DICKINSON - North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department employees have been busy in the state parks during the fall and winter months of this last year to provide outdoor activities for in- and out-of-state tourists.
Community bonded during historic 2011 Missouri River flood
ALEX KAUTZMAN, SAM NELSON, JACK DURA, TRAVIS SVIHOVEC, AMY R. SISK, The Bismarck Tribune
June 27, 2021
FacebookTwitterEmail
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) John Warford realized the threat to his city when he saw it from the air.
Warford was mayor of Bismarck 10 years ago when the Missouri River overflowed its banks from Montana to Missouri.
Warford recalls taking a helicopter ride with Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk, adjutant general of the North Dakota National Guard at the time, and seeing just how high the river was.
“I always called the Missouri the crown jewel of North Dakota; it’s our best resource,” he said. “To look at this resource raging out of control from the air, your face pales. Your heart almost stops when you see the extent of the damage.”
It s shocking how black the park looks from the road. Theodore Roosevelt National Park Superintendent Wendy Ross, on the effects of a large wildfire in the park s North Unit.
q   q   q
âI could smell the breath of the dragon. Thatâs how close I was.â Wally Owen, whose Medora property was threatened by a wildfire that prompted the evacuation of the town.
q   q   q Life is very fragile. Fires remind us of that truth. This will be one April Fool s Day and Holy Thursday that will stick deeply in all of our souls. Roger Dieterle, a retired pastor who lives south of Medora, as a wildfire threatened the town on April 1.
Two Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park workers are retiring after a combined 50 years at the park and more than 80 years with North Dakota Parks and Recreation.
Manager Dan Schelskeâs last day at the park south of Mandan was March 15. Assistant Park Manager Maureen Trnka will call it a career April 19.
Schelske started out as a seasonal worker at Fort Stevenson State Park in 1980. His path to Fort Lincoln included stops at Lake Metigoshe, Fort Ransom, Lake Sakakawea and Grahams Island state parks. He became manager at Fort Lincoln in 2004. Trnkaâs career started at Lake Metigoshe in 1980. Sheâs been an assistant at Fort Lincoln since 1988.
Bismarck Ranger Hangs It Up After 38 Years.
There is one question that I have heard a zillion times. The answers to it always amaze me. About 99% of people who are put to the test are usually asked this after they win like the Zillion dollar lottery. If you won the lottery, would you quit your job tomorrow? Now I don t have any accurate results to that last bit of pondering, but most people I know immediately say Heck yeah .
There is a gentleman living in Bismarck, I have never met him, but I would bet The Farm (whatever that means) that Dan Schelske would be one of the very few that would keep showing up for work, for his track record speaks for himself. According to KFYRTV,