A coalition of conservation groups and Native American tribal citizens on Friday called on President Joe Biden to designate nearly 140,000 acres of rugged, scenic Badlands as North Dakota’s first national monument, a proposal several tribal nations say would preserve the area’s indigenous and cultural heritage.

The proposed Maah Daah Hey National Monument would encompass 11 noncontiguous, newly designated units totaling 139,729 acres (56,546 hectares) in the Little Missouri National Grassland. The proposed units would hug the popular recreation trail of the same name and neighbor Theodore Roosevelt National Park, named for the 26th president who ranched and roamed in the Badlands as a young man in the 1880s.

“When you tell the story of landscape, you have to tell the story of people,” said Michael Barthelemy, an enrolled member of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation and director of Native American studies at Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College. “You have to tell the story of the people that first inhabited those places and the symbiotic relationship between the people and the landscape, how the people worked to shape the land and how the land worked to shape the people.”

The U.S. Forest Service would manage the proposed monument. The National Park Service oversees many national monuments, which are similar to national parks and usually designated by the president to protect the landscape’s features.

Supporters have traveled twice to Washington to meet with White House, Interior Department, Forest Service and Department of Agriculture officials. But the effort faces an uphill battle with less than two months remaining in Biden’s term and potential headwinds in President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration.

If unsuccessful, the group would turn to the Trump administration “because we believe this is a good idea regardless of who’s president,” Dakota Resource Council Executive Director Scott Skokos said.

Dozens if not hundreds of oil and natural gas wells dot the landscape where the proposed monument would span, according to the supporters’ map. But the proposed units have no oil and gas leases, private inholdings or surface occupancy, and no grazing leases would be removed, said North Dakota Wildlife Federation Executive Director John Bradley.

The proposal is supported by the MHA Nation, the Spirit Lake Tribe and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe through council resolutions.

If created, the monument would help tribal citizens stay connected to their identity, said Democratic state Rep. Lisa Finley-DeVille, an MHA Nation enrolled member.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is Trump’s pick to lead the Interior Department, which oversees the National Park Service. In a written statement, Burgum said: “North Dakota is proof that we can protect our precious parks, cultural heritage and natural resources AND responsibly develop our vast energy resources.”

North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven’s office said Friday was the first they had heard of the proposal, “but any effort that would make it harder for ranchers to operate and that could restrict multiple use, including energy development, is going to raise concerns with Senator Hoeven.”

FARGO — Two people were injured in a separate domestic aggravated assault and shooting Saturday, Nov. 23, and the suspect is dead from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Fargo Police Department said.

Fargo police were dispatched at 2:19 a.m. to a report of a domestic aggravated assault and shooting in the 5500 block of 36th Avenue South, a police department news release said.

When officers arrived, they learned the suspect had committed aggravated assault on a victim, chased that person into an occupied neighboring townhouse and fired shots into the unit.

Another person inside the townhouse was struck by gunfire, police said. Both victims were taken to a local hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.

Officers found the suspect’s vehicle parked in the 800 block of 34th Street North by using a FLOCK camera system to identify a possible route of travel from the crime scene, the release said.

Police also used Red River Valley SWAT’s armored Bearcat vehicle to get close to the suspect’s vehicle to make contact with the driver, who was not responding to officers’ verbal commands to come out of the vehicle.

The regional drone team flew a drone to get a closer look inside the suspect’s vehicle. Officers found the suspect was dead from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the release said.

This investigation is still active and ongoing. No names were released by police on Saturday morning.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call Red River Regional Dispatch at 701-451-7660 and request to speak with a shift commander. Anonymous tips can be submitted by texting keyword FARGOPD and the tip to 847411.