Everywhere but Minot, living near water is an asset. Everywhere but Minot, rivers are viewed as a community resource, a strength. Minot’s 1969 flood forced us to fight for citywide flood protection. Those projects dramatically changed our river. They created our now-dead loops and the ever-dangerous cofferdams; they robbed us of our community asset. And still we flooded again in 2011.
The Friends of the Souris organized in the spring of 2016 to change these realities and drive a wedge in the downward, destructive cycles of the last 50 years. We must not repeat the mistakes of the past by giving more of the river out of fear of floods.
Yes, we must move forward on flood protection, but if we’re thoughtful, we can use those efforts and those investments to capture back much of what was previously lost.