North Dakota Land Sale Under Fire

Source: AP

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- Less than two months after the U.S. Forest Service completed the purchase of an historic Badlands ranch as part of a $5.3 million deal, questions are being raised about a related land sale.

The government had said it would balance the acquisition of the 5,200-acre Blacktail Creek Ranch in western North Dakota by selling an equal number of acres of the 1.2 million acres it owns throughout the state.

But the Forest Service's subsequent plan to sell the promised 5,200 acres to about 40 ranchers in Billings County -- and only to ranchers in that county -- has come under fire.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D, says the Forest Service does not have that direction from Congress. And real estate agents question whether it's legal.

''It doesn't sound like legally they can do that -- I would think that they would have to open it up for everybody because it is public land,'' said Terry Clement, owner of West Plains Realty in Dickinson.



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