# Dennis Anderson: Rally hats on



## Matt Jones (Mar 6, 2002)

Dennis Anderson: Rally hats on 
Dennis Anderson, Star Tribune 
January 9, 2005 ANDY0109

Date for the rally at the Capitol in support of Minnesota ducks, wetlands and clean water will be Saturday, April 2. Time will be 1 p.m.

Interest in the rally, spurred initially by Minnesota duck hunters, is growing, and likely for the first time in the state will see sportsmen and women -- meaning, generally, hunters and anglers -- join with environmentalists in an effort to jump-start a broad-based overhaul in the way wetlands, wetland wildlife and water are managed and conserved in the state.

Of particular concern are ducks, which by most accounts-- when compared to historical norms -- have disappeared in Minnesota.

The most recent duck season, for example, was the worst that most waterfowl hunters can remember -- this in a state that once was among the nation's best places to find ducks.

But environmental problems confronting Minnesotans extend far beyond ducks.

With the loss of most of the state's farmland wetlands have come an increase in the number and severity of floods, siltation of the state's streams and rivers, contamination of ground water and -- no less important -- the prospect that duck hunting might be lost in Minnesota forever.

Traditionally, Minnesota has put more waterfowlers in the field in autumn -- some 125,000 -- than any other state.

Rally developments, meanwhile, are continuing apace, including (as noted in an accompanying story on this page) the appointment of Dave Zentner of Duluth as event coordinator.

Among those planning to speak at the Capitol mall rally, as noted here previously, is retired Vikings coach Bud Grant.

Other general developments, specifics of which will be detailed in this space in coming weeks, include:

• That said, organizers -- I among them -- believe that, regarding duck and wetland management in Minnesota, the time for revolutionary thinking has come. The state's wetland (and upland) habitat is in such poor shape, and the hour to fix the many problems affecting these resources so late, that any new programs that aren't conceived on a grand scale aren't worth considering.

• Organizers also believe that ducks can be returned to Minnesota in reasonable numbers, and that duck hunting in the state can be sustained indefinitely, if the will to achieve those goals is organized.

• Some bills the Legislature will consider this session are deemed critical to the future of ducks, wetlands and clean water by rally organizers and supporters. These include funding in the bonding bill for CREP -- the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program; passage of a water conservation and cleanup measure proposed by a coalition of environmental, conservation and business interests; and acceptance by the Legislature of Gov. Tim Pawlenty's proposal to re-invent the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources as a citizens commission with a tightly focused conservation mission.

• Broadly speaking, organizers also want to remove the barriers, in place far too long, and needlessly, that separate duck managers in Minnesota from duck hunters. Example: In this state as well as others, the development of duck seasons and bag limits is a process not unlike the election of a pope. Both involve a great deal of mystery, with decisions made out of view. Worse, in the case of ducks, many decisions offered up by duck managers are so out of sync with what most hunters consider rationale, or even vaguely understandable, that today, duck managers have lost most, if not all, credibility they once had with hunters.

• In Minnesota, rally supporters are considering a proposal to remove barriers between duck managers and duck hunters by dividing the state into five or six regions, with Citizen Waterfowl Committees organized in each. The Department of Natural Resources would facilitate committee meetings, and it, along with other government agencies (soil and water conservation districts, etc.) and key conservation and environmental groups, would be represented on each committee. Individual citizens also would be included. Purpose of the committees would be to meet regularly to discuss and propose waterfowl hunting regulations. More importantly, the panels would prioritize in their respective regions habitat work necessary to improve the condition of wetlands and wetland wildlife, and organize the resources of conservation and environmental groups, and government agencies, toward achieving those ends.

• Representatives of the regional committees would in turn form a State Waterfowl Committee, which, in consultation with the DNR, would form the state's annual duck hunting regulations.

• The state, in turn, would organize its waterfowl and wetlands managers -- be they from the DNR, the Board of Water and Soil Resources or the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency -- into a single entity, or something resembling a single entity, and assign them goals with timetables and clear lines of accountability. Annual reports also would be issued stating progress -- or the lack thereof.

Indications so far are that the Department of Natural Resources will seriously consider these and other proposals.

Discussions, meanwhile, with various conservation and environmental groups also have been positive, with support indicated in general terms, pending specific review and further refinement of these and other ideas.

The goal, in the end, is to use the rally as a springboard for short- and long-term legislative and policy initiatives that will give Minnesota its best chance to recapture -- and preserve -- important parts of its natural heritage.

The Duck, Wetlands and Clean Water rally cry is, "If you're not there, you don't care."

Ideas? Suggestions?

E-mail them to [email protected]. Letters will be published online, with other rally news and updates, including a discussion forum, at www.startribune.com/anderson.

More to come.

Dennis Anderson is at

[email protected].


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## gandergrinder (Mar 10, 2002)

Jones,
You're still a MN boy at heart and so am I. I think this may be one of the best chances MN waterfowlers have had for awhile to make a big showing and make some changes. Now hopefully everyone shows up and makes some noise.


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## PJ (Oct 1, 2002)

Did anyone read the article next to this one in the paper where Ron Schara rips on Nodak? If he only had a clue. :roll:


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## Matt Jones (Mar 6, 2002)

_It's posted on the hot topics page under "crosslands land purchase." Go there if you want to read the whole/real story on it. Here it is..._

Ron Shara: Doing right thing isn't appreciated 
Ron Shara 
January 9, 2005 RON0109

Some day, when future generations ask why didn't we do more to save America's vast northern prairie wetlands, we'll have plenty of excuses:

•Waving fields of grain were worth more than waving heads of cattails.

•Pro-drainage laws went on the books and never left.

•Billions of federal farm subsidies, year after year, kept drainage ditches growing and flowing to degrade and destroy wetlands, year after year.

•There were lots of good intentions to save more wetlands, i.e. Ducks Unlimited, government programs, etc., but they were either inadequate, underfunded or both.

Today, we add one more tale of lost wetlands to America's swamp archives. This one comes from North Dakota, the nation's last bastion of duck habitat.

Some day this story will make good reading material for North Dakota duck hunters when they look skyward and see skies more empty.

(That won't happen in North Dakota? Minnesotans thought the same thing only 30 years ago.)

This is a story about a Minnesota man, who in the decades I've known him, has been tireless in his personal efforts to purchase and preserve prairie wetlands, not for hunting, but for duck production.

Last week, Jim Cook of Eden Prairie learned that his non-profit corporation -- Crosslands -- will be sued by North Dakota's Attorney General for violating the state's anti-corporate farming law.

In 2003, Cook acquired, via his Crosslands Foundation, a 950-acre tract of Griggs County land to create a duck refuge, restore wetlands, plant grassy nesting cover.

This fall, Crosslands Inc. also agreed to purchase 480 acres of farmland in Cavalier County because "it has wetlands we can restore, drainage ditches we can plug and prairie grasses we can plant. There's no grassland on the place now," Cook said the other day.

Last month, Cook's wetland passions suddenly hit some deep bureaucratic muck.

Although he'd completed purchasing the Griggs County land, state officials notified Crosslands the acquisition was in violation and that Crosslands because it was a non-profit corporation would have to divest itself of the land. Cook balked. He'd already started restoring wetlands on the Griggs property,

"I don't understand it myself," Cook told the Grand Forks Herald. "With all the millions of acres of agricultural land in North Dakota, these people should be ashamed of themselves."

One of "these people" is North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven. Hoeven had the power to approve Cook's duck refuge plans but rejected both land acquisitions last week.

Lance Gaebe, a spokesman for Hoeven's office, said there's nothing in North Dakota law that prevents an individual from buying land or protecting wetlands but "we can't ignore the corporate farming law."

The governor isn't the only state official rejecting Cook's wetlands ambitions.

The Cavalier County Commissioners said no, despite the flood control benefits of Cook's wetlands plan. The county folks said they didn't think they needed a duck refuge.

A state advisory group, North Dakota's Natural Areas Acquisiton Committee, also was unanimous last month in rejecting Cook's bid to acquire land for ducks.

Amazingly, among the seven members of the acquisition committee who voted no was North Dakota's Director of the State Game and Fish Department, an agency whose mission includes guarding the state's wetland resources.

Cook said last week he expects to lose in court. But he's not going to quit.

"I grew up in Fargo; I love the prairie," he said. "I don't think it's unreasonable to set a few acres aside for wildlife."

Gaebe, the governor's aide, said there's no shortage of wetlands in North Dakota.

Not yet, North Dakota. Not yet.

Ron Schara is at [email protected].[/i]


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## Matt Jones (Mar 6, 2002)

GG, I hear you. Hopefully the rally can take place and some progress will be made. I'm just afraid so many groups are going to jump on the bandwagon the goals and agendas will become so watered down that they'll accomplish nothing and never go anywhere. There's a lot of people in MN, and a lot of waterfowlers; getting them all to agree and support one agenda is going to be the first, and biggest, hurdle to overcome.


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## Matt Jones (Mar 6, 2002)

...I also hope I won't be snow goose hunting that weekend! :lol:


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## Shu (Oct 21, 2003)

IMO, the toughest hurdle will be the ag groups. If farming practices don't change, you can have all the CRP you want and the water quality will be too poor to raise a lot of ducks. I'm not blaming farmers, just citing the need for change in drainage practices.


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## Anas Strepera (Nov 10, 2004)

Has there been any new developments with the rally?

:run:


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## DeltaBoy (Mar 4, 2004)

Delta Waterfowl will be at the rally, Rob Olson and a few other people will be speaking.


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## BIG BEN (Jan 4, 2004)

Are we suppost to wear camo ?


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## Matt Jones (Mar 6, 2002)

Dennis Anderson: Capitol rally update 
Dennis Anderson, Star Tribune 
January 23, 2005 ANDY0123.BOX

Here's an update on plans for the Ducks, Wetlands and Clean Water Rally scheduled for Saturday, April 2, on the Capitol Mall:

• Under the direction of rally coordinator Dave Zentner of Duluth, planning generally is following two tracks. One is the event itself, the other the legislative and policy agenda for which the rally will act as a springboard.

• The rally's formal program begins at 1 p.m. April 2. But details are being worked out for events and attractions -- including exhibits by supporting wildlife, conservation and environmental groups -- to be on the Mall beginning perhaps in midmorning. A duck-calling contest among champions from states throughout the Mississippi Flyway is among ideas being organized.

• A broad consortium of groups is expected to meet as soon as this week to develop a near- and long-term Minnesota conservation agenda whose goals include cleaning up Minnesota's lakes and rivers, restoring some of its wetlands and grasslands and restoring state duck populations.

• Being considered for the near-term agenda is passage this legislative session of the so-called "impaired waters" bill; passage of a bonding bill carrying full state funding for the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program; passage of a bill allowing voters to decide in a future year whether to amend the state constitution to guarantee funding for natural resources conservation; passage of a shore-land protection bill; and replacement of the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCMR) with a citizens panel. The LCMR distributes Environmental Trust Fund money.

• Also being developed -- by a different committee -- is a comprehensive duck recovery plan for Minnesota. In addition to biologists from the DNR, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other agencies, the group will include representatives from various waterfowl and conservation groups.

• More information will follow. For now, Zentner suggests Minnesotans from outside the Twin Cities who plan to attend the rally consider chartering buses, perhaps organizing themselves by Ducks Unlimited, Minnesota Waterfowl Association or other conservation-group chapters.

"And they should bring their kids," Zentner said. "This rally is for the state's future -- and theirs."


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