Post by FWS on Aug 19, 2014 14:04:40 GMT -6
DNR reconsiders opening state natural areas to hunting
by: TONY KENNEDY , Star Tribune
August 19, 2014
The state Department of Natural Resources is changing course on a strategy to open more Scientific and Natural Areas to hunting and trapping, a high-ranking DNR official said Tuesday.
Steve Hirsch, director of the DNR’s Ecological and Water Resources Division, said heavy public opposition to making the 40-year-old land program more accessible to hunters has prompted the agency to “pause.’’ Early this year, the DNR held public hearings on expanded land use proposals for 10 Scientific and Natural Areas (SNAs) around the state. Similar plans for next year have been dropped, Hirsch said.
“Most conmments were opposed,’’ Hirsch said of this year’s proposed SNA changes. “We certainly have to take a pause now.’’
Based on public input, no changes will be made to eight of the 10 SNAs that were up for review this year, Hirsch said. But the DNR is proposing to open Lake Alexander Woods SNA. north of Cushing, to deer hunting and to allow dogs on leashes at Minnesota Point Pine Forest SNA in Duluth, he said. Before the two proposed changes are decided, the DNR will continue to accept public comment until Sept. 2, he said
Bob Djupstrom, a retired DNR employee who formerly headed the SNA program, said he’ll watch closely to make sure the DNR doesn’t encroach further on the rare 18,300 acres of Minnesota SNA lands where hunting, trapping, dog-walking and other recreational uses are forbidden.
Djupstrom and another ex-DNR worker, Ellen Fuge, have been complaining to state legislators that the agency has overstepped its authority since 2012 by opening several SNA lands around the state to hunting and trapping with only minimal input from taxpayers, without legislative hearings.
“I’m glad to see they are pausing,’’ Djupstrom said.
Djupstrom said the DNR has been under pressure from funding committees to open more public land to hunters even when more Minnesotans are yearning for access to public natural areas where hunting isn’t allowed.
Minnesota SNAs originated in the early 1970s to isolate and preserve pieces of the state’s natural heritage, including rare species and unique geologic features. There are now about 189,000 acres of SNA lands, 90 percent of which are open to some form of hunting, trapping or fishing. But on the parcels that are still protected, only the lightest human touch is permitted. Camping, picknicking and swimming are not allowed, for example. Visitors can’t walk dogs or pick berries. They can take photographs or simply walk or sit in the woods to look and listen.