North Dakota Partners Create New Wildlife Management Area

From left, director of the American Foundation for Wildlife of Bismarck, presents Roger Ristevedt, assistant director of the North Dakota Game and Fish Department with the deed for 1,500 acres of land along the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers during dedication ceremonies at the Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence Visitor Center, at the Fort Buford State Historic Site. The transaction ensures the property will remain open to the public for hunting and fishing. Image by Pete Ressler, Williston Herald.

A conservation treasure will remain open to the public after two tracts of land that were recently sold were dedicated at the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers.

About 1,000 acres of Ochs' Point and 500 acres of Neu's Point were officially declared the State's the newest wildlife management area.

Recognized as project partners were Tim Neu, Ed and Ann Ochs, Tom and Susan Ochs, North Star Caviar, the Williston Area Chamber of Commerce, the McKenzie County Commission, Conservation Fund, American Foundation for Wildlife, Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, North Dakota Natural Resources Trust, Northern Great Plains Joint Venture, United Sportsmen of North Dakota, Friends of Fort Union/Fort Buford, Ducks Unlimited, North Dakota Game Warden Association, North Dakota Wild Turkey Federation, and the North American Wetlands Conservation Council.

"The coalition of partners wanted to preserve the public hunting and fishing access in the confluence against out-of-state money putting it on lock and key," explained Greg Hennessy, president of the Friends of Fort Union/Fort Buford.

"We created a funding process with all of the partners and negotiated a sale price to buy the property and convey it to the American Foundation for Wildlife, who in turn, transferred it to the public trust of the Game and Fish Department.

"We have secured a habitat for several endangered species such as the pallid sturgeon and non-threatened species like migration water fowl and paddlefish in perpetuity along with the Lewis and Clark view scape. It should survive intact for the 300th anniversary of the Corps of Discovery II."

Friday's event was intended to celebrate the transaction by conveying the deed to the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.

He credited the Neu and Ochs families for their foresight in helping keep the valuable resource local and public.

"North Star Caviar was the lead broker in negotiating the purchase in conjunction with the Friends of Fort Union/Fort Buford and the Williston Area Chamber of Commerce along with the United Sportsmen Williston Chapter," Hennessy said.

"It is the single most complicated land purchase by the Game and Fish Department in the history of North Dakota. The confluence is rated as the most significant aquatic resource in the State of North Dakota," Hennessy said.

Story by LeAnn Eckroth, Williston Herald.