BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - The North Dakota Senate has approved $1 million to help stop erosion at a historical site where thousands of American Indians once gathered to trade along the Missouri River.
The money for Double Ditch Historical Site must also be approved by the House, which in February voted to withdraw backing for a $1.25 million loan approved last legislative session for the restoration work, The Bismarck Tribune (https://bit.ly/2nFdD8v ).
If approved, the appropriation would provide most of the funding needed to preserve the Mandan Indian village north of Bismarck. More than a dozen graves have recently been exposed at the site because of erosion.
Funding for the project would be moved from the Parks and Recreation Department budget to the historical society budget; both budgets were approved Monday by the Senate. The money was originally intended to be used for the development of recreation opportunities on sovereign lands, but a spending authority wasn’t given to the department.
Republican Sen. Ronald Sorvaa, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Double Ditch fell within the same general concept of developing land near the river. But he said it constituted an “immediate need” and a “defined project.”
Republican Sen. Karen Krebsbach said the Senate also removed the legislative intent language from the historical society budget to reinstate the agency’s ability to take out a loan for additional funding, in case the funding is moved again.
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Information from: Bismarck Tribune, https://www.bismarcktribune.com
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