Theodore Roosevelt National Park Houses Unstable Soil

WATFORD CITY, N.D. (AP) — The visitor center in the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park is being closed because of unstable soil.

Park Superintendent Valerie Naylor says heavy rains in recent years have led to ground shifting that has caused the building to move and to sink. Visitor center functions are being moved to a cottage at the unit's campground.

The visitor center was built in 1991. In 2002 it had to be raised, repaired and stabilized. In 2011 it shifted again. Naylor says interior walls are moving and cracking and the floor is buckling. She says it's unlikely that the building can be repaired.

The park is the western North Dakota Badlands. It has both a North Unit and a South Unit. About 20,000 people visit the North Unit visitor center annually.