Public wildlife, private land: U.S. state seeks to end hunter-landowner disputes
FEBRUARY 24, 20214:06 AM UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
By Carey L. Biron
7 MIN READ
WASHINGTON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A decades-long debate over hunting, private property and trespass may be nearing an end in North Dakota, one of the few places in the United States where fenced land is open to outsiders unless signs declare otherwise.
Lawmakers are closing in on a compromise that, if passed, as early as mid-April would tweak the laws governing the flat, wind-swept prairie lands of the state, one of the country’s largest agricultural producers.
North Dakota’s “open access” property laws have been particularly supported by hunters and fishermen, but efforts also have been made by landowner and agricultural groups to overturn them for at least 30 years.
For Emmery Mehlhoff, the debate has simmered throughout her life.
She and her husband now raise grain and cattle on lands that they own and rent. The law has meant $1,000 a year to purchase new metal signs barring entry, plus the time it takes to put them up.
“I’ve always been aware of this as a big issue,”, said Mehlhoff, who is also a public policy liaison with the North Dakota Farm Bureau.
More:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-landrights-tech-feature-trfn/public-wildlife-private-land-u-s-state-seeks-to-end-hunter-landowner-disputes-idUSKBN2AO13B?rpc=401&
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