The event held at the former Erik Ramstad Middle School property, just south of Minot State University, included education officials from Minot State and Minot Public School, tribal members and other conservation-minded individuals.

“Standing in this location, you can’t help but remember the tragic event that happened here in 2011,” said Kelly Lozensky, a regenerative farmer from south of Minot, who spoke about the losses from the 2011 Souris River flood.

“We can ask our city engineers to build our dikes higher, build better diversions, create deeper dams. We’ve really got to pause and ask, ‘What would nature do to hold this water?'” he said. “Our agricultural soils have the capacity to store more water than all of our reservoirs, our lakes, our rivers, our streams and our dams. We can mimic what those native prairies once did outside our cities by increasing our water infiltration and our water-holding capacity. We can do that by simply minimizing our disturbance and increasing our biodiversity in our soils.”

The 14-acre project will draw on the agricultural background of the Indigenous people who were the first to care for the land.

Ruth Plenty Sweet Grass She-Kills, Native American Studies director at Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College in New Town, told of the early Native gardens, planted in the rich soil of the floodplains.

“We had beautiful, huge gardens. It was so abundant that we were able to have a surplus,” said Plenty Sweet Grass She-Kills, who delivered the keynote address. “We had so much corn, squash, beans, sunflowers – we had melons – that tribes from all over would come to trade with us. So, as I think about the space that we’re in today and some of the history, some of the recent history, and what’s to come, I’m really excited. I really appreciate that Creator put that on the hearts of some people to create this space and give it a new life.

“This is important for me as a Native person in North Dakota. To be welcomed back into these spaces, I think, that’s really important,” she said. “It’s important to have spaces that are for you and that you’re welcomed in, and so, I feel like that’s what this space is going to become.”

An Indigenous blessing was prayed over the property, and drummers from Turtle Mountain Community Schools performed. In recognition of their support for the project, green and red star quilts made by Karry Azure were given to Plenty Sweet Grass She-Kills; Emily How, North Dakota State University Extension horticulturist; Amanda Booher, on behalf of Audubon Great Plains; Angelica Vollmer, on behalf of the Ward County Soil Conservation District; and Mike Gessner, school board president, on behalf of Minot Public Schools.

Audubon Great Plains provided a grant toward the project, which also has been accepting private donations. Minot Public School is providing the use of the land for the project.

Development of the native prairie is expected to take about five years, said Dan Conn, MSU’s chairman of Education and Inclusive Services. He said additional research is necessary to do the project correctly. The intent is to preserve as many trees as possible on the property and to utilize areas of concrete for amenities such as restrooms and a playground.

The idea for a native prairie project came from Dr. Laurie Geller, vice president of academic affairs at MSU, Conn said. The concept is to offer a space where people of all ages can come to learn about nature’s biodiversity. The dream is native prairie restoration will bring back birds that favor that habitat and plums will be planted to grow again in the area.

“In these efforts, though, we’ve always tried to really think about Indigenous perspectives because, of course, this land was not our land. It was home to lots of people, including the Crow and Hidatsa and many other nations that would come through here,” Conn said. “We definitely want to have Indigenous voice and perspective and really make that the foundation of this work.”