Landowners urge action after repeated trespass at Kildeer Mountain battlefield; county attorney urges civil suit option

Craig and Rhonda Duvernak used the public-comment portion of the Oct. 14 Dunn County Commission meeting to present photos and describe years of vehicle trespass and gate damage at the Kildeer Mountain battlefield site adjacent to their property. They said inaccurate map labels and social-media postings have encouraged visitors to drive across private ground, and they asked the county for help with enforcement and signage.

The Duvernaks showed pictures of a removed padlock, torn fence sections and vehicle tracks going more than a mile beyond the private gate. They said some online map labels, including references to a "Monument Park," mislead visitors about site extent; the couple said Rhonda had successfully removed at least one erroneous label via online map tools but that other references remain "pending." They described repeated incidents, loss of privacy and a decline in goodwill after years of volunteer maintenance.

Pat, the county's state's attorney, responded with legal context and limits. He explained that, under North Dakota law and relevant case precedent, the long-standing presence of a traversed surface can create a prescriptive or easement claim that gives people a "claim of right" to traverse the land. When a claim of right exists, criminal trespass prosecution is unlikely to succeed; the state's attorney said the only effective remedy in many such cases is for the property owner to file a civil declaratory-judgment action and, if necessary, a restraining order. The state's attorney advised that the Duvernaks would need private counsel to pursue that civil remedy and that the county has reached the limit of its authority to resolve the dispute without court action.

Commissioners said the county will continue to help with signage and restricted vehicle access (walking-only signs and gates) but acknowledged the county's enforcement options are constrained if a court ultimately finds a prescriptive easement or if the corridor is declared a public road. The Duvernaks and the county reported some immediate mitigation worked: parking-area gates and walking-access signage have reduced vehicle traffic in recent days.

The public-comment exchange chronicled a long-running dispute over property rights, public access to a historic site and online mapping errors; the state's attorney recommended civil litigation as the practical next legal step where county criminal enforcement is unlikely to prevail.