FOUNDER SHARES HIS VISION FOR BETTER IN OUR BACK YARD
It’s a bit of a mission. Sistad, attended school at the University of North Dakota and worked as a cost estimator for a large electrical contractor in Minnesota. His family has roots in northern Minnesota’s “Iron Range” where his grandfather worked in mines as a young iron worker. Ryan was dismayed in watching public opposition grow to mining in a region that has a 140-year history with the industry, and where there were solid jobs that paid family wages. He worried that the efforts by conservation groups to block mining with campaigns, such as those to protect the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota, were threats to jobs and the region’s economy.
BY TIM BRADNER “Better In Our Back Yard” says it all. It’s a play on words, but it sends a message that a mining or energy project properly managed can have huge local benefits — jobs, taxes to support local schools and public safety, and business for local suppliers. All in the back yard. Ryan Sistad, founder of the nonprofit Better In Our Back Yard, has passion in helping resource devel- opers tell their story, that their projects bring a lot of benefit. Sistad started Better In Our Back Yard seven years ago in northern Minnesota to help mining and energy projects bogged down by public misunderstanding. Scoring some wins, he has expanded his reach from northern Minnesota to Arizona and Idaho, and now Alaska.
Ryan Sistad was among the presenters at Meet Alaska in March. Photos by Amber Johnson
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THE ALASKA MINER - THE MAGAZINE OF THE ALASKA MINERS ASSOCIATION
SPRING 2026 | ALASKAMINERS.ORG
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