MEDORA, N.D. (KFGO) – The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation announced today that it has finalized its purchase of 90.3 acres of land from the U.S. Forest Service. The Roosevelt Family donated the funds for the $81,000 parcel in Billings County. The family’s full contribution to the Foundation was $100,000.
The transaction completes an 18-month process that began when the Foundation received Congressional approval to acquire the land for construction of the Library in western North Dakota. The Foundation will hold a public meeting in Medora to present its plan for comment within 90 days.
Conditions on the sale include preserving grazing rights and Animal Unit Month (AUMs) on the land. Foundation director Ed O’Keefe says they made that effort as a nod to Teddy Roosevelt’s history as a rancher. He said the Library’s plan is to use the land around it for grazing, as a “theater of ecology, to show ranching and grazing practices in real life.”
O’Keefe also announced that a habitat and native species restoration project has begun on the property. He says NDSU students, volunteers, and ecologists are collecting seeds from across the Little Missouri Badlands region, including Roosevelt’s own Maltese Cross Cabin and Elkhorn Ranch, as part of a Native Plant Project to restore the indigenous species to the land.
“The library really is the landscape and the project aims to collect and cultivate seeds to increase the diversity of native North Dakota Badlands prairie species, including rare and endangered plants,” O’Keefe said.
Construction is set to begin in 2023 and the Library’s grand opening is planned for July 4, 2026 — the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
