On Saturday, October 24, 2020, Dakota Resource Council held their 42nd annual meeting. Members voted on a new board during the business meeting. Here is your new board for the next year.
Curtis Stofferahn is professor emeritus in the Department of Sociology at UND. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in rural sociology from Iowa State University. He taught in the areas of theory, research methods, social change, and rural, environmental, and community sociology. Dr. Stofferahn’s research interests include cooperative conversions, sustainable agriculture, and social consequences of industrialized agriculture. He was an expert witness for the ND Attorney General’s Office in four cases challenging the corporate farming law. He served as an elected council member and secretary of the Rural Sociological Society; senator, executive committee member and chair of the University Senate; and chair of the Department of Sociology.
Linda has been a member of DRC since 2000. She unexpectedly became chair with Verle Reineke’s passing in 2013 and served through 2015. Circumstances were such that Linda has held the Past Chair position since 2015. We are happy to be able to let Linda step down as Past Chair and are excited to have her stay on as an At-Large director. Linda is Secretary/Treasurer of Badlands Area Resource Council and Secretary/Treasurer of Western Organization of Resource Councils. She has been active in campaigns on GM wheat, So. Heart mine, the investigation of unethical contributions to members of the Public Service Commission, and relocation of the Davis Refinery. Linda is a landowner who lives on her grandparents’ farm after living in Minneapolis-St. Paul. She is an EMT volunteer and Secretary-Treasurer of the Belfield Ambulance Service and serves in the same capacity with the Belfield Food Co-op. As a member of the Belfield Community Club, she promotes reading and helps with a Little Free Library, the club Belfield Parks & Recreation established. Her top issues are clean water, clean air, and clean earth realized through local foods, and alternative energy.
Curt has been a DRC member since 2014 and has served as Vice Chair for the last two years. He served on the Oil and Gas Task Force and has been instrumental in organizing Dunn County Citizens to fight against radioactive oilfield waste landfills. Curt and his family operate a diversified ranching and farming operation south of Manning in Dunn County. He and his wife, Brenda have 2 sons, Cade and his son Jayce and Tyler and his wife Chelsey and their son Tim. After experiencing first-hand DRC’s organizing and research skills, Curt is proud to be part of DRC’s grassroots organizing efforts.
Lisa joined the Board as an At-Large member in 2015. She was President of Fort Berthold POWER, a member of the Oil and Gas Task Force, and a DRC representative to WORC. She has testified for DRC in Washington DC several times and been a spokesperson on numerous occasions. Lisa also serves on the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) and is a mentor to the Modern-Day Warriors Youth Group.
Lisa has several degrees in environmental sciences and a master’s degree in Business Administration and Management. Lisa knows “Bakken oil and gas development has brought much environmental and health impacts and has changed our way of life. We must protect our land, water, and air not by doing away with oil and gas but by holding big industry accountable.” She is an enrolled member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Nation. She and her husband Walter have five children and two grandbabies.
David Rydell is from Grand Forks, ND. David has been a member since 2011 and served on the DRC board of directors on an interim basis as Treasurer in 2019, and as a board representative from former DRC affiliate Grand Forks County Concerned Citizens between 2014-15. David has participated in several DRC events including helping with the planning of the Wild and Scenic Film Festival in 2013. David is a writer and a researcher who can’t seem to go more than two days without checking in on topical political issues. David is also passionate about renewable energy and the power of community organizing.
Originally from California, Bernie and his wife have lived in Mandan since 2002. He works for Pride, Inc as a job coach for people with disabilities. He is active in his community and ran for state Senate in 2016.
When DRC worked out of the Pride, Inc. building he was a frequent visitor to the DRC office to discuss what we were working on and current issues. Bernie has been a member of DRC since 2016.
April was a founding member of Stutsman County Citizens Coalition in 2001. April was awarded a Bush Foundation Fellowship to analyze North Dakota budget priorities. From 1996-2006, she was a State Representative and State Senator serving the rural Jamestown area. She has worked as a policy analyst at North Dakota Farmers Union and as a state budget policy analyst for the North Dakota Economy Policy Project and as Executive Director for the North Dakota coalition for Homeless People.
April will continue broadening the capacity of DRC and work to accomplish goals set forward by the membership “because DRC is one of the only organizations that is on the ground, doing this work that needs to be done.” She lives in Bismarck with her husband, Steve, and daughter.