Grand Forks County Water Board faces decision on public hunting lands

Mar. 9—The North Dakota Game and Fish Department has offered to work with the Grand Forks County Water Board in an effort to restore access to lands that recently were closed to public hunting.

Scott Peterson, deputy director of the North Dakota Game and Fish Department in Bismarck, made the proposal to the Water Board in a meeting Wednesday, March 6.

No decision was made, but the Water Board agreed to discuss the proposal with its legal counsel and perhaps make a decision at its next meeting Wednesday, March 20.

Game and Fish already manages a tract for the Grand Forks County Water Board, Peterson said.

"That agreement, as far as we're concerned, has been working very well," Peterson said. "We would certainly be willing, at least on a case-by-case basis, to talk about managing more of those if that helps make the decision to keep them open."

The board manages and maintains about 10 dams in Grand Forks County, including the Larimore and Fordville Dam recreation areas. According to Tom Perdue, Water Board chairman, the dams were built by the Natural Resources Conservation Service and later given to the Water Board to manage and maintain. While Larimore and Fordville dams historically have been closed to hunting, the Water Board recently decided to expand those restrictions and electronically post the land it owns and manages surrounding the other dams.

Among the reasons cited for closing the lands to hunting were concerns about damage caused by vehicles driving on the dams, the ever-increasing costs of repairing that damage and pressure from adjacent landowners. Combined, the closure affects about 1,200 acres of land that previously was open to public hunting.

"The decision was not an easy one to make," Perdue said. "Almost all of the dams have erosion problems caused by vehicle traffic. That, (along with) increased liability, the board decided to post our land."

The vehicle concern is easy to address, Peterson said Wednesday.

"We very much restrict vehicular access even for big game retrieval," Peterson said of the department's policy on land it manages. "We don't allow vehicles on those parcels."

Motor vehicles are limited to established roads and trails, Peterson said.

"If there's already a road there, we don't restrict that, and if there's a section line trail, we don't restrict that," Peterson said. "But that would be considered an established trail."

In addition, he said, the liability issue only applies to property on which a fee is charged for access.

"It's our understanding and attorney general opinion that as long as they're on public land, as long as you're not charging an access fee, that we are not held liable for anything that happens out there," Peterson said.

Another option, he said, would be to limit the areas to walk-in access only.

"If we were to manage some of those, we could very easily make them walk-in areas," Peterson said. "So, we could offer a possible solution to the unwanted vehicle traffic on those dams."

Charlie Gorecki, an avid Grand Forks sportsman, has hunted public land owned by the Grand Forks Water Board for several years and learned of the ban from a landowner with nearby property.

He attended Wednesday's meeting in an effort to persuade the Water Board to reconsider its decision.

"I'm here about access, I'm here about protecting the right for my kids and future grandkids to be able to go out and enjoy the outdoors," Gorecki said. "I don't know how many acres are available in Grand Forks County for anybody who doesn't have their own land to hunt, but I recognize that this would remove something like 1,000 acres, which is a huge percentage of the public land that's in Grand Forks County, from hunters to utilize that public resource that we pay taxes on.

"I'm here to petition you to go the Game and Fish route, go with another option that still allows us to utilize those but then protects the dams from erosion. ... I'm supportive of any type of ability that allows us to continue to enjoy that public resource."

As Peterson told Water Board members Wednesday, any management agreement could be made on a case-by-case basis.

"It's our responsibility to advocate for our constituents and if that means doing whatever we can to keep those areas open, we're happy to help," Peterson said.

Grand Forks County Commissioner Mark Rustad also encouraged the Water Board to reconsider its decision and accept the Game and Fish Department's proposal.

To lose prime hunting land in the county "would really be a shame," he said.

Perdue, the Water Board chairman, said the group was advised by its legal counsel not to act on the proposal Wednesday. He said the Water Board would like to have its attorney attend the next meeting, which is set for Wednesday, March 20.

"I can't really give you a decision at this point, but probably, we would make a decision at that meeting," he said. "We certainly do value your comments and concerns and share a lot of them."