Native groups and conservationists propose new national monument for North Dakota

A group of North Dakota native citizens and conservationists are asking President Joe Biden to make roughly 140,000 acres of undeveloped federal land in western North Dakota a national monument.

The monument would be named “Maah Daah Hey” and means “grandfather, long-lasting” in Mandan. The monument would pay homage to the members of the Manda, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, amongst others. The monument would include 11 different plots of land between the north and south units of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Presidents may designate federal land as a national monument with the Antiquities Act from 1906. To learn more about the proposal, you can visit protectmdh.com.