The board did not withdraw another 3,000-plus acres pinpointed by State Game and Fish Department as being important habitat for wildlife, including sage grouse that are on the verge of disappearing.

Now, some members, including Gov. Jack Dalrymple, want a second look. The clock is ticking loudly - once leased next week and then drilled, the acres are tied up as long as the well produces oil.

As the situation keeps unfolding, a Grand Forks legislator said Wednesday the entire auction of 73,000 mineral acres should be postponed until the state board complies with the law governing state-owned lands.

The board controls 2.5 million mineral acres statewide and about 800,000 of those are already leased, primarily for oil.

Sen. Connie Triplett, D-Grand Forks, said Land Commissioner Lance Gaebe has failed to classify state lands based on their "highest and best use," and the same law says those uses also are for wildlife, recreation, aesthetics and others.

In a letter delivered to the five land board members, Triplett said "now would be a very good time to pause" and give agencies and the public time to get involved in policies for leasing state lands.

Right now, there is no public process. Last week's effort by the board to consider 11th-hour conservation requests spotlighted that weakness in the process.

Dalrymple told the Tribune Thursday that he wants the land board to develop criteria and a process to deal with school lands that have conversation value. He said he'd like to create an advisory board for that purpose.

The governor said, "We've got to have balance," between the board's fiduciary responsibilities and other uses under the law.

Gaebe says it's his job to manage state-owned lands for the exclusive benefit of the educational trust, where revenues from leasing, royalties and grazing are deposited and dispersed for public schools and universities.

"We recognize other needs and all are to be considered, but in the long run we can't just say we'll never touch those acres without the trust being compensated for the value of that land," Gaebe said. "Conservation doesn't support education for my kids and my grandkids."

The trust, not the public, owns state land and minerals, he said.

He said some tracts could be leased with surface limitations; meaning an oil driller would have to develop in the opposite corner from a sage grouse lek, or time the drilling for least impact.

"We are able and willing to put surface limitations on other areas," Gaebe said.

Gaebe said he's recommending that Game and Fish review all nominated tracts before auction, same as the State Historical Society and the Geological Survey already does.

Mike McEnroe is the Wildlife Society's legislative liaison for North Dakota. His request to preserve state tracts within the protected grasslands from oil leasing set off the whole chain of events leading to today's meeting.

McEnroe said he feels like all he achieved was a "stay of execution," because the board only agreed to withdraw tracts on Bullion Butte and Kendley Plateau in the grasslands until the May quarterly auction.

He says state minerals can be nominated for leasing by anyone, including a neighbor who just wants to get a bead on what his own minerals are worth.

The State Department of Trust Lands advertises nominated tracts, but there is no comment period.

"I don't think this should be a train that's hard to slow down. I don't think when 73,000 acres are being leased, having a few public comments on the process is asking too much," he said.

It might be time to make that provision in state law, he said

Greg Link, assistant wildlife chief for Game and Fish, said the agency wants to get ahead of state school land leasing, instead of trying to catch up to it.

"We recognize we can't constantly pull tracts off the auction block. We need to provide maps. Some of this land, there's no more like it for sage grouse or bighorn sheep. The critters can't take it," Link said.

Game and Fish, with funding from the Department of Mineral Resources, is studying the effect of oil and gas development on mule deer.

Impact aside, after three tough winters, "They're already in tough shape. We can't say, ‘Stay out of mule deer country,' that's half the country. But we could say, ‘Here and not here,' and be very specific," he said. "We could identify where there are hallowed grounds for sensitive species. We're all in this together."