The 2019-2021 edition of North Dakota’s “Blue Book” is out.
The Blue Book is published every two years by the Secretary of State. It features a lot of facts and figures about the state, and every edition spotlights one of the state’s major historical events or major industries.
"We have tried very hard not to keep repeating things," said Secretary of State Al Jaeger. "We hope that students and teachers will avail themselves of the knowledge that's in all of the previous books, because the featured chapter is different."
Jaeger said each book contains a tremendous amount of state history.
For this Blue Book, the spotlight is on aviation, including unmanned aircraft.
Matt Dunlevy is the CEO of Sky Scopes. He helped to write the story on UAS.
"From the entrepreneurial ecosystem, or just the UAS ecosystem in North Dakota, we can claim to be the Capital of the United States, when it comes to unmanned aircraft systems," Dunlevy said.
Dunlevy said there are a number of reasons for that – including the UND Aviation School, the Grand Forks Air Force Base, the airspace integration program, the “Grand Sky” initiative and the Northern Plains UAS Test Site.
"Just about every UAS initiative across the entire country has roots that start in North Dakota," said Test Site director Nick Flom.
The Blue Book is available in soft cover, at a $20 price, or online.