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Articles written by James Macpherson Associated Press Writer Bismarck


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  • Erratic white pelicans due to return to refuge

    JAMES MacPHERSON Associated Press Writer BISMARCK, N.D.

    White pelicans at the Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge in central North Dakota have baffled biologists in recent years with no-shows, massive die-offs and hurried departures. The big-billed birds' expected return to their nesting grounds in a few days may add to the mystery, said Paulette Scherr, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist. "The birds are going to return," she said. "But will they have problems? We don't know that." The white pelicans — among the largest birds in North America, measuring six feet from bill to t...

  • Rejected in Mont., compost firm OK'd in N.D.

    JAMES MacPHERSON Associated Press Writer BISMARCK, N.D

    A Montana man believes he has found the perfect place to compost oil sludge with cow manure and other organic waste: North Dakota. Environmental regulators in Montana forced Dale Leivestad to close an operation that turned manure, straw and unsalable crude oil to compost, saying it made a mess. So Leivestad wants to start a sludge-to-compost facility a few miles over the border in sparsely populated Bowman County, where he has the blessing of the state Heal th Department. "It's going to be a very safe place to ply our...