Governor denies Ducks Unlimited request for land buy
Source: in-forum.com, by JAMES MacPHERSON Associated Press Writer
January 16, 2007
Gov. John Hoeven has denied a request from a hunters' group to buy a large tract of land in Sheridan County.
Ducks Unlimited said it wanted to buy the 2,320-acre tract of private land to preserve wetlands in the Coteau Hills southeast of McClusky
Hoeven, in a letter to the group, said its proposed acquisition "would not create any significant new level of protection."
The property "is already almost entirely encumbered by wetland and grassland conservation easements that essentially keep the area in its existing natural state," Hoeven's letter said.
Ducks Unlimited officials could not immediately be reached for comment. The group's Great Plains regional office in Bismarck was closed Tuesday.
The number of nonprofit groups allowed to buy land in North Dakota is limited under state law. The law, added to the state's ban on corporate farming in 1985, also requires government approval for land purchases, with the governor having the final nod.
The Natural Areas Acquisition Advisory Committee, which advises the governor on land purchases by nonprofits, recommended last month that Hoeven deny the Sheridan County sale.
The North Dakota Farm Bureau, the Stockmen's Association, the Sheridan County Commission and the Agriculture Department voted against it. Three state agencies voted for the sale: Game and Fish, Parks and Recreation, and the Forest Service.
State Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson said the region already is considered some of the best waterfowl habitat in the United States.
"I think we saw it as the governor saw it," Johnson said. "Everything is protected right now and nothing would change except the ownership of the land."
Sheridan County Commissioner Eldon Ehrman said the county held a hearing on the sale in November.
"There was no support in the county," he said. "All the people who showed up were against it."
Ehrman said most county residents feel the sale would hurt economic development by restricting the placement of wind turbines or pipelines. He said Sheridan County has more than 100,000 acres dedicated to wildlife.
"The feeling in the county is that we have enough wildlife land," he said.
