North Dakota
Road Closed: travel distance from Medora to the Petrified Forest has nearly tripled
MEDORA, N.D. — A recent road closure is requiring visitors to travel about three times the distance they did beforehand from Medora to the Petrified Forest trailhead. Some sources still reference a shorter route, but the National Park Service (NPS) is instructing visitors to the Petrified Forest to use exit 10 on Interstate 94 near Camels Hump Lake and urging visitors to “please use the approved legal route.”
The change follows a recent closure on Knutson Creek Road.
The Dickinson Press spoke with Lori Myers Elliott, who is the daughter and personal representative of Roger Myers who owns the land on which the closed portion of Knutson Creek Road is located. Elliott said liability risk and increased traffic led to efforts to close Knutson Creek Road and mentioned a traffic incident with an oil tanker last year.
During a special meeting of the Billings County Commission on Oct. 10, Commissioner Dean Rodne said “there is no easement on that portion of Knutson Creek Road.”
During the Billings County Commission meeting on Oct. 10, Mark ‘Olie’ Golberg, another area landowner, described incidents where visitors looking for the Petrified Forest have requested help from him after their vehicles have gotten stuck. Golberg also said during the meeting that traffic to the Petrified Forest has increased 20% in the past year.
The Billings County Commission also voted 2-1 during the special meeting to remove the county major collector (CMC) designation from the discussed portion of Knutson Creek Road, with commissioner Steven Klym dissenting.
The vote followed a lengthy discussion during the meeting of the road’s history, which included comments from the Billings County States Attorney Pat Weir on the North Dakota Century Code’s definition of public roads.
Billings County Sheriff Dean Wyckoff confirmed that some access to the closed portion of Knutson Creek Road is still available to emergency vehicles, saying any delay to emergency services created by the closure is “negligible.”
Directions for a shorter route to the Petrified Forest trailhead that included Knutson Creek Road listed a travel distance from Medora of approximately 9 miles, with an estimated 30-minute travel time. As of publication, alternate directions for the shorter route were publicly available via more than one source.
Directions to the Petrified Forest on Google Maps following the “approved legal route” from the NPS website list the distance of travel from Medora as about 31 miles. At time of publication, the NPS website listed an estimated travel time of 50 minutes.
RubyAnn Stiegelmeier / The Dickinson Press
The Petrified Forest in the south unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park contains the third largest concentration of petrified wood in the United States, according to the NPS website.
Nearby, the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library is scheduled to open July 4, 2026. The opening is expected to dramatically increase tourism and traffic to the town of Medora, the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and southwest North Dakota.
During a visit to the trailhead on the morning of Oct. 11, nearly a month after the final 2025 performance of the Medora Musical, Dickinson Press staff observed two vehicles parked at the trailhead parking lot.
Further information about the new route to the Petrified Forest Loop, including specific directions for the ‘approved legal route,’ can be found on the National Park Service (NPS) website.
RubyAnn Stiegelmeier / The Dickinson Press
FARGO — Drivers can expect to see a slight uptick in gas prices as a result of the Iran conflict.
As of Monday, March 2, the average for North Dakota is $2.65 a gallon. While that is a $0.13 increase from a month ago, it is significantly lower than prices a year ago.
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GRAND FORKS – The Study ND, formerly Humanities North Dakota, has received $15,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts for a statewide theater and humanities initiative in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
This commemorative investment is meant to bring historical events and figures – such as the framers of the U.S. Constitution – to life through virtual and live performances that celebrate the nation’s history.
The grant, along with funding from private sources, has made it possible for The Study ND to host “America 250” activities after the organization sustained a considerable cut in funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities last year, according to Brenna Gerhardt, The Study ND executive director.
“We absorbed a 50% budget cut, resulting in a loss of $467,645 in funding,” Gerhardt said. “As a result, we had to significantly scale back our American 250 initiatives focused on American history and civics education.”
Funds received from the National Endowment for the Arts will be used to present public readings, theatrical portrayals and guided discussions to encourage audience members to reflect on the nation’s founding in 1776 and on its democratic ideals, while engaging in contemporary conversations about civic life.
All of the programming in the series organized by The Study ND, titled “American Heroes,” will be livestreamed statewide.
In the grant application submitted to the National Endowment for the Arts, “we framed the project around a simple idea: democracy requires more than information, it requires citizens who can think historically, listen well, and argue in good faith,” Gerhardt said.
“This series uses living history performances to bring consequential figures into the room, then turns the room into a civic space through moderated dialogue and related public events. We define ‘heroism’ as civic courage under pressure, the willingness to contend with hard truths, and the capacity to enlarge a community’s moral imagination,” she said.
“The project does not ask audiences to agree on a single interpretation of a figure. It invites them to grapple with complexity together, and to connect the past to the responsibilities of the present.”
When Gerhardt and her colleagues received the application for grant proposals from the National Endowment for the Arts, “we were already planning a line-up of America 250 events and it fit perfectly with what we were already planning, so then we just wrote the grant,” she said.
Private funds, including matching funds from the Bismarck-based Tom and Frances Leach Foundation, have also been provided for this project.
Details about all the events will probably be posted on the website
www.TheStudyND.org
in March, Gerhardt said.
The America 250 events, which are planned to take place at Bismarck State College, are 5-6 p.m. July 8, “Reading of the Declaration of Independence, with John Adams,” and 6-7:30 p.m. July 9, “Alexander Hamilton Speaks,” both performed by William Chrystal.
The Living History programs are planned for 7-8:15 p.m. Sept. 17, “Thomas Paine,” performed by Doug Mishler, and Oct. 6, 7-8:15 p.m, “Frederick Douglass,” performed by Nathan Richardson. Both will be moderated by Susan Frontczak.
The performers Chrystal and Richardson live in Virginia, Frontczak in Colorado,and Mishler in Nevada.
Another program, “Hemingway and Gellhorn,” is set for Sept. 16-18 at Bismarck State College, Gerhardt said. “It is part of our broader Chautauqua/living history programming connected to America 250 … (and) will feature performances and discussion centered on Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn, using their lives and writing as a way to explore major questions about American identity, war reporting, public memory, and the stories we tell about freedom, conflict and responsibility.
“What I am excited about with this event is that it gives us a way to approach America 250 beyond founding-era material. In other words, it helps us show the American story is not just about 1776, but also about the generations that followed and how Americans wrestled with democracy, power, truth and moral courage.”
This program “expands the initiative beyond commemoration into reflection, dialogue and interpretation, which is where the humanities are especially valuable,” she said. “It helps us reach audiences who may be drawn in through literature, journalism and performance, not only traditional history events.”
The Hemingway and Gellhorn program fits in with America 250 in that “it broadens the frame and adds depth to the larger effort.”
Gerhardt is hoping that these activities will give participants “a better understanding of all the debates and issues going on when our country was founded, and how those debates are continuing today,” she said, “and just to be more thoughtful and informed citizens.”
College students and members of the general public will also be invited to participate in a workshop aimed at teaching participants how to build a living history performance from primary sources and historical research.
Last year, The Study ND lost a substantial amount of funding – nearly $468,000, about half of its annual budget – from the National Endowment for the Humanities for its fiscal 2025 year.
The loss of that much funding was discouraging, Gerhardt said. “Very much so, because we had a lot of activities planned for America 250 and we had to cancel a lot of them, or – like in this case – seek other funding, which we were lucky to get.”
The Study ND currently has four full-time employees, she said. “We eliminated a part-time marketing position after the cuts.”
A nonprofit organization, The Study ND provides civics, arts and cultural education programming. The organization’s programs – which include online classes, book talks, lectures and more – reached about 24,000 people in 2024, Gerhardt told the North Dakota Monitor in April 2025.
During the summer, the organization hosts a civics education program for high school and middle school social studies teachers, she said.
On this day in 1943, two North Dakota army officers, Second Lieut. Arthur B. Kuntz and First Lieut. Bernard A. Anderson, were killed in separate medium bomber training crashes in Florida and Georgia.
Here is the complete story as it appeared in the paper that day:
Army Plane Crashes Kill Two N. D. Men
Two North Dakota officers in the army air forces were killed Sunday in bomber crashes during training flights, Associated Press dispatches revealed Monday.
Second Lieut. Arthur B. Kuntz of Harvey (Wells county) was killed with 10 others from the Avon Park, Fla., army bomber base when two medium bombers collided during a routine formation flight. Both planes crashed and there were no survivors.
First Lieut. Bernard A. Anderson of Warwick (Benson county) was one of six killed when a medium bomber from MacDill field, Tampa, Fla., crashed near Savannah, Ga. Lieutenant Anderson was co-pilot of the plane.
None of the other victims of either accident was from the Dakotas or Minnesota.
Lieutenant Kuntz, son of Mr. and Mrs. Roy Kuntz of Harvey, was graduated from the army air force navigation school at Hondo, Texas, as a second lieutenant last October, and received his wings as a navigator.
Kate Almquist is the social media manager for InForum. After working as an intern, she joined The Forum full time starting in January 2022. Readers can reach her at kalmquist@forumcomm.com.
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