Aug 06, 2008 - 05:24:14 CDT
MEDORA - North Dakota's only national park wore its prettiest blue and green summertime dress for a whirlwind visit Tuesday by the man in charge of all of America's parks.U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne spent half a day at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in a drop-in, first-time visit that will be among those winding down his Cabinet work for the Bush administration.
He spent most of that half day on back roads traveling to a tiny piece of land near the Little Missouri River where the idea of conserving beautiful places like the Badlands was borne.
Kempthorne said he wanted to see the same vistas and hear the same sounds as did Theodore Roosevelt when he lived at the Elkhorn Ranch, before Roosevelt became president and where he developed the dream of conservation.
Kempthorne was accompanied by Gov. John Hoeven both in blue jeans and cotton shirts and guided by Theodore Roosevelt park superintendent Valerie Naylor.
Naylor said the day's agenda was more personal than political for Kempthorne.
"He's been interested in Roosevelt's conservation legacy for a long time. His real purpose was to get a sense of the place that inspired Roosevelt," Naylor said.
Naylor said the small group walked down to the Little Missouri River at the Elkhorn Ranch for a taste of the "peace and solitude" that enchanted Roosevelt back in the 1880s.
Kempthorne also visited Roosevelt's Maltese Ranch cabin, which is preserved at the park visitor center.
The wood cabin is set underneath cottonwood trees and Kempthorne stepped inside, immediately taken by the idea that Roosevelt's small writing desk sets in a corner of the small open room.
A cute moment occurred when he said he intended to sit at the desk and Naylor made a quick exception to the normal park visitor policy.
Kempthorne undid the desk's lock hasp and placed inside a coin with the Interior Department seal.
There are some political issues on the park's burner, including how it will dispose of as many as 1,000 elk that are overpopulating the park. Kempthorne said he won't "pre-decide" the park's ongoing environmental assessment, but he still supports using volunteer sportsmen, rather than entirely federal sharpshooters, and donating the meat, as was done this past year at Rocky Mountain National Park.
The park will release the environmental statement in November, it says.
Kempthorne said Tuesday was also the first he'd heard about plans to build a bridge or crossing over the Little Missouri River the Elkhorn Ranch. The crossing is being promoted by the Billings County Commission for the oil industry and local ranch and emergency traffic in a remote stretch of river country.
Kempthorne said the bridge crossing project will be a local discussion that will weigh the effect on the sounds and view shed.
"Those will be elements to consider," he said.
(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 888-303-5511 or lauren@;westriv.com.)
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