House Resolution 2473 and S. 1502 IS reintroduce the "Open Fields" legislation originally developed by Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and co-sponsored in the House by Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D.
The legislation seeks to allocate $20 million in each of fiscal years 2008 through 2012 in grants to state and tribal governments "to encourage owners and operators of privately-held farm, ranch and forest land to make that land available for access by the public for wildlife-dependent recreation, including hunting or fishing, under programs administered by the States and tribal governments."
The proposal is an amendment to the Food Security Act of 1985 and is formally titled the "Voluntary Public Access and Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program Act of 2007." Along with the support of Conrad and Pomeroy, other congressional members have signed on and include Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.
The legislation is to provide funds that help states and tribes either create programs that provide free access to land for hunting and recreation purposes, or support such programs that already exist.
North Dakota is very fortunate in that thousands of acres of public land already exist for resident and nonresident hunters and outdoors enthusiasts. These existing programs in the state were created by and are operated under the guidelines of the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.
ADVERTISEMENT
Pressure for more public land in recent years, especially in North Dakota, has resulted from the increased number of landowners who now charge for access to their property. Many of these landowners at one time didn't charge for access, but now do so because they are frustrated by poor farm and ranching economic conditions.
These same landowners also are frustrated by a lack of personnel to enforce existing laws that regulate hunting in the state. The combination of poor economic conditions and lack of enforcement combined to prompt many otherwise generous individuals to now charge for access, again out of overall frustration.
We've previously stated North Dakota has approximately one game warden for every 2,000 square miles within our boundaries. When you consider the many geographic barriers in our state, the expectation placed upon our existing group of game wardens is completely unrealistic. There is no way one individual can be expected to provide a timely response to a problem given the miles and barriers they encounter within a respective assigned area.
This "Open Fields" legislation hopes to create more public land for hunting and recreational purposes in an effort to relieve pressure on existing private and public land. Unfortunately, this latest version of the bill continues to not specifically address the need for additional enforcement of existing and new programs and regulations for hunting and recreational purposes.
If the goal of this legislation is achieved and more public land is indeed created, the hunting and recreational problems we currently have on private land will simply shift to the public land. The enforcement issues and the associated frustrations aren't going to go away until an adequate amount of funding is allocated to provide additional personnel in the field.
Before Congress addresses a symptom - a.k.a. reduced access for hunting - it needs to conduct a thorough examination of its cause. Enforcement is a major component of the cause behind this symptom.
Any proposed remedy to the access symptom, to be effective, must address this important aspect behind its cause.
