5E Relating to natural resources

ARTICLE 1 - STATE LANDS

Requiring the commissioner of administration to send state agency land surplus notices, raising the land value for appraisal and requiring commissioner land survey, requiring licensed appraiser appraisal and conformity with certain uniform standards, requiring surplus state-owned lands to be sold minimally for appraised value, requiring purchaser minimum payment percentage at time of sale and remainder within a certain amount of time, requiring commissioner of administration quitclaim signature and eliminating contract for deed; creating the Minnesota forests for the future program to identify and protect private working forest lands, providing for land eligibility, easements correction and termination under certain conditions, landowner payments and a rulemaking exemption for certain easements; authorizing the commissioner of natural resources (DNR) to acquire permanent interests in lands and an advisory team for program management, specifying application process, requiring the commissioner to establish a long term monitoring and enforcement program for future easements, requiring financial contributions; establishing a forests for the future revolving account in the natural resources fund and appropriating money to the DNR for forest lands acquisition; authorizing the commissioner to agree to match a contribution contingent on a future appropriation under the critical habitat private sector matching account; including state aquatic management areas in the outdoor recreation system; modifying certain requirements for alternative recording of state forest roads; specifying appeals process of property owners affected by the recording; modifying certain state timber sale and permit requirements; providing for expedited exchanges of public land involving the state and governmental subdivisions of the state, the determination of the valuation of land and conveyance process, specifying classes of land involved in expedited exchanges and status for certain classes of land; requiring examination of title by involved parties, unanimous approval of the land exchange board and deeds to include a reverter under certain conditions; providing wetland bank credit under certain conditions for state held conservation easements; authorizing county boards to convey a road easement across unsold tax-forfeited timber land to a private entity; clarifying aquatic farm organizations right to operate without restraint; providing for the
disposition of proceeds of leased land in Itasca county under the land replacement trust fund; requiring the commissioner of natural resources to consult with the legislature on proposed forest management investment account allotment reductions for fiscal years 2008 and 2009; adding certain lands to Buffalo River state park in Clay county, Frontenac state park in Goodhue county, Monson Lake state park in Swift county, Savanna Portage state park in Aitkin and St. Louis counties, Scenic state park in Itasca county, Soudan Underground Mine state park in St. Louis county and William O'Brien state park in Washington county; deleting certain lands in Frontenac state park in Goodhue county, Jay Cooke state park in Carlton county, Lake Carlos state park in Douglas county, Lake Shetek state park in Murray county and the Moose Lake state park in Carlton county; adding certain lands to state recreation areas in Garden Island state recreation area in Lake of the Woods county; adding lands to Birch Lakes state forest; authorizing St. Louis county to lease tax-forfeited land for a wind energy project; authorizing and providing for public and private sales, conveyances and exchanges of consolidated conservation lands, tax-forfeited lands and surplus lands not bordering public water and bordering public water in Aitkin, Beltrami, Roseau, St. Louis, Wadena, Carlton, Chippewa, Clearwater, Dakota, Hennepin, Itasca, Marshall, Otter Tail, Rice, Wabasha and Washington counties and within Carver Highlands wildlife management area in Carver county and within Lake Louis state park in Mower county; authorizing Itasca county to grant an easement for a certain number of years of the tax-forfeited land to the Itasca county regional rail authority; requiring the DNR in cooperation with the attorney general, stakeholders and a representative of the Voyageurs national park to report to the legislature on Voyageurs national park navigable waters under the jurisdiction of the state for enforcement purposes; repealing certain requirements for sale and disposition of surplus state owned land and the recording of contracts for deed and assignments

ARTICLE 2 - GAME AND FISH

Including a citizen member of the Lessard outdoor heritage council under the definition of public official for financial reporting and fair campaign practices purposes; requiring the commissioner of natural resources (DNR) to establish license and other fees to make aquaculture licensing and enforcement self-sustaining and to develop best management practices; prohibiting the commissioner of agriculture from issuing new aquatic farm licenses on natural water bodies restored or subject to a protective easement or other interest in land paid for with state or federal money, requiring applicant property owner notification and removing a legislative reporting requirement; permitting natural resources department (DNR) electronic licensing agents to charge and permit agents to charge a convenience fee to individuals using electronic bank cards for payment, requiring agents to post appropriate informational signs near the point of payment; modifying certain provisions concerning the prohibition of placing certain equipment containing invasive species in public waters; modifying horse pass trail requirements; defining shelter to exclude self-propelled motor vehicles on state waters ice and regulating shelters; establishing a walleye fishing stamp for the purpose of increasing walleye stocking and stamp collecting and requiring a department of natural resources (DNR) legislative report, requiring revenue from the walleye stamp to be credited to the walleye stamp account; requiring wild turkey management account DNR legislative reporting; modifying the citizen oversight subcommittee wildlife operations subcommittee duties, requiring a walleye stamp subcommittee, making game and fish conforming amendments and specifying a walleye stamp validation fee; establishing the outdoor heritage fund as an account in the state treasury and providing for allocation of expenditures for the restoration, protection and enhancement of wetlands, prairies, forests and habitat for fish, game and wildlife; creating the Lessard outdoor heritage council, specifying membership, requiring council recommendations to the legislature, prohibiting certain council member conflicts of interest, requiring open meetings, specifying fund auditing requirements, providing legislative oversight and specifying reporting requirements, providing an effective date upon adoption of the constitutional amendment; extending the sunset of the personnel costs expenditure prohibition for pheasant stamp revenue in the pheasant habitat improvement account; specifying an account dedication amount from each turkey license sold and a turkey stamp fee and making conforming amendments; authorizing a license fee refund for identical licenses purchased in error; permitting a separate pictorial turkey stamp purchase; modifying moose, elk and prairie chicken licenses eligibility; requiring residency for licenses issued without fees to owners or tenants of agricultural land; authorizing residents under age 12 to apply for a prairie chicken license and take prairie chicken without a firearms safety certificate under certain conditions; modifying firearms safety certificate provisions for taking big game, authorizing a resident age 10 or 11 to take big game under a parent or guardian license under certain conditions; modifying and imposing certain resident and nonresident hunting fees, providing for deer taking by muzzleloader; prescribing fees for resident and nonresident youth to take turkey and to take deer with firearms during muzzleloader season; eliminating the fee for a turkey stamp validation; providing for a walleye stamp validation fee; prescribing a fee for a resident master bear hunting outfitter license; modifying tag and license validation requirements to possess or transport deer, bear, elk, or moose taken in the state; modifying firearms safety certificate requirements for certain young juvenile hunters to take big game; modifying big game firearms and ammunition regulations; imposing minimum draw weight archery restrictions to take turkey; including bear and turkey to game allowed for crossbow hunting during the firearms season; modifying certain deer zones firearms and ammunition possession restrictions; modifying certain blaze orange requirements to take small game; modifying qualifications for crossbow permits due to a physical disability and providing for subsequent special permit eligibility; limiting deer taking by archery while in possession of a firearm; modifying and clarifying deer licensing requirements; modifying regulations for taking more than one deer; permitting nonresidents to take deer of either sex; expanding regulations for the sale of all season deer or multizone licenses by the commissioner; clarifying deer baiting prohibitions; modifying bear licensing and hunting permit drawing requirements, expanding bear baiting restrictions; requiring the commissioner establish a resident master bear hunting outfitter license, prescribing a fee and requiring the commissioner to adopt rules; modifying hours for nighttime raccoon hunting and allowing use certain firearms and ammunition; allowing a four week fall season for turkey hunting in a certain area, eliminating the turkey stamp requirement; authorizing the commissioner to allow the possession of fish on special management or experimental waters to be prepared as a meal under certain conditions; creating a conservation angling license, prescribing availability, daily and possession limits for fish and fee for a license; modifying and clarifying certain fish house, dark house and shelter regulations; authorizing an earlier open season for spearing fish; modifying certain angling seasons; clarifying walleye and northern pike possession provisions; modifying fish packer regulations; increasing the legal amount of explosives allowed in certain fireworks; requiring the commissioner of natural resources, after consultation with the director of Explore Minnesota Tourism and stakeholders, to submit a master angler proposal and appropriating money, to adopt bear hunting permit drawing rules and specifying certain conditions, to provide the legislature with wild turkey hunting management recommendations and to consult with the national wild turkey federal, to adopt and amend certain rules, to report to the legislature on disabled hunting, to consult with research scientists, wildlife managers, tribal interests, other agencies with moose research and management expertise and other key stakeholder groups on the development of a moose management and research plan, to stock additional walleye fry in a lake to study the effects of cormorant control and the lack of natural reproduction of the walleye, to report to the legislature on uncased firearms for the purposes of hunting, predator control and trapping, to amend certain rules to modify the number of cock pheasants taken per day after a certain point in the pheasant season, and to coordinate a working group with the commissioner of education to report on the teaching of outdoor education in grades 7 through 12; appropriating money for the development of aquaculture best management practices, for implementing fish virus surveillance, prepare infrastructure for outbreaks and implement control procedures for highest risk waters and fish production operations, and for walleye stocking; repealing migratory waterfowl or pheasant stamp signature requirement and certain rules

ARTICLE 3 - LAKE VERMILION STATE PARK

Establishing Lake Vermillion state park in St. Louis county; prescribing boundaries; requiring acquisition by the state by purchase or by gift of certain described lands; providing annual payments for land acquisition and specifying certain distribution requirements
(Ch. 368, 2008)