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October 1997
State Roundups
North Dakota
Grand Forks jobs programs attempt
to expand worker pool
A tight labor market for skilled workers was the norm for the Grand
Forks/East Grand Forks area before this spring's flood, but since
then the overall number of workers needed to rebuild has about doubled.
The Grand New Work Force Project, funded by the Otto Bremer and
Bush foundations, was created to help solve these workforce problems,
especially those faced by small businesses and nonprofits. The two-year
project is a joint effort by the Grand Forks Region Economic Development
Corp., Job Service of North Dakota, the East Grand Forks and Grand
Forks chambers of commerce, the North Dakota Small Business Development
Centers, Grand Forks Mayor Pat Owen's Subcommittee on Work Force
and the University of North Dakota's Office of Work Force Development.
According to Galen Cariveau, work force development coordinator
at the University of North Dakota, the anticipated exodus of residents
following the flood never materialized. The difference is that "there
are more jobs than ever," Cariveau says. And most jobs are
in the area of flood recovery, which pay more than service jobs,
he says. "It's a reverse domino effect," Cariveau says
of the need for people to fill service jobs that have been abandoned
in favor of higher-paying construction-related jobs.
With 36 North Dakota counties below 2 percent unemployment in September,
the pool of workers to choose from is limited. According to Kim
Klinger, customer relations representative for Job Service of North
Dakota in Grand Forks, there were 2,600 more jobs listed in Grand
Forks from February to September this year than for the same period
a year ago, ranging from accountants and computer programmers to
dishwashers. In July alone there were nearly four times the average
job openings, than for the same month last year.
The project will work with local businesses and nonprofit organizations
to assess their training needs and establish a regional training
fund, provide business training plans and budgets, and offer grant
writing services. Retraining current employed workers is an important
component of the project, Cariveau says, because so many recent
employees don't have the skills necessary for their jobs. "People
that businesses are hiring today wouldn't have gotten jobs six months
ago because they don't have the skills," he says.
The Red River Work Force Project, a parallel jobs program, is doing
much the same work in smaller flood-affected Red River Valley communities,
from Wahpeton, N.D., to Breckenridge, Minn., and north of the Grand
Forks area to the Canadian border.
The University of North Dakota is also in the process of developing
a summer work incentive program for university students. The goal
is to keep 1,000 students working in Grand Forks over next summer.
Students could live in campus dormitories and avail themselves of
campus services normally unavailable during the summer. Some evening
classes might also be offered to further encourage students to stay,
and "help the community to rebuild," Cariveau says.
Coal mine in “Harmony” with nature
Part of the Freedom coal mine, about five miles north of Hazen, N.D., will likely become a popular fishing and hunting spot for Mercer County residents by the year 2000, according to local officials.
An area already mined for its coal, called a "final pit," and "orphan spoil piles"—an abandoned mined area created before reclamation legislation—will be turned into a local recreation area. Joe Friedlander, environmental manager of Coteau Properties, which manages the mine, says this particular parcel provided a unique opportunity for the mine to give something back to area residents.
Most reclaimed mine land is filled in and returned to prairie grasses or agricultural production, but the parcel in question is adjacent to a wildlife habitat: Antelope Creek flows nearby and part of the pit is already filled with water. With nature in place, the details to create a small recreation area were hammered out by Coteau's and the Public Service Commission's engineering and environmental staffs, North Dakota Game and Fish biologists and a member of the Mercer County Water Board.
Once the Public Service Commission gives its approval and the Mercer County Commission rezones the area from agriculture to recreation, plans will proceed for the Antelope Creek Recreation Area and 58-acre Harmony Lake.
Barley straw covers
wastewater odors
Since early summer, American Crystal Sugar Co.(ACS) and the University of North Dakota's Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) have cooperated on a project to control odors from wastewater ponds at ACS's beet processing plant in East Grand Forks, Minn.
Two applications of barley straw were shot from a Canadian-made "straw cannon" onto two ponds in June and July. The cannon shoots the straw as far as 150 feet, and the wind finishes the job of matting the straw together across the pond's surface. Once in place, the straw acts as a biofilter, says Dan Stepan, EERC research manager, with microbes capturing the odor-causing organic compounds and converting them to odorless carbon dioxide and water.
June's cover is still intact, says Stepan, who is impressed with the durability of the cover, even after a rainfall of more than 7 inches. ACS is also impressed with the process and plans to use it at four of the company's five Red River factories and buy its own straw cannon, Stepan says.
ACS learned about the process, originally used by a Canadian research firm to control odors from hog manure lagoons, through the Red River Water Management Consortium (RRWMC), which the EERC founded and coordinates.
Since word has gotten out about the ACS project, the EERC has received inquiries about the process from businesses in Mississippi, North Carolina, Indiana and other states, most of them large poultry or hog operations, Stepan says.
"This won't solve everybody's problems, but for certain applications, it's very effective at odor control and it's cost effective," Stepan says. In addition, barley is a rotational crop for beet farmers, making it profitable for farmers in the nonbeet-growing years and easy for ACS to obtain.
"The beauty of this is that it's all natural," Stepan says. "It's a modified Mother Nature taking action."
—Kathy Cobb
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