Baaaadlands

Today I met up with Dan at our main office in Bismarck and we drove out to the Medora Ranger District where we met up with Arden, who accompanied us to the badlands. We inspected a pond that was built in partnership with Ducks Unlimited, looked at some prairie dog towns we are managing, including some that had to be poisoned so they would stop encroaching on private landowners, and examined some oil drilling platforms.

The weather and wildlife were phenomenal. Lots of golden eagles, bighorn sheep, antelope, porcupine, rough-legged hawks, ferriginous hawks, prairie dogs, elk, buffalo, etc. The badlands are gorgeous and it was neat being with expert birders who see all the critters and know what they are in the blink of an eye.

I have spent the last two weeks trying to understand the visceral, fuming hatred the locals have for prairie dogs. Just about everyone I met here loves to shoot them for sport, and consider the land they occupy as "destroyed." The issues are complex and the feelings run so deep, it is really a fascinating study in human nature. If I had to distill it down into a simple concept, it would be that just about everyone out here lives off the land or has family who does, and anything that restricts the use of the land is considered the enemy.