Border hunting battle begins
By Don Davis
The Forum - 08/27/2003
ST. PAUL -- Minnesota's top wildlife official is taking aim at North Dakota anglers and Gov. Tim Pawlenty may provide added ammunition in a growing dispute over North Dakota's new nonresident hunting regulations.
Gene Merriam, Minnesota's Department of Natural Resources commissioner, and Pawlenty say they want North Dakota to change its new nonresident hunting regulations. They say Minnesotans should enjoy the same opportunities given to North Dakota anglers in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
"In fairness to our hunters and anglers, we have to address the issue," Merriam said Tuesday.
Last week, in an interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Merriam was more pointed:
"We don't think it makes sense to escalate the arms race by being retaliatory. But they (North Dakotans) can't come over here and enjoy our lakes in the summer and expect our citizens to put up with some pretty onerous provisions during the hunting season there."
During a Saturday meeting with about 90 Minnesota outdoorsmen and politicians in Nicollet, Minn., Pawlenty said he's requesting a meeting with North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven to discuss the issue.
Hoeven said Tuesday he's willing to talk, but the new rules were thoroughly discussed during the last legislative session. Hoeven gave no indication he is willing to budge.
"If Gov. Pawlenty wants to give some input, I certainly am going to listen," Hoeven said.
The Pawlenty administration puts the controversy high on its priority list and hopes to schedule a meeting with Hoeven within a month, said the Minnesota governor's spokeswoman.
"While he does not look to retaliate on that issue, he does want to raise the issues and have a good conversation about a number of outdoors issues," Press Secretary Leslie Kupchella said. "It's just a bit premature to say at this point what he will do if North Dakota does not change its rules. First things first, and that is to have that meeting with Gov. Hoeven."
Pawlenty was more direct when talking to Saturday's gathering in Nicollet.
"I'm going to go up and tell him (Hoeven) this cannot go forward on this basis, with this amount of tension and frustration and, frankly, this amount of unfairness," the Star Tribune quoted Pawlenty as saying. "We will seek out ways to get his voluntary cooperation to bring some fairness. If that's not successful, we may have to use other means."
The Pawlenty administration won't say what those "other means" could be.
Hoeven didn't seem worried. But he was puzzled why Pawlenty did not mention the issue when the two attended a National Governors' Association meeting earlier this month.
"He hasn't talked to me about it, and I was with him two days last week," Hoeven said.
The president of the Minnesota Outdoors Heritage Alliance said his members are happy Pawlenty is involved.
"The governor is hearing what the grass-roots sportsmen of Minnesota have said," Mark LaBarbera said. "The sportsmen are very much up in arms. The governor is trying to be the voice of reason to find a reasonable solution."
New laws and North Dakota Game and Fish Department rules give residents a week's head start over nonresidents in many hunting seasons, including ducks and geese, which start for North Dakotans Sept. 27.
The head start is common in other states, Hoeven said.
Nonresidents' hunting grounds also will be more restricted than those open to North Dakotans. Hoeven said it's part of managing hunting resources.
Also, out-of-state residents cannot hunt in North Dakota Oct. 11-17. Legislators apparently intended the law only to apply to pheasant hunters, but it was written in such a way that it bans all nonresident hunters from state-owned lands and other hunting lands controlled by the state.
That week is when many Minnesota students are out of school as teachers attend an annual conference.
Nonresidents also will pay more for many North Dakota hunting licenses.
Hoeven said he doesn't understand complaints about license fee increases. North Dakota's are in line with most nearby states, he said.
Minnesota charges $83 for a duck license, compared to $85 in North Dakota, Hoeven said. And Minnesota charges North Dakotans $10 more for fishing licenses than North Dakota charges Minnesotans.
Minnesota hunters will benefit from North Dakota's efforts to eventually increase its hunting acreage to 1 million, Hoeven said. That's up from about 160,000 acres in the recent past and nearly 350,000 acres today.
Merriam said the combined changes rile Minnesota hunters.
He knows about upset sportsmen firsthand. Merriam, a captive audience while in his dentist's chair Monday, heard the familiar complaints.
The dentist said North Dakotans are welcome in Minnesota -- so much so natives can hardly buy property near Detroit Lakes because so many North Dakotans are in the market, driving up prices.
"Why do those folks get to come over here all summer long and catch our fish?" the dentist asked Merriam.
Merriam also has firsthand knowledge about hunting in North Dakota. He has been a frequent North Dakota hunter, especially to the Stanley area in the northwestern part of the state. He doesn't understand why North Dakotans would want to keep him and his money away.
The commissioner recalled a hunting visit when he stayed in a Devils Lake motel: "It was all Minnesota and Wisconsin license plates."
Hoeven said there actually is a bright side to the Minnesota-North Dakota dispute: "Even this discussion -- it is people talking about North Dakota and North Dakota having something people want."
Readers can reach Forum reporter Don Davis at (651) 290-0707