Friends of the Elkhorn Ranch came $150,000 closer to meeting its $1 million fundraising goal on Wednesday.

In a press conference at Tesoro Mandan Refinery, the Tesoro Corp. presented Friends of the Elkhorn Ranch with $50,000 to help support the restoration and stewardship of President Theodore Roosevelt's Elkhorn Ranch lands.

"We take a lot of pride in making sure we preserve and protect the environment," Mandan refinery manager Alan Anderson said.

The National Wild Turkey Federation, Mule Deer Foundation, the Minnesota-Wisconsin Chapter of the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep and the Montana-Dakota Resources Group each donated $25,000 to the project.

"Projects like this are very expensive and require a tremendous fundraising effort," said Larry Baesler, lands program manager for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

Including Wednesday's donations, Friends of the Elkhorn Ranch has raised $880,000 toward its $1 million goal.

Half of that $1 million will go to support the acquisition. The remaining $500,000 will support restoration, educational programs, campaign research and in-kind donations.

The USDA Forest Service's 5,200-acre acquisition of the ranch lands was made possible by a $500,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, which challenged the Friends of the Elkhorn Ranch to raise an additional $500,000.

Dave Pieper, Forest Service supervisor for the Dakota Prairie Grasslands, said the Forest Service hopes to use innovative grazing techniques on the ranch lands.

"This is cooperative conservation at its finest," said Lowell Baier, executive vice president of the Boone and Crockett Club, which was founded by Roosevelt in 1887.

"This piece of property is very significant to western North Dakota and the whole state," former Gov. Ed Schafer said.

"(Roosevelt) wanted to make sure we preserved our resources for everybody," said Torstenson Wildlife Center board member Bill Kiefer.