North Dakota
Upstream landowners ponder discrepancies between North Dakota, Minnesota F-M Diversion payouts
CHRISTINE, N.D. — Josh Granholt has spent much of his life on quiet farmland tucked into the bends of the Red River.
His family has farmed land near Christine for more than 100 years. Those fields give way to forested groves along the river, where he and his parents live today.
Despite their proximity to the river, the main houses on the Granholt family’s farmsteads have never flooded, even in years where cities to the north were inundated with water.
“The old timers put a house where it made sense and didn’t flood, not where it looked cool, because they didn’t want to deal with it,” Granholt said.
The construction of the
Fargo-Moorhead Area Diversion
upstream will change how Granholt’s land floods. He hopes to get compensated fairly for newly flooded land — and equally to landowners on the Minnesota side of the river.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
The diversion is a $3.2 billion flood control project designed to protect the Fargo-Moorhead metro from extreme floods. When operational, the project will hold water south of the metro behind a 22-mile earthen embankment. Three gated structures will control the release of floodwater into the Red River, the Wild Rice River and a 30-mile diversion channel that arcs west around the cities.
In order to hold water south of the embankment, the Metro Flood Diversion Authority, a governmental entity that oversees parts of the project, needs to secure property rights to store water on the land south of the dam. It has been doing so in the form of flowage easements. Property owners are paid for giving the Diversion Authority the right to flood their land.
The Granholt family properties are among those the Diversion Authority is in the process of securing property rights for through the eminent domain process, which allows a government to take land for public use.
Proposed flowage easements on Granholt family land pay for flooding in places that have never flooded before. But on the Minnesota side of the Red River, flowage easements cover far more land and stretch farther south along the river.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
Different states, different rules
In Minnesota, maps for the project show the Diversion Authority is acquiring flowage easements well into Wilkin County, about 30 miles south of Moorhead.
In North Dakota, a majority of flowage easements are in Cass County. Flowage easements in Richland County are along the Red River or waterways that flow into the Red River. The southernmost flowage easements in North Dakota are southeast of Christine, across the river from Wolverton, Minn. Wolverton is about 22 miles south of Moorhead.
Differences in flowage easements between North Dakota and Minnesota come down to the fact that the project involves two different states with different permitting requirements, Diversion Authority Executive Director Jason Benson said.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources permit requires property mitigation for up to a tenth of a foot of impact of the principal maximum flood, Benson said, which is “kind of the biblical flood, something that’s hard to comprehend.”
On the North Dakota side, the state requires mitigation for up to a half foot to the 100-year or 500-year flood levels, whichever is a higher impact, he said. A 100-year flood has a 1% chance of happening in any given year, while a 500-year flood has a 0.2% chance of happening in any given year.
“We’re applying Minnesota permit and regulations and rules for Minnesota residents and land mitigation on the Minnesota side. We’re applying North Dakota rules, regulations and law for land that we’re mitigating on the North Dakota side,” Benson said.
Permitting differences are the
basis of landowner countersuits in the eminent domain process.
Landowners represented by attorney Cash Aaland began filing counterclaims in eminent domain proceedings in February, alleging that North Dakota landowners are not being paid for all the water that could be displaced onto their property, or for the resulting damages, when the diversion’s southern dam holds back a maximum amount of water.
While the permit requirements are different in the two states, Granholt thinks Minnesota and North Dakota landowners should receive the same treatment.
“If Minnesota gets paid for everything, for an inch and above, not only do I think we should be compensated, but we should know where that is,” Granholt said.
Further, Granholt worries that if 6 inches of water did fill the flowage easement area, more shallow areas of water would stretch farther onto his property.
“Does that mean there’s going to be 5 inches someplace we’re not getting compensated for?” Granholt said. “Because whether it’s 1 inch or 1 foot in your basement, it’s still water in there, isn’t it?”
Chris Flynn / The Forum
Ken Knudsen lives a couple miles north of Granholt, northeast of Christine. His land is similar to Granholt’s — a grove of trees in one of the Red River’s loops, with a house built high enough to avoid flooding.
With the proposed flowage easements on his land, Knudsen expected to negotiate an amount for the water that could be stored on his land and a payout for the tear-down of a garage turned “man cave.” Finding out that Aaland thinks that water could go higher was not good news.
“I don’t want to move, and I don’t want to sell and I don’t want to fight floods that I’ve been told shouldn’t happen to our place,” Knudsen said.
The land Knudsen lives on was one of the original farmsteads in the area, he said, meaning that the brothers who moved there got to pick the best plot of land.
“I’d like to see that our farm doesn’t flood and we can just stay there, and it’s a beautiful place to live and pass it onto our kids and whatever,” Knudsen said. “If we’re going to end up having to fight floods every time they use the dam, then we’d have to think differently.”
The Diversion Authority does have a mechanism for landowners to bring forward claims if diversion operations flood more land than flowage easements cover. In such cases, landowners will be able to bring claims to a dispute resolution board created by the Diversion Authority. That board will determine if damage was caused by the project.
Granholt said he’s aware of that process.
“It’s usually easier to get it the first time than to come back and ask for more,” Granholt said.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
Vernon Dale Krause, 93, of Fargo, ND, formerly of Wahpeton, ND, passed away peacefully on Friday, July 10, 2026, at Heather’s House in Fargo, ND, under the care of HIA Hospice.
A Celebration of life will be held on Monday, July 20, 2026, at Vertin-Munson Funeral Home, Wahpeton. Visitation will be from 9:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., followed by a service at 10:00 a.m., with burial immediately following at Fairview Cemetery in Wahpeton.
Vern was born on February 16, 1933, in rural Wyndmere, ND, one of eleven children born to Theodore and Ella (Rohl) Krause. He grew up in Wyndmere and attended Wyndmere Public School, where he left his studies behind to volunteer for the United States Army. Vern proudly served from 1953 to 1956 before transferring to the Army Reserves. He was awarded the National Defense Service Medal and, throughout his life, carried great pride in his years of military service.
He married Jean (Carey) Krause, and together they built a life and raised their family in Wahpeton, where he would spend most of his years. They were blessed with two children. In his later years, after developing severe dementia, Vernon moved to Fargo so he could receive the care he needed and be closer to family.
For 41 years, he worked for the City of Wahpeton Water & Sewer Department, where he was highly regarded and known for knowing every inch of the city like the back of his hand. Even after retirement, he continued to volunteer his time and expertise whenever the City needed him. Among the accomplishments he was most proud of were his early years helping develop the Chahinkapa Zoo.
Above all, he cherished his family. He loved anything to do with his grandchildren — from crafting chairs out of tree trunks and splitting wood, to watching their sporting events and helping them grow into who they were meant to be. His great-grandchildren were a true blessing to him — even if their energy made him a little nervous, he always looked forward to their visits. His nieces and nephews brought him great joy as well especially in his later years and he loved being an uncle to them. When his brother Leyone “Spud” moved to town, Vern couldn’t wait to deliver him the daily newspaper and share a chat. He loved tinkering in the garage, always engineering new ways to drain water, and he was the biggest Green Bay Packers fan around — proud to call himself a team shareholder. After moving to Fargo, Vernon was grateful for the time he was able to spend with his sister, Carole Jean, who had always been his protector.
Vernon will be remembered for his steady hands, his quiet devotion to family and community, and the example he set of showing up — for his country, for his city, and most of all, for the people he loved. He will be deeply missed.
Vern is survived by his son, Mark Krause, Fargo; two sisters-in-law, Priscilla Krause and Donna Krause; two brothers-in-law, Ron Carey and Don Carey; eight grandchildren, Carey, Danielle, Margo, Jodi, Nikki, Kevin, Brad and Tracee; 13 great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Jean Krause; his daughter, Deb Christopher; five brothers, Alfred, Donald, Willard, Kenneth and Leyone Krause; five sisters, Dorothy Peterson, Loretta Dable, LaVelle Odegard, Lucille Kruchek and Carole Jean Johnson-Bohlken; sisters-in-law, Viola Krause, Marleen Krause, Amy Carey and Linda Carey; brothers-in-law, Elroy Odegard, Robert Johnson, Willis Bohlken, Pete Peterson, Johnny Kruchek and Frank Dable; granddaughter, Robyn Krause; and grandson, Jack Bollman.
GRAFTON, N.D. — Two North Dakota men are speaking out about a 38-year-long alleged mistake that altered their entire lives.
The men and their families are suing Unity Medical Center in Grafton, saying the hospital is responsible for
switching them at birth in 1988
. The hospital denies the allegations.
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There are moments that remind us exactly who we are as a community, and the recent fire at Antelope Creek Bar and Grill in Mooreton was one of them. Many already know the awful loss that unfolded. It was a brutally hot day, the kind where the sun feels heavy and the air is so thick, and social media quickly filled with photos, videos, and comments documenting the devastation. Heartbreaking. Gut‑wrenching. A place that held memories for so many suddenly only visions smoke and charred remains.
But even in the middle of all that loss, something else rose up, something that always seems to show itself around here when life gets hard. Kindness. Pure, steady kindness.
The volunteer firefighters were the first reminder. They never cease to amaze me. They drop everything … work, family, whatever they were in the middle of and suit up in layers of gear despite the heat and humidity. They’re regular people with regular jobs, yet they show up like it’s the most natural thing in the world. No spotlight. No applause. Just service. Just heart.
Then came the folks who arrived with water, Gatorade, and anything they could think of to help ease the burden of those battling the blaze. Nobody organized it. Nobody asked. They simply showed up because that’s what people do here. That alone would have been enough to warm my heart.
But it didn’t stop there.
As the day went on, I saw posts from other regional businesses, specifically other bar and grills, reaching out with messages of support. These are places that could easily be seen as competition, yet there they were, offering help, extending care, and standing shoulder to shoulder with the owners who had just watched their livelihood disappear. “We are here. How can we help?” they wrote. No rivalry. No hesitation. Just neighbors being neighbors.
If you ever need a reminder of what makes this valley special, it’s moments like that. People who could have stayed quiet choosing instead to lift someone else up. Businesses that could have focused on themselves choosing instead to stand with another in their darkest moment. It’s the best of us. The part of small town life that doesn’t make headlines but makes all the difference.
We talk a lot about community, but this, this right here is what it looks like. It looks like firefighters sweating through their gear on a 90‑degree day. It looks like strangers handing out cold drinks. It looks like business owners reaching across the aisle to say, “You’re not alone.” It looks like compassion showing up before anyone has time to think twice.
Loss has a way of revealing character. And what I saw in the wake of that fire was a valley full of people who still believe in showing up, still believe in helping, still believe in each other. In a world that can feel divided and loud, this quiet, steady goodness is worth noticing. Worth celebrating. Worth holding onto.
Because when the smoke clears and the debris settles, what remains is the strength of a community that refuses to let anyone face hardship alone. And that, more than anything, is the story worth telling.
That is the true Best of the Valley. The people.
Bobbi Steffens resides in the Southern Valley and discovered her passion for writing through an unexpected path.
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