Hundreds of volunteers from around western North Dakota helped with the effort, including from Bowman County.
By BRYCE MARTIN
Pioneer Editor | [email protected]
Nearly 1,800 garbage bags were filled by hundreds of volunteers during a highway cleanup that spanned almost 200 miles in western North Dakota.
Volunteers from multiple agencies around the state took on the massive Highway 85 cleanup project last week after wet weather in late April pushed back the dates.
Since the impact from the Bakken Oil boom began, Highway 85 became a hotbed of truck and semi traffic. With the huge increases in traffic came an influx in littering and other debris along the route that spans the state from the Canadian border to South Dakota.
Cal Klewin, executive director of the Theodore Roosevelt Expressway Association, worked with the various agencies and groups to bring them together for the highway’s beautification project.
“It’s a mess between Watford City and Williston,” said Lyn James, president of the Bowman City Commission.
That area was its original target, but with the aid of several southwestern North Dakota agencies and organizations, the cleanup project was extended to encompass the full length of the highway.
The project was made possible by cooperation with the North Dakota Department of Transportation, which provided the garbage bags. NDDOT district members then picked up the full bags and took a tally of how much was collected.
The total amount of bags collected along the stretch of highway included Bowman, 120; Belfield, 420; Williston, 340; and Watford City, 920.
The large groups of volunteers represented the majorly populated areas along Highway 85—Bowman, Bowman County, Williston, Belfield and Watford City—and several state and regional entities such as the N.D. Association of General Contractors, the N.D. Petroleum Council, N.D. League of Cities, Vision West, N.D. Tourism Department, N.D. Motor Carriers, Theodore Roosevelt-Medora Foundation, N.D. Association of Oil and Gas Producing Counties, McKenzie County Tourism and Western Dakota Lions Clubs.
The highway was traditionally cleaned by organizations that opted to each take one mile. That appeared less frequent in the past few years.
