Cross Ranch Nature Preserve

July 26, 2009

Laura Kohn gave a talk on the Cross Ranch Nature Preserve last night -- a tract of land that includes 6,000 acres of rolling prairie land. Lois and I had popcorn duty so we had to be there. About 10 campers were there voluntarily.

Cross Ranch was the name of a North Dakota ranch of about 11,000 acres, established in 1879 by A. D. Gaines, a professor of classical literature. Mr. Gaines came to central North Dakota as a land agent for the Northern Pacific Railway.

When Teddy Rooselvelt gave up his ranch near Medora ND in the 1890’s, he let his branding rights lapse. His brand was the Maltese Cross, shown above, and in North Dakota one has to pay an annual fee to the state to maintain rights to the brand. So the enterprising Mr. Gaines bought the rights to this brand when he had learned that Teddy Roosevelt had let his lapse.

The ownership of the Gaines Ranch passed in 1956 to Bob and Gladys Lewis who renamed the property Cross Ranch. The Lewis’ later sold their ranch to The Nature Conservancy which has holdings in all 50 states and 30 other countries around the world. [Worth a google on the Internet] The Nature Conservancy kept 6,000 acres, donated some land for a state park [Cross Ranch State Park] and sold off the rest. They operate out of the original farmstead, managing a bison herd of 180 head, the prairie burns in the spring and monitoring the white plover population in central North Dakota. The organization owns two other ranches in central North Dakota.

Situated here along a scenic stretch of the Missouri River, the preserve protects the largest tract of forest in North Dakota. The forest features a canopy of cottonwoods, green ash, boxelder, elm and bur oak shading a lush carpet of grasses, sedges and wildflowers.

The native prairies of North Dakota once ecompassed more than 90 percent of the land area. Today, less than 15 percent remains. Iowa and Minnesota lost much more prairie with human occupancy. Throughout the summer, the prairie is ablaze with bright colors from more than 100 species of wildflowers. I personally have seen many tiger lilies, wild roses and other flowers.

Wildlife abounds here. White-tailed and mule deer, badger, racoon and coyotes roam the area. The bison herd was reintroduced in 1986 -- 23 years ago. Over 100 species of birds have been recorded nesting and migrating through the preserve.

The preserve embraces more than 100 archeological sites, including Mandan-Hidatsa settlements and Archaic artifacts [6,000 B.C. to 1 A.D.]. There are three bound volumes of these sites in the Visitor Center library at the State Park.