The Peace Garden State
North Dakota
Badlands buttes, grasslands, and the Theodore Roosevelt legacy that helped create America's public lands system.
North Dakota at a Glance
Badlands Terrain
The North Dakota Badlands contain dramatically eroded buttes and coulees carved by the Little Missouri River over millions of years
Sheyenne National Grassland
Sheyenne National Grassland protects the largest area of native tallgrass prairie in the Great Plains at 70,000 acres
Bison Herds
Theodore Roosevelt National Park maintains free-roaming bison herds in the badlands where Theodore Roosevelt first fell in love with the West
Little Missouri Grasslands
Dakota Prairie Grasslands (formerly Little Missouri) spans 1.1 million acres across the western badlands, one of the largest federal grasslands in the country
Lake Sakakawea
Lake Sakakawea, created by Garrison Dam on the Missouri River, is the third-largest reservoir in the US by surface area
Theodore Roosevelt Connection
Theodore Roosevelt's ranching years in the North Dakota badlands convinced him to pursue conservation policies that created the National Forest system
When to Visit
May through October. Summers are warm with low humidity compared to other prairie states. Spring wildflowers (May through June) are excellent in the badlands. Fall brings golden cottonwood colors along river corridors.
Top Activities
Gateway Cities
Medora
Small badlands town in the heart of Theodore Roosevelt National Park country, serving as the gateway to South Unit trails and Little Missouri Grasslands.
Lisbon
Eastern North Dakota city nearest Sheyenne National Grassland, with access to prairie trails and the Sheyenne River State Scenic Byway.
Did You Know?
North Dakota's Theodore Roosevelt National Park is divided into three units, with the Elkhorn Ranch unit preserving the site of Roosevelt's actual cattle ranch.
The Sheyenne National Grassland contains the only native prairie rose (North Dakota's state flower) habitat in the national grassland system.
White Butte is the highest natural point in North Dakota but can be hiked in an hour from the parking area.
North Dakota has the lowest ratio of national park visits to state population in the country, making its parks remarkably uncrowded.
The Cannonball River, flowing through the southwest, was named by Lewis and Clark for the spherical sandstone concretions eroding from its banks.