BISMARCK — Badlands Conservation Alliance’s annual meeting will be held in Bismarck at the Bismarck Veterans Memorial Public Library on Saturday, Nov. 16, from 2-4 p.m. The event will celebrate BCA’s 25th anniversary.

The annual meeting will feature speaker Michael Barthelemy, director of Native American Studies at Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College in New Town. Barthelemy will speak at 3 p.m., followed by a question and answer session. The event is free and open to the public and will include refreshments and door prizes.

Founded in 1999, Badlands Conservation Alliance is a nonprofit dedicated to the restoration and preservation of the Badlands and rolling prairie ecosystem comprising western North Dakota’s public lands, both state and federal. It is also the organization’s mission to ensure public lands management agencies adhere to the principles of the laws that guide them and provide for wise stewardship of the natural landscapes.

In September, BCA joined legal intervention with the Western Environmental Law Center to defend the Bureau of Land Management’s new Public Lands Rule. BCA advocated to protect “suitable for wilderness” areas within the Little Missouri National Grasslands during the Forest Service Travel Management Plan public comment period in October. Over the course of the year, Badlands Conservation Alliance collaborated with North Dakota Wildlife Federation, Dakota Resource Council, Maah Daah Hey Trail Association, North Dakota Natural Resources Trust, Walsh County Three Rivers Soil Conservation District, National Parks Conservation Association and Nicole Donaghy of North Dakota Native Vote.