No Happy Ending for North Dakota Farm

[Oscar]

No Happy Ending for North Dakota Farm

July 25, 2007

My four sisters and I are 4th generation farmers in Towner County, North Dakota. Our paternal grandparents homesteaded this land in 1896; the farm is now in the Botz Family Farm, LLP, and my sisters and I manage it. The land itself is in the “heart of the durum triangle,” abundantly rich with wildlife and fish. We were dismayed to learn in June, 2002 that a second mega hog farm was proposed in the county, less than a mile from the Mauvais Coulee, and approximately 1.7 miles from our farmhouse. Additionally, the coulee feeds directly into the Devils Lake Basin.

We immediately enlisted the help of consultants with GRACE Factory Farms, held public forums, contacted the EPA, wrote series of editorials and letters to government officials and departments, as well as retaining an attorney in July of 2003. The Botz Family Farm LLP was finally able to file a lawsuit May, 2004 with the hope of stopping the operation.

The attached aerial photos were taken in July of 2005 to show the potential risk to the Devils Lake Basin by locating a factory farm within 8,000 feet of a main tributary. The proposed operation, Hexagon Farms, was in the construction stage when the photos were taken. You can see the water drainage to the Mauvais Coulee from the lagoon dugout area in the first photo. Our Botz Family Farm is just to the right of the pointer entitled Mauvais Coulee. The 2nd aerial clearly shows Devils Lake looming largely in the background with the Mauvais flowing into it.

I wish this story had a happy ending, but our lawsuit was dismissed in February, 2006. Since 2002, we have been actively working with Dakota Resource Council, Citizens Against Factory Farms, a local group of residents opposed to concentrated animal feeding operations, as well as our local government in an attempt to control more operations. However, local and state public hearings were recently held July 9, 2007, and a third factory farm was approved. Our farm will soon be within a two-and-a-half mile radius of two large-scale hog farms located precariously close to the Mauvais and Calio Coulees with the potential to impact our ground and surface water.

Ginny Botz-Taylor

NOTE*** Watch for Photos mentioned in this article:
http://www.stopthehogs.com/communities/north_dakota.htm