New threat to pheasants in Iowa

J

Jack L

New member
Just when you think things can't get worse. I've just been informed that Iowa's governor is trying to force the DNR to open all state hunting areas to grazing and haying. No claim of emergency, just because.

In many areas of Iowa the only places you'll find any pheasants is on state land managed by the DNR. If such action takes place pheasants will become virtually extinct in many if not most areas of the state.

The precedent such action would establish is potentially horrendous for pheasants and wildlife in Iowa.

I guess we can see now why the governor just named his 29 yr old son to the state conservation commission.

Get ready for the battle.
 
Are we talking about using grazing/haying on public lands as a means to improving warm-seasons or just "open to the public" haying and grazing for the sake of haying and grazing:confused:
 
I'd bet you are talking campaign contributions, money, and re-election; probably has little to do with efficacy.
 
It's amazing what government does with "state" lands. I found some colorado state land on the map and thought it might hold some quail. Went down there only to find it was leased to an outfit that charges a fee to hunt state land.

What's the limit for cows, on state land ? :confused:
 
brittboy said:
It's amazing what government does with "state" lands. I found some colorado state land on the map and thought it might hold some quail. Went down there only to find it was leased to an outfit that charges a fee to hunt state land.

What's the limit for cows, on state land ? :confused:
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No, do you mean BLM land??? Because state land is not able to be leased, as I under stand it??? :)
 
jmac said:
No, do you mean BLM land??? Because state land is not able to be leased, as I under stand it??? :)
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it is able to be leased, they run cows on hugo
and they farm parts of john martin,there may be nuances in the various agreements im not aware of
ie :were the swa's donated without the grazing rights(years ago),cant say
 
brittboy said:
This is "for sure" state land. There are signs all along the fences with a number to call for access.
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every one of those swa's (Co ,state wild life area)could have been brought under the states auspice under a different agreement,some bought, some traded, some donated,all with a different contract for each.
you see that some have sombody's name on the sign, those were sure nuff part of a farm or a ranch at one time.these contracts should be public record but diggin'em out is probably not worth the bother.
you note that people buy these 40 acre ranchettes but they dont get the mineral rights to them,then one day a petroleum co. is frackking in their back yard, read your deed
 
The west where the BLM property primarily found, is leased for a specific purpose, most state land is too! But, use by the public for hunting is excepted. That does not mean, that someone might try to maintain access rights, and charge a fee. One possibilty is that there is limited access to the BLM, requiring access through private ground, this results in a padlocked gate across a trail that has been used for 100 years, but now an enterprising soul decides that he can enterpeneur his way to a pay day. Mostly the state and most Federal officials are reluctant to cross them. A famous case, in Oregon, Carol King, ( yes the singer), gated off a sizable quadrant of a national forest, because her ranch was down the same road. Denying access to a prime elk range, across a a public access road. Lots of legal manuevers, but in the end, after years of court fight, public access was restored. They also rent out grazing in the National Forests in Nebraska and the Valentine National Wildlife Refuge, but consumption is monitored, and they will tell them post haste to move in a drought. There are laws, and there is "the way of doing business out west". If you hunt there, you need to know the "rules", and be sure of where you are, I would not cross a padlocked gate, determine what rights you have. Or be faced with a disagreeable confrontation. Pressure in Iowa on conservation areas does not surprise me! Everything is farm bureau centered, good or bad.
 
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I searched "Iowa proposal to graze or hay DNR ground". Found an article dated last July 27, 2012. said that the DNR was making 6000 acres available to hay on waterfowl production areas, it was temporary, maybe it is being revived currently? I will try to post it, but I have not been able to lately.
 
oldandnew said:
The west where the BLM property primarily found, is leased for a specific purpose, most state land is too! But, use by the public for hunting is excepted. That does not mean, that someone might try to maintain access rights, and charge a fee. One possibilty is that there is limited access to the BLM, requiring access through private ground, this results in a padlocked gate across a trail that has been used for 100 years, but now an enterprising soul decides that he can enterpeneur his way to a pay day. Mostly the state and most Federal officials are reluctant to cross them. A famous case, in Oregon, Carol King, ( yes the singer), gated off a sizable quadrant of a national forest, because her ranch was down the same road. Denying access to a prime elk range, across a a public access road. Lots of legal manuevers, but in the end, after years of court fight, public access was restored. They also rent out grazing in the National Forests in Nebraska and the Valentine National Wildlife Refuge, but consumption is monitored, and they will tell them post haste to move in a drought. There are laws, and there is "the way of doing business out west". If you hunt there, you need to know the "rules", and be sure of where you are, I would not cross a padlocked gate, determine what rights you have. Or be faced with a disagreeable confrontation. Pressure in Iowa on conservation areas does not surprise me! Everything is farm bureau centered, good or bad.
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I have seen similar pissin' matches go south in a hurry. Get a bunch of stubborn people with an "I'll show YOU" attitude and it can get out of hand pretty quick. Crazy, actually, especially if one of the parties has an axe to grind.

A few years ago, a guy near Tuttle Creek decided to put up a gate across a road to some public land because he believed he had a finger of land that wrapped around the border of the public ground where the road was. Then somebody cut his lock. Then the landowner put up a heavier gate and lock that couldn't be cut. So somebody took a bulldozer and knocked down his posts and smashed his gate. So then the landowner took a backhoe and dug a giant pit where the road used to be... This went back and forth, Hatfield and McCoy style, until finally a judge made him fix the road and declared that he did not have the right to block the road.

I don't know 100% of the dirty details, but it is amazing how low some people will go just because they are greedy. This guy wanted the public land all to himself, and decided he was going to have it one way or another...

Sad...
 
There are no links at this point. I'm alerting like minded folks to what is happening on the ground floor, so to speak. If the governor can not be dissuaded informally then conservation groups will take formal action. The post is just an FYI
 
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