The Burleigh County Park Board took steps to improve the Kimball Bottoms, also known as The Desert.

The Kimball Bottoms is a large tract of land 11 miles south of Bismarck near the Missouri River that is owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which maintains an off-road vehicle recreation area there. The county leases about 25 acres of the area for a boat ramp, picnic and camping area. North Dakota Game and Fish also leases land for wildlife purposes.

The area is mostly used for fishing, Burleigh County Auditor Kevin Glatt said. The Bismarck-Mandan Reel and Rec Club and Game and Fish have provided much of the funding for the developments currently there.

The area doesn't have a good reputation, as it is notoriously known as a location for underage drinking. Although the community has been trying to change that, Glatt asked the Bismarck-Mandan Chamber Leadership Program to step in, which resulted in a revitalization plan for the area.

The plan makes suggestions for improvements to the camping area, how to fund projects and how to make the Bottoms safer. However, Glatt said he doesn't know what the next step toward implementing the plan might be.

"The county has been hesitant in making lots of improvements because of budget restraints and vandalism," he said.

The plan was developed by project team members Greg Bach, Julie Buechler Boschee, Monica Creswell, Wanda Gier, Amy Jo Johnson, Janelle Johnson and Brenda Stone, who took part in the leadership program. Although the area already sees 8,000-10,000 vehicles in the summer months, the group hopes their suggested improvements could push that number higher.

They established a goal for the area - "to develop a viable plan to further improve the … area into a primitive park and recreational area that will be welcoming to guests … and actively used by the general public."

The suggestions the team made would take place in three phases. In phase one, the recreation area would be installed with water and electricity as well as increased security. In phase two, the recreation area would see running water, a playground and picnic tables added, toilets upgraded and showers installed. The park area would have vegetation cleared and the road improved in that phase. Phase three would improve the entire area, with outdoor grills, a fish cleaning station being installed and the construction of a walking/biking trail.

The team also suggested how to fund such improvements, focusing on the Lewis and Clark ties to the park. The expedition was in the Kimball Bottoms area when they saw their first grizzly bear.

The project team encouraged the park board to look into working with the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Committee of Bismarck-Mandan.

"We don't want this to be dropped," said Stone. "We want somebody to take this forward. We have a negative force down there but if we brought in a positive influence, we could fight the negativity."

(Reach reporter Angie Buckley at 250-8255 or angiebuckley@ndonline.c-om.)