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Monday, November 10, 2003 Good Afternoon!
Government Payments for Hunting Rights (11/10/2003)
WASHINGTON (DTN) -- Senate Budget Committee ranking member Kent Conrad, D-N.D., announced Friday the introduction of bills in the Senate and the House to provide government payments to farmers who open their lands to the public for hunting and fishing.
Conrad was joined at a press conference by his co-sponsors, Senate Intelligence Chairman Roberts, Senate Finance ranking member Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., and Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., and Rep. Tom Osborne, R-Neb., who are sponsoring a companion measure in the House.
Conrad also noted the bill has also been endorsed by the National Farmers Union, the North Dakota Farm Bureau, a plumbers' union, the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association and hunting and fishing advocates groups ranging from the National Rifle Association to the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.
Conrad's "Open Fields" program would make $50 million available annually through the Agriculture Department's Commodity Credit Corporation for grants to the states, which would in turn make payments to landowners who agree to open their land to the public.
Conrad said the bill would address the decline in the availability of hunting ground for "the average hunter." Conrad noted that many farmers have closed their land to hunters due to "bad experiences" and fears of liability while wealthy, outside investors have been buying up land, paying "more than the land is worth for agricultural purposes" and then closing it to public hunting.
The access issue is also causing political problems within states and between states because some states are giving preferential treatment to in state hunters, but rural business leaders say out of state hunters often spend more money. Osborne noted that "We are losing young people as hunters" because the parents have a hard time finding a place to teach them to hunt.
To counter these trends, 13 states have established programs to make payments to farmers who keep their land open to the public without charge and to provide liability coverage. Conrad's program would increase the budget for those programs and encourage other states to establish them.
The bill would also repeal a provision in the 2002 farm bill that prohibits any land enrolled in a state conservation program from qualifying for farm program benefits. A Conrad aide said some farmers are not signing up conservation programs because they don't want to lose farm program benefits.
Monday, November 10, 2003 Good Afternoon!
Government Payments for Hunting Rights (11/10/2003)
WASHINGTON (DTN) -- Senate Budget Committee ranking member Kent Conrad, D-N.D., announced Friday the introduction of bills in the Senate and the House to provide government payments to farmers who open their lands to the public for hunting and fishing.
Conrad was joined at a press conference by his co-sponsors, Senate Intelligence Chairman Roberts, Senate Finance ranking member Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., and Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., and Rep. Tom Osborne, R-Neb., who are sponsoring a companion measure in the House.
Conrad also noted the bill has also been endorsed by the National Farmers Union, the North Dakota Farm Bureau, a plumbers' union, the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association and hunting and fishing advocates groups ranging from the National Rifle Association to the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.
Conrad's "Open Fields" program would make $50 million available annually through the Agriculture Department's Commodity Credit Corporation for grants to the states, which would in turn make payments to landowners who agree to open their land to the public.
Conrad said the bill would address the decline in the availability of hunting ground for "the average hunter." Conrad noted that many farmers have closed their land to hunters due to "bad experiences" and fears of liability while wealthy, outside investors have been buying up land, paying "more than the land is worth for agricultural purposes" and then closing it to public hunting.
The access issue is also causing political problems within states and between states because some states are giving preferential treatment to in state hunters, but rural business leaders say out of state hunters often spend more money. Osborne noted that "We are losing young people as hunters" because the parents have a hard time finding a place to teach them to hunt.
To counter these trends, 13 states have established programs to make payments to farmers who keep their land open to the public without charge and to provide liability coverage. Conrad's program would increase the budget for those programs and encourage other states to establish them.
The bill would also repeal a provision in the 2002 farm bill that prohibits any land enrolled in a state conservation program from qualifying for farm program benefits. A Conrad aide said some farmers are not signing up conservation programs because they don't want to lose farm program benefits.
