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January 1996

State Roundups
North Dakota

Regional coalitions aim to stem rural decline

Two clusters of counties and Indian reservations are part of an effort to stem out-migration and to create economic development opportunities in rural communities.

Known as Rural Economic Area Partnerships (REAP), the five-year pilot projects are funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), with $10 million available for each region. The USDA plans to use the lessons learned from the North Dakota projects to assist other rural American communities revitalize their farm-dependent economies and reverse population trends. REAP objectives are to:

• support specialized agricultural, manufacturing and service markets;

• create regional strategies to revitalize the economy;

• install state-of-the-art telecommunication systems to enable the regions to compete in new markets;

• outsource government services by contracting for certain functions in rural areas; and

• support essential municipal functions, including education, housing and health care.

One of the two programs covers Bottineau, McHenry, Pierce, Rolette, Towner and Benson counties, and the Turtle Mountain and Devils Lake Indian reservations in the North Central region—an area of 50,000 people scattered across 8,900 square miles that has suffered high unemployment and population loss due largely to lack of job opportunities.

Representatives of those counties and Indian reservations formed the Center of North America Coalition for Rural Development (CONAC) to develop and oversee the project. CONAC also is working with CEO Praxis Inc., a Grand Forks community and economic development firm, the University of North Dakota and Minot State University to develop and implement a strategic plan. "We think the roads will lead back to North Dakota some day," says Terry Zeltinger, CONAC's chair and formerly a banker within the project area and now president of United Community Bank of Burlington. Zeltinger says he sees a paradigm shift in that people in the region are empowering themselves to make something happen.

Doug McDonald, senior associate with CEO Praxis, worked with CONAC to conduct eight town meetings over the past month. "Decision-makers attended the meetings—those people who can and want to make a difference," says McDonald, adding that attendance averaged 40 people, with 80 appearing at the final meeting on the Turtle Mountain Reservation.

Zeltinger says, "Historically, we've thought provincially rather than looking at the region as a neighborhood." Zeltinger adds that the program is establishing "a whole new level of coordination between federal government and local areas."

A similar program is under way in the southwest corner of the state and includes the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation and Billings, Golden Valley, Slope, Bowman, Adams, Dunn, Stark and Hettinger counties.

Wind harnessed for reservation electricity

The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and the University of North Dakota's Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) have joined to study the use of wind energy to power the reservation.

The Chippewa Tribe will receive nearly $250,000 from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colo., as part of a U.S. Department of Energy program to develop Native American energy resources. Sites have been selected for meteorologic towers and the installation of a utility-grade wind turbine to help acquaint the tribe with wind energy technology and to determine the feasibility of building a larger-scale wind power plant.

The Wildlife Management Department at Turtle Mountain Community College in Belcourt will conduct an environmental impact assessment on how local wildlife populations might be affected by a wind plant.

North Dakota is often called the Saudi Arabia of wind energy because the trade winds from Canada are predictable and strong. About 36 percent of America's potential wind energy is found in the state, according to the EERC, leading wind energy proponents to see great potential.

That's what makes the idea so appealing to the tribe, which hopes to fuel reservation industries with its own wind energy, according to Anita Blue, Turtle Mountain tribal planner and project manager. "We want to use as much of our own natural resources as possible," Blue says. Currently, the reservation, located in the north central part of the state is served by three electric companies.

"North Dakota has more wind energy than anyone else in the country," says Jay Haley, EERC research engineer for the project, "but who are you going to sell it to?" Haley says because North Dakota is somewhat geographically remote, wide commercial transmission of wind energy is unlikely. But a large collective entity, such as the reservation, might find it economically feasible to use wind energy, Haley adds.

Construction on the first turbine will begin in January, and the energy from that will be used to power the reservation's water treatment plant.

And while wind energy may be a good idea for organizations like Turtle Mountain, Haley says wind will likely never be more than 10 percent of the mix of all sources of energy and will certainly not replace traditional energy sources, such as coal. "Even in California where most of the country's wind turbines are located, wind accounts for only about 1 percent or 2 percent of the total energy generated," Haley says.

—Kathy Cobb