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.