie the game. A Dez White three-pointer put the Beavers back in front momentarily, but this lead quickly evaporated, and the Bison went up 65-64 with 2:17 remaining. Johan Munch hit one of two free throws on the following possession, tying the game at 65. Both teams came away with some stops on the defensive end, and the score remained deadlocked.
After grabbing a defensive rebound with 26 seconds left and the shot clock now off, the Beavers let the clock tick down as they set up their offense. With under five seconds to play, Josiah Lake pulled off a beautiful left-handed drive and finished at the rim, putting the Beavs ahead 67-65 with just two seconds on the clock.
But it wasn’t over yet. Inbounding from their own baseline, NDSU tried a football-style throw towards the sideline, and it was tipped out of play by a Beaver, giving the Bison one last chance to inbound the ball in OSU’s half. Guard Andy Stefonowicz was able to get off a three-point look at the buzzer, but it was a heavily-contested shot that came up well short, and Oregon State walked away with a two-point victory.
MORE: Next Steps For Oregon State Football After Win Over Washington State
The Beavers were fairly balanced in their scoring, as five different players reached double figures. Sophomore SF Isaiah Sy led the team in scoring, finishing with 12 points, five rebounds and two assists. Missouri State transfer Dez White was equally impressive. He had ten points on the night and also led the Beavers in assists with five. Junior guard Josiah Lake, who played all but five minutes, scored ten points and also grabbed eight rebounds, leading OSU in this category.
With the win, Oregon State improves to 12-0 in opening games under Wayne Tinkle.
The Beavers are back in action on Friday night, when they take on the University of Illinois Chicago at Gill Coliseum. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. PT
More Reading Material From Oregon State Beavers On SI
GRAND FORKS — A Top 15 matchup in the FCS will play out in the Alerus Center on Saturday when the Fighting Hawks host North Dakota State for the first time since winning the rivalry matchup in the Alerus Center in 2023.
The No. 13 Fighting Hawks and No. 1 Bison kick off at 1 p.m.
Here are three key factors in the matchup.
The UND and NDSU special teams units are trending in opposite directions, and the Fighting Hawks need to address the situation quickly.
UND hasn’t had its starting kicker for the past three weeks, but the Hawks’ special teams woes don’t even start there.
UND has had a punt blocked in consecutive weeks against Indiana State and South Dakota.
After giving up a safety on the punt block, UND also gave up a long kick return, which set the stage for a 9-0 Coyotes advantage to start the game.
NDSU, meanwhile, saw Jackson Williams return a kickoff for a touchdown in a tight win over Youngstown State on Saturday. The Bison also took advantage of a Penguins fumble on a kickoff.
Special teams were a key part of UND’s win over NDSU in 2023, with Luke Skokna returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown.
“I think that’s a huge emphasis for us, and we’ve done some really good things on special teams this year, so to have that happen was really disappointing,” UND head coach Eric Schmidt said. “(NDSU) does a great job in the return game. I think they have an elite returner. He does it a lot of different ways, breaking tackles, hitting it downhill.
“I think they’re really, really sound covering kicks, too. We know we have our work cut out for us. Field position is really important in these games if you can make teams have to go 75-80 yards. It becomes hard to be able to do that.”
UND’s defense has struggled with the running ability of North Dakota State’s quarterbacks in the Division I era, particularly in the Fargodome.
In last year’s game, Cole Payton ran for 47 yards against UND and Cam Miller for 39 more.
Payton now has the full reins of the offense in 2025 and has proven effective in both the run and pass game.
Payton has 640 rushing yards this year with 10 touchdowns and three games of more than 100 yards rushing.
“He’s a load,” Schmidt said. “He does a great job, not just with his arm, but I think he’s been really accurate this year and made some really timely plays, doing a good job of distributing the ball out to their playmakers … just really not taking losses, being able to break tackles and scramble around.
“He’s a big kid that moves well, so he definitely presents some challenges. I think he’s the biggest, most physical QB that we’ve played up to this point.”
3. Jerry Kaminski bouncing back
UND quarterback Jerry Kaminski entered last Saturday’s game against South Dakota with 22 touchdowns to two interceptions on the season.
Kaminski struggled as much as he has all season in a loss to the Coyotes, finishing with two interceptions and no touchdown passes.
UND offensive coordinator Isaac Fruechte is confident in his sophomore quarterback’s ability to bounce back.
“He’s really strong mentally,” Fruechte said. “I love what he has to say after the game. He and I are two peas in a pod sometimes. Hard on ourselves, to a fault sometimes.
“I talked to him (Sunday) and on the bus Saturday coming back. You have to stay positive and can’t let external factors affect your current play. Don’t make the hero play, make the right play. I think that showed up a little where he felt he needed to press and make a play. On the other side, our guys need to make a play for him. He can help himself by trusting his protection and trust what I’m teaching him. Love his response. He wants to get right back in the film room and talk about it. I expect him to rebound really, really well as we move forward. You’re going to have mistakes — you’re human. I call bad plays at times. I did on Saturday. We were still over 50 percent on third down and about 400 yards of total offense. We just need to be more consistent and take care of the football.”
North Dakota is making its way to Tuscaloosa for the first time in program history to meet Alabama basketball in the season opener for the 2025-26 season.
After walking away with a 97-90 victory last December, the Crimson Tide looks to build on its 1-0 series record on Monday, Nov. 3 against the Fighting Hawks.
Here’s everything you need to know for the game, from injury updates to betting odds and a score prediction from The Tuscaloosa News.
Alabama basketball vs North Dakota picks, score prediction
98 Alabama, 75 North Dakota: If Alabama doesn’t let turnovers control the scoreboard and makes the most of opportunities off of rebounds, the Crimson Tide can come away with a dominant performance to officially start the season. Fans got a better taste of that seeing Alabama take down Furman in exhibition play compared to that against Florida State, but it’s hard not to forget that UA fell into a trap game of sorts in last year’s trip to North Dakota. A lack of chemistry for this year’s squad of Fighting Hawks diminishes the chances of a repeat performance against Nate Oats and company.
While the Fighting Hawks don’t have Treysen Eaglestaff to drop 40 on Alabama this season, and environments like Coleman might be more foreign, this team still has some pieces to run action with senior guard Eli King, who is the only returning player to have started in all 33 games for UND last season. There are seven more returning players, plus some portal additions like senior guard Garrett Anderson, a first-teamer for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference after starting in all 32 games for Central Washington last season. The frontcourt’s biggest tasks will be 6-foot-10 transfer forward George Natsvlishvili, who came off the bench for UND last season, and 6-foot-8 center Josh Jones, a transfer from Oral Roberts.
It’s way too early in the season to call that Alabama would drop 100 points in its opener like it did in a 110-54 win against UNC-Asheville last November, but it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility.
Alabama basketball injury updates
Oats told media ahead of Alabama-North Dakota that Latrell Wrightsell Jr. will operate on a minutes restriction as he completes his recovery from a ruptured Achilles tendon. There was no indication that Bucknell center transfer Noah Williamson (knee) would sit out against North Dakota after making his Crimson Tide debut at Furman.
Miami guard transfer Jalil Bethea (foot) remains out with no timeline to return.
Betting odds for Alabama-North Dakota
Here are betting odds for Alabama’s game against North Dakota from FanDuel as of Sunday evening:
Spread: 31.5 points
Total points: 168.5
Watch Alabama basketball vs North Dakota!
How to watch Alabama basketball vs North Dakota
Date: Monday, Nov. 3
Time: 7 p.m. CT
Channel: SEC Network+
Alabama’s Monday matchup against North Dakota will be aired on SEC Network+ with a tip-off time scheduled for 7 p.m. CT.
Emilee Smarr covers Alabama basketball and Crimson Tide athletics for The Tuscaloosa News. She can be reached via email at esmarr@gannett.com.
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