County Agent Update

The state of North Dakota currently has a pipeline restoration and reclamation oversight program in place through the Department of Agriculture. This program was created to connect landowners and tenants experiencing pipeline issues, reclamation and restoration, with an independent ombudsmen. After the ombudsmen has been notified of the issue, they will contact the landowner or tenant to asses and discuss the issue. The ombudsman will then write a report, contact the specific pipeline company detailing the findings and work with all the parties involved to resolve the issue., with the plan to resolve the issues in a satisfactory and timely manner. This program does provide educational outreach to help the landowners/tenants consider ideas such as pipeline pathways, type of pipeline installation, soil impacts, types of vegetation being reestablished, timeliness and other issues before signing agreements. On the North Dakota Department of Agriculture website (direct link; http://www.nd.gov/ndda/program/pipeline-restoration-and-reclamation-oversight-program ) there is the form that needs to be filled out that will be sent to the state to start the assessment of the pipeline. Using the NDSU Publication; Successful Reclamation of Lands is a great resource to get an idea of what grasses should be planted for restoration of pipelines.

Coming up on Monday November 9th at the Farm Festival Building in Tioga, there will be a meeting with Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring discussing the Pipeline Restoration and Reclamation Oversight Program. This meeting will be at 10a.m., this will be a great experience to learn more about this state wide program.