Submitted Photo Accepting awards from the Economic Development Association of North Dakota Sept. 28 are, from left, Randy Hauck, Mark Lyman and Brekka Kramer of Minot Area Development Corp., presenter Josh Teigen, N.D. Department of Commerce, and Ryan and Jessica Ackerman with Aksal Group. MACEDC received the Project of the Year Award. Aksal Group received the Community Development Award.

Efforts by the Minot community to develop an intermodal facility earned awards from two organizations in recent days.

Rep. Jay Fisher, R-Minot, received the Chairman’s Award from the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute at its annual awards banquet Oct. 6 in Fargo. The award recognizes Fisher’s decades-long effort to promote multimodal transportation in Minot, according to UGPTI. 

Fisher served as president of Minot Area Development Corp. in 2011 and was a long-time board member of the Minot Area Chamber of Commerce. He was chairman of the Minot Mayor’s Intermodal Task Force, beginning in 2000.

His award comes after the Minot Area Chamber EDC received the 2022 Project of the Year Award on Sept. 28 from the Economic Development Association of North Dakota for the Intermodal Transportation Facility at the Logistics Park of North Dakota in east Minot.  The award recognizes a project that has made a significant contribution to the economic health of the community or region in terms of job creation, partnerships and overall economic impact. The Intermodal Transportation Facility is set to be a long-term win for producers, processors, miners, shippers and businesses across the state.

Fisher said both awards are a positive reflection on Minot.

“I am happy for Minot and the region,” Fisher said. “It’s been more than 20 years that we have worked on this. Now we are getting some accolades for it.”

According to MACEDC, the Intermodal Transportation Facility and the development of the Logistics Park of North Dakota are key to the region’s ability to sustain intermodal transportation from Minot to the Northwest Seaport Alliance, a marine cargo operating partnership of the Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma on the West Coast. Currently, in cooperation with BNSF Railway, Rail Modal Group operates the Minot Intermodal Transportation Facility at the south end of the logistics park. 

Fisher experienced the value of intermodal shipping during an agricultural exchange to New Zealand after completing his master’s degree in agronomy from NDSU. The potential for marketing containerized, identity-preserved, North Dakota crops eventually became a passion for him. Fisher’s other areas of interest in transportation have been alternative fuels and unmanned vehicles for precision analysis and application. Hydrogen, sunflower, and canola biofuels, and cellulosic and energy beets for ethanol were all topics of research during his tenure at North Dakota State University’s North Central Research Extension Center.

He served as director of the research center for 22 years, retiring in 2015. He previously served as area agronomist and Northwest N.D. District Extension director. 

Upon his retirement from NDSU, he founded Fisher Research LLC, a consulting and value-added agriculture company. In 2021, he became a shareholder in L&Q International, Inc. and president of L&Q Great Plains. L&Q produces ROAD-HARD, a natural biopolymer soil hardener, water repellent and dust control agent.

Fisher has served in the state House of Representatives since 2019. 

Also receiving awards from UGPTI were Rep. Robin Weisz, R-Hurdsfield, and Terry Traynor, former executive director of the North Dakota Association of Counties.

Weisz received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his vision and efforts to promote the need for significant transportation investment beyond federal funding. His efforts contributed to the historic funding investments made by the Legislature in 2011 and subsequent sessions, according to UGPTI.

Weisz, a fourth-generation farmer, has owned and managed a grain elevator for 15 years. Serving in the state House since 1996, he is chairman of the Human Services Committee. He is a member of the Transportation Committee, which he had chaired from 2001-2007. Weisz is also past chairman of the Multistate Highway Agreement Organization, which encourages coordination among states regarding the allowable size of vehicles and vehicle loads on highways.

Traynor, who retired earlier this year after serving for more than 30 years with the Association of Counties and four years as executive director, received the Agrey Award for his leadership in promoting funding needs for North Dakota’s political subdivisions. Traynor worked closely with N.D. Department of Transportation, legislative and industry partners in the reformulation of the State Highway Distribution Fund, the development of the “Prairie Dog” funding mechanism, as well as the improvement of right-of-way and procurement policies. Traynor’s interest in these issues led him to becoming the county representative on the UGPTI Advisory Council in 2018, and he is the council’s immediate past chair.