BERTHOLD, N.D. (AP)--The grasslands, tree groves and wetlands, with signs warning hunters to keep out, mark a stretch of rolling prairie near here as a haven for wildlife.

Court documents mark it as something else: the focus of a battle over a North Dakota law that conservationists say is unmatched in the nation.

The 1985 law requires land buyers to submit their plans to a public review board, and gives the governor final authority to approve or reject any purchases, though denials are rare and the law allows conservation groups already operating in the state to continue buying land.

Farm groups and county officials who support the measure say it helps ensure that farmland will not be lost. Conservationists and other critics say it hampers their work and keeps new groups from operating in North Dakota.

But no one had tried to challenge the law until this year, when James Cook, of Eden Prairie, Minn., refused to back down from his purchase of more than 1,400 acres for use as protected wildlife habitat.

Cook, a precious-metal dealer who has owned the wildlife refuge near Berthold for about 20 years, said he was unaware the law had changed when he bought a new parcel of land in 2003.

His nonprofit foundation, Crosslands Inc., purchased more land last year and refuses to abandon its plans for private refuges in both places.

Cook, an avid duck hunter, said North Dakota is regarded as one of the country's best areas for waterfowl habitat, and his goals are simple: to plug drainage ditches, replant grasses and keep hunters out so birds will have a chance to thrive.

"I wish the people in North Dakota could walk on these properties some spring day and see the grass and the flowers and the beauty of the wetlands that we've restored," he said.

Robert Carlson, president of the North Dakota Farmers Union, said the law helps protect productive farmland.

"When a block of land is taken out of production and put into a conservation use, you're losing that economic activity," Carlson said. "When you see rural communities already struggling to maintain businesses, it sort of heightens the opposition."

State officials say Cook should have expected a lawsuit when he publicly announced plans to violate Gov. John Hoeven's order banning the conservation projects.

"We need to move rapidly to let him and everyone know that we expect our laws to be complied with," Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said.

North Dakota's law is the only one in which the governor "has the ultimate yay or nay on whether or not you can buy--totally unique from the rest of the 49 states," said Gerald Reichert, a spokesman for the Nature Conservancy, one of five nonprofits that are still allowed to buy land.

Reichert said the Nature Conservancy owns the most North Dakota land among the nonprofits, about 15,000 acres. "And there's 45 million acres within the state. So it's a fraction, just a small fraction," he said.

Hoeven said one of Cook's proposals, involving 950 acres in Griggs County, could not be approved because Cook had purchased the land without first getting permission. Cook said he was unaware of the change in the law.

In Cook's purchase of 480 acres in Cavalier County, Hoeven cited a lack of public benefit, including plans to ban hunters, in denying the request. Cook was then sued by Stenehjem, who says Crosslands also illegally transferred ownership of its 320-acre refuge in Ward County from another nonprofit Cook operated.

Stenehjem is asking a judge to fine Crosslands up to $150,000 if it does not unload its properties within a year.

Cook concedes he has a slim chance of prevailing in court and says the battle could drain Crosslands' wildlife budget. But he predicts the dispute will help turn public sentiment against the state's restrictions and rally outdoors enthusiasts to his side.

"You can't measure the value of the prairie in grain alone," Cook said. "One way or another, there's going to be room for wetlands and wildlife."

Date: 1/26/05

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