Williston ND, June 17 2011

Day 13 June 17 23011 Williston ND

IT would be important to relate the effects of the big oil and gas boom in NW North Dakota and NE Montana as we tell of the day’s adventures. A few years ago there was a large announcement that this area has large deposits of both oil and gas (some mineral) and bids went out for exploration and development. This has turned the sleepy town of some 10,000 into a veritable “man camp” area of activity. ITG is perhaps 30,000 to 40,000 but no one has counted.The large trucks (double bottom , tankers and bottom dumpers) outnumber the autos by two to one. They’re on the road constantly and many sites where equipment like pipes, and oil rigging infrastructure are located, are being built as fast as they can. Unemployment is virtually zero. Workers are coming from all over the west and from as far away as Mexico.

We did do some birding today again at the Medicine Lake NWR. It is, however, about 60 miles into Montana, across the border, but as we had already changed our itinerary a bit this worked out fine. Medicine Lake is about 25 miles north of Culbertson Montana. The day was rainy at first , but light, so not interfering with birding.

We stopped at the Visitors center (Hq.) and talked with the staff to orient ourselves. OT is a pleasant building with plenty of amenities. The road around the Lake is some 18 miles, but partially closed to protect the Piping Plover nesting areas. There were many ponds at the edges so we stopped often to investigate. New birds species seen today in the Refuge were; the Upland sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper, Lark Sparrow, Lark Bunting, Chestnut Collared Longspur, Baird’s Sparrow, California Gull and the Lesser Scaup. Our total was 40 birds today. Later in the day the wind came up (35-40 mph) and we has to close the windows at times due to the driving rain. Some flowers like the White Beardtongue were seen. We saw some of the 10,000 White Pelicans that nest here, but not in such huge numbers due to the wind and rain. On the way out we stopped at the visitor’s center to report birds seen and get a handle on the flower’s ID. This was a true prairie NWR with grasses and prairie plants on the entire Refuge to provide habitat for the local birds and animals. We did see a Beaver today on its “nest” (house). The trip back was very windy with a headwind of 40mph for one half of the way. The day ended with grocery shopping and a dinner in the trailer. Tomorrow we head for the north unit of theTheodore Roosevelt National Park (north unit).This is where TR got his ideas for the conservation work that he did during his terms in office. He even built a ranch and ranch house there. Look that up to see just how many parks, areas, forests he had set aside during his administration. We would not have what we have today without that effort.