Northern Plains Resource Council

Last updated
Northern Plains Resource Council
AbbreviationNPRC
FormationApril 27, 1972;51 years ago (1972-04-27)
Type Nonprofit
81-0367205
Legal status 501(c)(3)
Headquarters Billings, Montana
Board Chair
Joanie Kresich
Executive Director
Maggie Gordon
Website https://northernplains.org/

The Northern Plains Resource Council (NPRC) is an American grassroots conservation and family agriculture group. The organization was established in 1972 by ranchers in Montana who united in opposition to coal industry efforts to strip mine in the Powder River Basin.

Contents

Background

The Fort Union Formation, situated largely under the Powder River Basin, is the richest known coal deposit in the world, with 100 billion tons of coal recoverable by strip mining. [1] In October 1971, one year after the passage of the Clean Water Act, the North Central Power Study was published. The study was written jointly by 35 utilities from Oregon to Illinois along with the United States Bureau of Reclamation. It called for the exploitation of coal reserves west of the Mississippi River and included plans for strip mining and power generation. [1]

History

The Northern Plains Resource Council was formed on April 27, 1972 with the goal of providing a "unified, more powerful counterforce in public 'discussions' with the users of non-renewable resources (minerals), particularly including the coal strip-miners." The foundation was spearheaded by the Rosebud Protective Association and the Bull Mountain Landowners Association with the assistance of environmentalists from the Montana Wildlife Federation and the Sierra Club. [2]

Northern Plains programs

As of 2020, Northern Plains has member task forces that address issues in the following areas:

Organizational structure

Northern Plains is governed by a Board of Directors, composed of delegates representing its affiliate groups, along with at-large delegates and officers elected annually by the membership.

Northern Plains includes 13 affiliate groups in 10 Montana counties. They include:

In 1979, Northern Plains co-founded the Western Organization of Resource Councils, a regional network of community organizations that now has member groups in seven Western states.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montana</span> U.S. state

Montana is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan to the north. It is the fourth-largest state by area, the eighth-least populous state, and the third-least densely populated state. Its state capital is Helena, while the largest city is Billings. The western half of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges, while the eastern half is characterized by western prairie terrain and badlands, with smaller mountain ranges found throughout the state. The state has a reputation for a libertarian bent in popular opinion and policy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scouting in Montana</span> Scouting in Montana

Scouting in Montana has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Absarokee, Montana</span> CDP in Montana, United States

Absarokee is a census-designated place (CDP) in Stillwater County, Montana, United States, approximately 14 miles (23 km) south of Columbus on Highway 78. It is named after the Crow Indians who formerly inhabited the land. The population was 1,234 at the 2000 census. The Stillwater Mine, operated by the Stillwater Mining Company, is located near Absarokee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billings, Montana</span> Largest city in Montana, United States

Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Metropolitan Area, which had a population of 184,167 in the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tongue River (Montana)</span> River in Wyoming and Montana, United States

The Tongue River is a tributary of the Yellowstone River, approximately 265 mi (426 km) long, in the U.S. states of Wyoming and Montana. The Tongue rises in Wyoming in the Big Horn Mountains, flows generally northeast through northern Wyoming and southeastern Montana, and empties into the Yellowstone River at Miles City, Montana. Most of the course of the river is through the beautiful and varied landscapes of eastern Montana, including the Tongue River Canyon, the Tongue River breaks, the pine hills of southern Montana, and the buttes and grasslands that were formerly the home of vast migratory herds of American bison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellowstone River</span> River in the western United States

The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 692 miles (1,114 km) long, in the Western United States. Considered the principal tributary of upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountains and high plains of southern Montana and northern Wyoming, and stretching east from the Rocky Mountains in the vicinity of Yellowstone National Park. It flows northeast to its confluence with the Missouri River on the North Dakota side of the border, about 25 miles west of present-day Williston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Powder River Basin</span> Geologic structural basin in the western US

The Powder River Basin is a geologic structural basin in southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming, about 120 miles (190 km) east to west and 200 miles (320 km) north to south, known for its extensive coal reserves. The former hunting grounds of the Oglala Lakota, the area is very sparsely populated and is known for its rolling grasslands and semiarid climate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buffalo Commons</span> Proposed nature preserve in the American Great Plains

The Buffalo Commons is a conceptual proposal to create a vast nature preserve by returning 139,000 square miles (360,000 km2) of the drier portion of the Great Plains to native prairie, and by reintroducing the American bison ("buffalo"), that once grazed the shortgrass prairie. The proposal would affect ten states: Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Custer National Forest</span> U.S. national forest located in the states of Montana and South Dakota

Custer National Forest is located primarily in the south central part of the U.S. state of Montana but also has separate sections in northwestern South Dakota. With a total area of 1,188,130 acres (4,808 km2), the forest comprises over 10 separate sections. While in the westernmost sections, Custer National Forest is a part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the easternmost sections are a combination of forest "islands" and grasslands. A portion of the forest is also part of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness and constitutes over a third of the wilderness land. South of Red Lodge, Montana, the Beartooth Highway passes through the forest en route to Yellowstone National Park.

This is a broad outline history of the state of Montana in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crow Indian Reservation</span> Indian reservation in United States, Crow

The Crow Indian Reservation is the homeland of the Crow Tribe. Established 1868, the reservation is located in parts of Big Horn, Yellowstone, and Treasure counties in southern Montana in the United States. The Crow Tribe has an enrolled membership of approximately 11,000, of whom 7,900 reside in the reservation. 20% speak Crow as their first language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interstate 90 in Montana</span> Section of Interstate Highway in Montana, United States

Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway across the northern United States, linking Seattle to Boston. The portion in the state of Montana is 552.46 miles (889.10 km) in length, passing through fourteen counties in central and southern Montana. Due to the large size of Montana, it is the longest segment of I-90 within a single state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Wyoming</span> History of the U.S. state of Wyoming

There is evidence of prehistoric human habitation in the region known today as the U.S. state of Wyoming stretching back roughly 13,000 years. Stone projectile points associated with the Clovis, Folsom and Plano cultures have been discovered throughout Wyoming. Evidence from what is now Yellowstone National Park indicates the presence of vast continental trading networks since around 1,000 years ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Montana</span> Overview of the Geography of Montana

Montana is one of the eight Mountain States, located in the north of the region known as the Western United States. It borders North Dakota and South Dakota to the east. Wyoming is to the south, Idaho is to the west and southwest, and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan are to the north, making it the only state to border three Canadian provinces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regional designations of Montana</span> Overview of the Regional designations of Montana

The Regional designations of Montana vary widely within the U.S state of Montana. The state is a large geographical area that is split by the Continental Divide, resulting in watersheds draining into the Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and Hudson's Bay. The state is approximately 545 miles (877 km) east to west along the Canada–United States border and 320 miles (510 km) north to south. The fourth largest state in land area, it has been divided up in official and unofficial ways into a variety of regions. Additionally, Montana is part of a number of larger federal government administrative regions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Prairie</span> Nature reserve in Montana, United States

American Prairie is a prairie-based nature reserve in Central Montana being developed as a private project of the American Prairie Foundation (APF). This independent non-profit organization is creating a wildlife conservation area that aims to cover over 3 million acres (12,000 km2) through a combination of both private and public lands to restore a mixed grass prairie ecosystem with migration corridors and native wildlife.

Margaret "Margie" MacDonald is an American politician who served as a member of the Montana Senate for the 26th district from 2017 to 2021. She previously served four terms in the Montana House of Representatives, representing the 54th and 51st district. She also served as Democratic minority whip in both chambers of the legislature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petroleum County, Montana</span> County in Montana, United States

Petroleum County is a county in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 496, making it the least populous county in Montana and the eighth-least populous in the United States. Its county seat is Winnett. The county's area was partitioned from Fergus County in 1925 to become the last of Montana's 56 counties to be organized.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Montana floods</span> Natural disaster in the United States

In June 2022, the U.S. state of Montana was hit by heavy, damaging floods in multiple major watersheds including the Yellowstone River. Heavy rain and melting snow over the weekend June 10–13 caused large areas of Yellowstone National Park to be evacuated. On June 14, the water plant in Billings was temporarily shut down. Many houses were damaged as a result, and a number of roads and bridges were destroyed by floodwaters.

References

  1. 1 2 Bass, Thomas (July 1976). "Moving Gary, Indiana, to the Great Plains". Mother Jones. pp. 34–38.
  2. Allison, James Robert (2015). Sovereignty for Survival: American Energy Development and Indian Self-Determination. Yale University Press. p. 81. ISBN   978-0-300-20669-2.

Further reading