Interviews: Steve Fifita, Annabelle Holdings and Vern Whitten, Whitten Arial Photography, Fargo
Building the Bakken Radio Episode 4 Segment 1: Aviation in the Bakken
Steve Fifita, Annabelle ADG Holdings, says their group looks at the Bakken as an emerging market. Fifita said their holding company has an operating piece, which are a land, a real estate development company and a property management company currently doing business in the western North Dakota. Fifita’s involvement is on the venture capital side, figuring out which technologies are needed in the Bakken – “much like you would apply in Latin America or Eastern Europe.”
Fifita lives in Eden Prairie and flies to the Bakken. When asked how important the aviation industry has been to the development of the Bakken, Fifita said “massive.” He explained how the “talent” is needed from time to time and due to a lack of housing, flying them in is an option or “an aviation solution.” Dickinson is added flights, Houston created a direct flight to Rapid City and smaller airports like Tioga, Watford City and Bowman are making upgrades to accommodate the increased aviation interest.
Fifita continued by stating, “If the talent itself is solving the problems by flying in, as opposed to driving, that’s a time saving exercise. They are making that over a financial decision, so that tells me there is a huge need. There is a premium they are paying because they want to save time.”
Vern Whitten has been flying over North Dakota for over three decades. In addition to being a pilot, Whitten is an aerial photographer. Over the past decade or so, interest in Whitten’s photography has increased to where when he takes aerial photos, he hires a pilot so “both his hands and eyes can be freed up.” This has allowed Whitten to be a top notch eagle eye witness to the expansion of the development in western North Dakota as well understanding the trends within the aviation industry.
Whitten said he believes he has had the best seat in the state to see the changes in the state. He said it has been a privilege and North Dakota has some beautiful scenery and different terrain. “The pothole country near Kenmare, the Badlands, farmland around Dickinson, the lake environment, it is all just gorgeous.”
Whether it was the oil boom from the 80′s that changed the landscape or the floods on the eastern side of North Dakota, Whitten has photographed it from above. Whitten said one of the more remarkable photograph series over time is Devils Lake. To see the water levels rising for a decade or more engulfing farm land and even structures is amazing.
Whitten addressed changes in the landscape due to development. Whitten said he has seen changes in the landscape happen over the past 30 years because of agriculture, coal, renewable energies and real estate development, not just oil development. Whitten said it seems the oil companies get positioned as the bad guys all the time and wishes they would do a better job of promoting some of the good things they are doing.
Whitten gave an example of the time last month when he “came into Tioga from the north.” Whitten continued by reflecting back to the 80′s when Tioga was a very active area for oil, and they did vertical drilling resulting in a “honeycomb” of oil wells. Now the wells “spaced out on section lines and on each particular well pad, they can drill four or more different wells down two miles and over two miles, covering a much larger area so your footprint is much less.”
Whitten said the one thing that has really stood out is the number of people working out in western North Dakota. He continued by saying the amount of housing under construction is massive in Minot, Tioga, Williston, Killdeer and Watford City. Whitten said Watford City just saw a Cashwise grocery store open up, a number of “really nice” hotels are close to being done and that Watford City is like “Boomtown USA.”
Whitten reset the conversation with the blanket statement of “yes there are issues in western North Dakota, but there good things too.” Whitten shared an anecdotal example of a woman who grew up in Stark County. Whitten said she said because of the oil activity she doesn’t have to leave North Dakota and has a good job that pays well. He said there are just as many of those positive stories happening as the negative.
To for more information on Vern Whitten or to see any aerial photography slideshows, click here.
The aviation industry has changed in the past decade, as has western North Dakota. Private and municipal airports have seen investments in infrastructure and technology as the increased air traffic continues at airports in and near the Bakken. The consensus and actions seem to indicate aviation saves time and time is money in the oil patch.
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