Theodore Roosevelt Administrative History

1. Michele Hellickson, "General Statement for Interpretation and Visitor Services: F[iscal] Y[ear 19]82," unpublished MS, 28 April 1983 (THRO-A), part I.3; National Park Statistical Abstract 1982 (Washington, DC: NPS, 1983), 21.

2. See Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness (New York: Ballentine 1968), 51-52.

3. "Even today we find few peoples adapted to entirely open or entirely forested areas. For most humans the contrasts seem important . . . The phenomenon of edge, or interspersion, well known to wildlife biologists, may have entered into man's original choice of habitat." Raymond F. Dasmann, A Different Kind of Country (London: Collier, 1968), 55-56. See also Thomas Justin Gallagher, "Preference for Alternative Natural Landscapes," doctoral dissertation University of Michigan School of Natural Resources, Ann Arbor, 1977, 16-17, 116-117. Cf. n41, Chapter 7.

4. "Backcountry Use and Management Survey," unpublished MS, 11 February 1970 (THRO-S), unpaginated; James B. Thompson (Supt., THRO) to Senator Milton R. Young (ND), 11 December 1970 (THRO-S). No statistics on backcountry use were kept before 1967. See 1967 Master Plan, 31.

5. 1973 Master Plan, 24; "Summary of Meeting Between U. S. Forest Service and National Park Service Conducted at Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park, Medora, North Dakota, Tuesday, April 22, 1969," memorandum, 25 April 1969 (THRO-S); "Staff Meeting Minutes," 6 September 1966, 3. The most popular group campground was the Roughrider situated on an old ranch access road leading off from U. S. Route 10, west of the Little Missouri River in the South Unit. It was not sited advantageously: a landslide closed it in 1969 and a flood inundated it in 1978 before it was abandoned in 1980. There is still pressure from horse clubs to either re-open or replace it. See Final Environmental Statement: Wilderness Proposal, 36; "1978 Superintendent's Annual Report," 9; "1980 Superintendent's Annual Report," 21; "State Coordinator's Monthly Report," 3 June 1980; "Chief Ranger's Monthly Narrative Report," 2 December 1982; "North Dakota and the National Park Service," 5-6.

6. See Fred C. Fagergren (Reg. Dir., MWRO) to Director (NPS), memorandum, 6 March 1967 (THRO-S); "Staff Meeting Minutes," 20 August 1970.

7. Thompson to J. J. Dipboye (Richmond, VA), 21 September 1970 (THRO-S); 1963 Master Plan, unpaginated; "North Unit District Ranger's Monthly Report," 2 November 1958.

8. Governor Allen I. Olson (ND) to Harvey D. Wickware (Supt., THRO), 21 January 1983 (THRO-A).

9. "Environmental Assessment for Snowmobile Trails," unpublished MS, ca. 1975 (THRO-A), unpaginated.

10. "1975 Superintendent's Annual Report," 8; Dickinson Press, 6 January 1978.

11. "1975 SFM" (fourth revision, 1980), 5; "Environmental Assessment Elkhorn Unit Development," 9. See also text at n9, Chapter 8. The Little Missouri State Scenic River Act of 1975 stipulated that the waters of the main stem and its tributaries could not be made available for industrial purposes (but see text at n6, Chapter 8). The Act was a response to a number of proposals, beginning in late 1973, which would have dammed the main stem for use by a coal gasification plant. Gary Leppart, "A State Scenic River for North Dakota," North Dakota Outdoors 37:10 (April 1975), 18.

12. Final Environmental Statement: Wilderness Proposal, 13-14.

13. Strand, 51. See also Robert N. Henry (Director of ND Economic Development Commission) to Warren D. Hotchkiss (Supt., THRO), 17 February 1964 (THRO-S). For a description of MISSION 66, see Wirth, 237-284; Shankland, 323-340; and Ise, 546-550.

14. "Mission 66 for Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park," unpublished MS, ca. 1956 (THRO-S), 3.

15. Ibid., 4; Petty, "Draft History," 75-76, 78, 80-82.

16. For early highway study plans, see Phelps Wyman, "A preliminary Park Study of the Badlands of Western North Dakota," Landscape Architecture vol. 20 (April 1930), 184-185, quoted in Strand, 26. For GNDA's proposal, see Strand, 55-56. When he was working to get the park established, William Lemke strongly implied to his correspondents that adding the North Unit to the new national memorial park would compel the government to build a parkway connecting the three units. WL to Carl Indergaard, 2 June 1947 (WL Papers).

17. Wirth's support, expressed in 1959, is credited with getting the project off to a start. S[am] Serraho, "Study of proposed Scenic Road Along the Little Missouri River Gorge Connecting Units of Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park," unpublished MS, June 1962 (THRO-A), 1; see also p. 7. Udall indicated his support during a 1965 visit to the North Unit. Warren D. Hotchkiss, "Park highlight briefing statements for 1965," memorandum, 4 January 1966 (THRO-S). See also Udall to Representative Rolland Redlin (ND), 6 October 1966 (THRO-S).

18. Udall to Redlin, 6 October 1966; Hotchkiss to Reg. Dir. (MWRO), "Special Report on Public Affairs and Related Responsibilities," memorandums, 1963-1966 (THRO-S): 2 November 1964, 2 August 1965, 3 January 1966. "Annual Narrative Report, Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park, 1965," unpublished MS, 1966 (THRO-S). See also George Magnus Johnson (Bismarck, ND) to Richard Montgomery (Acting Asst. Director, NPS), 22 September 1965 (THRO-A).

19. F. W. Barnes and Constance Barnes, "Report of Activities: 385 International Park Highway Association," memorandum, 6 March 1963 (THRO-S). See also McKenzie County Farmer, 9 June 1955 and 29 July 1950; "Special Report on Public Affairs," 2 August 1963.

20. Stanley D. Doremus (Deputy Asst. Secretary of the Interior) to D. C. MacIntyre (Supervisor, Custer National Forest, USFS), 12 August 1974, 1, in Addendum to Management Prescription for the Badlands Planning Unit, Little Missouri National Grasslands (Billings, MT: USFS, ca. 1974). See also Management Prescription for the Badlands Planning Unit, Little Missouri National Grasslands (Billings, MT: Custer National Forest, USFS, 1974), 49.

21. Weldon W. Gratton, "Report of NPS Study (June 1964) of proposed Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Parkway," unpublished MS, 1964 (THRO-A), 4-10.

22. George F. Baggley (Acting Reg. Dir., MWRO) to Director (NPS), memorandum, 14 August 1964 (THRO-A); Lemuel A. Garrison (Reg. Dir., MWRO), to Director (NPS), memorandum, 22 June 1964 (THRO-A).

23. For the scope of the somewhat similar Park Restoration and Improvement Program, see "1982 Superintendent's Annual Report," 12.

24. Final Environmental Statement for Squaw Creek Campground, 1-10. See also "North Unit District Ranger's Monthly Report," 2 July and 3 August 1957, and 2 June 1960; "1975 SFM," 5; John W. Jay, Jr. (Supt., THRO) to H. L. Hills (District Engineer, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers), 1 June 1954 (THRO-S); Jay to Reg. Dir. (Region II), memorandum, 4 November 1960 (THRO-S).

25. "Draft Environmental Assessment: proposed Reconstruction of Park Road, North Unit, Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park, North Dakota," unpublished MS, ca. 1974 (THRO-A), passim.

26. Final Environmental Statement for Squaw Creek Campground, 26. See also p. 36.

27. McKenzie County Farmer, 9 June 1949.

28. "Mission 66 for Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park," 5.

29. "Summary of Meeting Conducted Between U. S. Forest Service and National Park Service," unpaginated; and 1973 Master Plan, 25. In 1968 a prospectus was circulated investigating the possibility of turning Cottonwood Campground over to a concessioner, but the idea fell through. Arthur L. Sullivan (Supt., THRO) to Reg. Dir. (MWRO), memorandum, 13 December 1968 (THRO-S). For years (until 1981) the park provided firewood free of charge to campers, sometimes under private contract, but strictly considered this is not a concession since nothing was sold. See the following memorandums: "Annual Forestry Report: 1953," 18 January 1954, 3; "Annual Forestry Report: 1954," 4 January 1955, 3; "Annual Forestry Report: 1958," 6 January 1959, unpaginated; "Annual Forestry Report: 1960," 13 January 1961, unpaginated (all THRO-S). The Theodore Roosevelt Nature and History Association currently has a concession permit to sell soft drinks in the North Unit: Hellickson to author, 14 May 1985.