Relating to natural resources

ARTICLE 1 - GAME AND FISH POLICY

AddING planning, and implementing activities designed to recruit and retain anglers, hunters, trappers, campers and other outdoor recreation participants to the mission of the department of natural resources (DNR); providing for game and fish licenses to be available through the electronic licensing system (ELS) even if the biennial appropriation for the DNR has not been enacted; providing a statutory appropriation from the general fund to the commissioner of management and budget (MMB) to carry out this section until the biennial appropriation is enacted and allows the commissioner to transfer a portion of the funds to other agencies to carry out these activities; requiring land donated to the DNR to clearly state whether the state may resell it and requires the commissioner to notify the landowner of the option to express in the deed whether the state may resell the land; removing a requirement that temporary snowmobile registration permits indicate whether a state trail sticker was purchased; increasing the three year snowmobile registration fee and the fee for registration transfers or duplicates; exempting snowmobiles registered by tribal governments that have not been outside of the tribal reservation boundary for more than 30 consecutive days; modifying state trail
sticker requirements to apply only to those not registered in the state; requiring fees from issuing snowmobile state trail stickers to be deposited in the snowmobile trails and enforcement account; requiring 60 percent of the funds collected from snowmobile registrations and state trail stickers to be spent on grants-in-aid to develop, maintain, and groom snowmobile trails and acquire easements; allowing the use of snowmobile metal traction devices on paved trails unless the trail has been designated as closed by the local government unit responsible for the trail or the commissioner of natural resources; allowing the harvest of bullheads, goldeyes, mooneyes, and other fish from infested streams or rivers for use as bait by noncommercial anglers under certain conditions; increasing the length requirement for nonmotorized watercraft for purposes of an exemption from licensing requirements; clarifying the license fee for certain watercrafts by excluding canoes, kayaks, sailboards, paddle boats, and rowing shells from the licensing requirements for watercrafts; establishing a license fee for all canoes, kayaks, sailboards, paddle boards, paddle boats, and rowing shells over ten feet in length; modifying the definition of shooting range performance standards; establishing the National Rifle Association's Range Source Book: A Guide to Planning and Construction as the standard for best practices for shooting ranges; requiring publicly owned/managed shooting ranges that are funded with public funds in the seven-county metropolitan area and that are not in a city of the first class or at a location that holds offenders to be made available for use by participants in firearms safety instruction courses twice during the spring and twice during the summer, allows a fee to be charged, and specifying additional requirements; adding a license under the new antlerless deer license provisions for landowners/tenants to the definition of bonus permit; removing brush wolf from the description of coyote for purposes of the unprotected wild animal definition; appropriating the revenues from the nonresident deer license surcharge and the deer license donations currently funding deer management and the venison donation program, and the new small game license donations to the commissioner for administration of the walk-in access program; removing a requirement of the commissioner to inform the legislature, every two years, on how money for emergency deer feeding and wild cervidae health management has been spent; defining wolf license and requires revenue from these licenses to be credited to a new wolf management and monitoring account and used only for wolf management research, damage control, enforcement, and education; allowing the commissioner to vacate, by publishing a notice in the State Register, a game refuge that has been open to trapping and hunting small game, deer or bear by archery, and deer or bear by firearms for at least five years; allowing the commissioner to designate part of a state game refuge or a portion of public waters as a migratory waterfowl sanctuary without requiring a petition signed by ten licensed hunters; requiring the commissioner to consider designating an area when presented with a petition signed by at least ten residents; prohibiting a person from entering a migratory waterfowl sanctuary, unless accompanied by a DNR employee or under permit, during times designated by the commissioner; allowing the commissioner to designate a part of a lake as a migratory feeding and resting area if there is adequate free public access; requiring the commissioner to consider an area for designation when presented with a petition signed by at least ten residents; establishing a walk-in access program to allow public access to private lands for hunting purposes; requiring a person to have a walk-in access hunter validation between September 1 to May 31 in order to hunt on lands enrolled in the program; limiting hunting to one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset; prohibiting the use of motorized vehicles on the lands unless the hunter has a disability permit to hunt from a motor vehicle issued by the commissioner and the use is restricted to established trails or field roads; applying certain public use restrictions and regulations that apply to WMAs to lands enrolled in the program, and prohibits certain activities, including the harvesting of bait, dog training, and constructing or maintaining buildings or other structures; providing additional options for a person leaving a portable stand overnight in a WMA when hunting bear by allowing the person to use his/her drivers license number, Minnesota DNR license number or name and address to identify the stand; allowing the commissioner to issue replacement turkey hunting licenses to those who want to change permit areas/time periods if the person submits the original license and unused tags and pays the replacement license fee; prohibiting a person from taking deer for one year if convicted of taking a deer using bait; increasing the moose hunting license application fee; increasing the elk hunting license application fee; increasing the turkey hunting license application fee from; allowing the commissioner to issue an antlerless deer license to owners or resident tenants of at least 80 acres of agricultural land without a lottery in deer permit areas that allow the taking of antlerless deer without a lottery application and exempts deer taken under these licenses from the total bag limit for the permit area; prohibiting wolves from being taken by a resident under age 16 unless the resident has a wolf trapping license; modifying provisions related to youth big game hunting to apply only to residents; requiring nonresident 10 and 11 year olds to obtain a big game license and pay the license fee; excluding wolf hunting and trapping from the lifetime small game hunting license; excluding wolf hunting and trapping from the lifetime sporting license; excluding wolf hunting and trapping from the lifetime sporting license with the spearing option; establishing a resident wolf hunting license fee; establishing a nonresident wolf hunting license fee; removing a requirement that the annual deer hunting regulations include a statement about the venison donation program; allowing a person to donate certain amounts when obtaining a small game license to be donated to the walk-in access program; establishing a wolf trapping license fee for residents and prohibiting licenses from being issued to nonresidents; establishing a fee for replacement turkey hunting licenses; modifying the trespass law to allow a person in a shooting preserve to take a wild animal within a certain distance of a building occupied by a person or livestock without written permission; defining stockade or corral for purposes of the trespass law to mean a fenced enclosure for containing livestock that encloses an area no greater than one acre; making the taking of wolves subject to the same firearm restrictions as the taking of big game; adding wolves to the list of animals that, when taken by bow, must be taken using a bow with a pull that meets or exceeds 30 pounds at or before full draw; requiring the DNR to collect hunter information on participation and satisfaction; exempting a person from blaze orange clothing requirements applicable when hunting small game if the person is in a stationary location while hunting deer by archery or hunting small game by falconry; allowing wolves to be taken between one-half hour before sunrise and one-half hour after sunset; allowing radio use between a handler and a dog and remote controlled motorized decoys for taking migratory waterfowl or mourning doves by exempting their use from the prohibition on using radio equipment when taking big and small game; allowing a person with a verified statement of disability from a physician, certified nurse practitioner, or certified physician assistant to use a mounted firearm or bow, or any electronic/mechanical device to discharge a firearm or bow as long as they are present at the site; modifying provisions restricting the use of bait when taking deer to define baiting as placing, exposing, depositing, distributing, or scattering bait that is capable of attracting or enticing deer; modifying the exemption from the baiting ban for liquid scents to apply only when they do not contain liquid or solid food ingredients; modifying the exemption for farming practices to clarify it is for agricultural crops and does not exempt agricultural crops that have been re-introduced and concentrated where a person is hunting; establishing an application fee for bear hunting licenses and prohibiting a person from making more than one application; prohibiting a nonresident from trapping wolves on land the nonresident owns; prohibiting wolves from being taken by a resident under age 16 unless the resident has a wolf trapping license; prohibiting a person from taking wolves at their primary residence without a license; exempting wolf hunting and trapping from the small game license requirement; exempting wolves from the list of small game allowed to be taken as a party; allowing the commissioner to restrict the taking and possession of wolves; requiring a person to have a hunting or trapping license to take a wolf; allowing wolves to be taken by legal firearm, bow and arrow, or by trap; establishing an open firearms season for wolves beginning on the same day as the open firearms deer hunting season; allowing the commissioner to prescribe open seasons; allowing the commissioner to designate areas, by rule, where wolves may be taken; allowing the commission to establish a daily and possession limits, by rule, for wolves; allowing the commissioner to limit the number of persons who may take a wolf in an area in order to prevent overharvest; requiring the commissioner to establish a method that includes a drawing for impartially selecting licensees for an area; requiring a person to apply for a hunting or trapping license and pay an application fee to be used to cover the costs of conducting the drawing and for wolf management and provide proof that the person has a current or prior year hunting license; allowing the commissioner to set annual quotas for wolves by rule and close the season when the quota is met; allowing local government units to kill beaver that are causing damage to property they own, including damage to silvicultural projects and drainage ditches; removing a requirement that a road authority consult with the board of water and soil resources (BWSR) prior to implementing a local beaver control program and allowing local government units to also implement the programs; allowing the commissioner
to determine payments for coyote and fox control by publishing them in the State Register and removing minimum and maximum payment amounts that currently apply; allowing the commissioner to determine payments for certified wolf predator controllers by publishing them in the State Register and removing the current established payment rate; eliminating the provision requiring the commissioner to establish a four week fall turkey season in the 601 permit area; allowing a person to take migratory waterfowl, coots, or rails in open water in areas designated by the commissioner; requiring the whole carcass of a wolf, with the pelt removed, to be registered before the pelt is sold and no later than 48 hours after the season closes; prohibiting the use of body-gripping traps; requiring a person using a portable shelter while on the ice to remain within a certain distance of the shelter unless the shelter is identified with the name and address of the person, the drivers license or DNR license number as required of fish houses, dark houses and other shelters; establishing a winter season for brown trout, brook trout, rainbow trout, and splake on lakes within the boundary waters canoe area (BWCA) from January 15 to March 31 and from January 1 to March 31 for lakes outside of the BWCA; requiring imported live minnows being transported through the state under permit from the commissioner to be in a tagged container; modifying health certification requirements applicable to the minnows being transferred to require certification for viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS); requiring live minnows used for fish feeding by licensed fish hatcheries/aquatic farms to come from Minnesota and allowing the use of dead minnows from outside the state only if they have followed the documentation and labeling requirements applicable to imported frozen/dead fish; allowing the commissioner to issue a special permit to allow a private fish hatchery to import live minnows from other states if the fish hatchery has been designated a containment facility under existing provisions; requiring a permit to include conditions necessary to avoid spreading aquatic invasive species and fish pathogens and prohibiting permits from being issued to a facility in a 25-year floodplain; defining shallow lake as a body of water, excluding a stream, that is greater than or equal to 50 acres in size and 15 or less feet in maximum depth; allowing the commissioner to temporarily drawdown a shallow lake to be managed for fish, wildlife, or ecological purposes after the commissioner has conducted a public hearing and states that these drawdowns are not to be considered takings from riparian landowners; adding noncommercial aviation activities to the definition of recreational purpose for purposes of landowner liability exemptions that apply to landowners allowing persons to use their lands without receiving payment; allowing the DNR to use funds appropriated from the heritage enhancement account for fiscal years 2012 and 2013 for grants to organizations for programs that promote the outdoor heritage of the state to children and adults and for securing public shooting range availability in the metropolitan area for firearms safety instruction courses; requiring the commissioner to amend rules to conform with the new winter seasons for brown trout, brook trout, rainbow trout, and splake and allowing the commissioner to use the good cause exemption from rulemaking; requiring the commissioner to decrease the restitution value for wolves and allowing the commissioner to use the good cause exemption from rulemaking; requiring the commissioner to amend state rules regarding the use of snare to take wolves, including providing a definition of wolf snare; providing restrictions on the use of snares; allowing the commissioner to use the good cause exemption from rulemaking; requiring individuals to continue to display a valid snowmobile state trail sticker until renewing their registration under the new registration provisions; requiring the commissioner to hold public hearings on the issue of whether hunting should be allowed in the Twin Lakes scientific and natural area; requiring the commissioner to submit a report to the legislature on developing a records management system for the division of enforcement; requiring the commissioner, after consultation with the aquaculture industry, to report to the legislature on the risks of introducing invasive carp through transportation of fish between water bodies and include any recommended changes to state law or rules; requiring the revisor to remove gray from in front of wolf or wolves wherever it appears in statute or rule and to make technical changes to rules regarding the use of snares; repealing provisions relating to adoption of shooting range performance standards, MN/WI game and fish license reciprocity agreement for nonresidents owning property in state and elk and deer removal requests in bovine TB zone, fish and turtle sales taken when removing rough fish revenue dedicated to that purpose, prohibiting waterfowl hunting on Muskrat Lake, gross misdemeanor for taking a wolf, youth deer firearms license without a tag, executive order regarding fish taken in Canada, permit required to use a snare to take a wolf, lakes with unbalanced fish populations list, and prohibiting the importation of live minnows except under certain circumstances

ARTICLE 2 - GAME AND FISH LICENSE FEES

Prohibiting funds in the game and fish fund, except for hunting and fishing stamp revenues and the small game surcharge, from being used to acquire land in fee or easement; requiring a certain amount from each annual deer license and annually for each lifetime deer license issued to be credited to the wolf management and monitoring account; clarifying that short-term licenses are valid for the time period of the license even if they cross over license years and clarifies the license period for a three-year angling license; providing for the validity of a license to take a wild animal to remains valid for the rest of the license period even if the licensee age, residency, or qualification status changes; removing eligibility requirements for turkey licenses regarding age and possession of a firearms safety certificate; modifying resident small game hunting requirements for those under age 16 by removing a requirement that they obtain a free license and instead allows them to hunt without a license; allowiing nonresident youth ages 16 and 17 to obtain a small game license if they have a firearms safety certificate; allowing a person age 10, 11, or 12 to take big game if they are under the direct supervision of a parent/guardian; requiring nonresident 16 and 17 year olds to purchase a fishing license for a certain fee; increasing the fees for resident lifetime angling licenses; increasing the fees for resident lifetime angling licenses with the spearing option; increasing the fees for resident lifetime small game hunting licenses; increasing the fees for resident lifetime deer hunting licenses; increasing the fees for resident lifetime sporting licenses; increasing the fees for nonresident lifetime angling licenses; increasing various resident hunting fees, including an increase in the small game license fee and an increase in the firearms, archery, and muzzleloader deer license fees; reducing various youth hunting fees, including the firearms, muzzleloader, and archery deer hunting fees, turkey hunting fees and small game hunting fees; increasing various nonresident hunting fees, including an increase in the small game license fee and an increase in the firearms, archery, and muzzleloader deer license fees; exempting the new 72-hour small game licenses and resident small game youth licenses for 16 and 17 year olds from the existing small game surcharge; increasing fishing license fees, including the angling license fee for those 18 years and older; reducing the fee for spear fishing and requiring an angling license to be purchased in order to spear; establishing fees for new fishing licensing options, including a 72-hour license and a three-year license; reducing the angling license fee for 16 and 17 year olds; increasing nonresident fishing license fees, including the fee for nonresidents 18 years and older; reducing the fee for nonresident spear fishing and requiring an angling license to be purchased in order to spear; reducing the angling license fee for 16 and 17 year old nonresidents; increasing the nonresident fishing license surcharge; increasing the annual license fees for existing Minnesota sporting licenses and establishing a new Minnesota super sporting license available to residents allowing the taking of fish by angling, small game, and deer (includes trout, pheasant, and waterfowl stamp validations; increasing the resident license fees for fish houses, dark houses, and shelters; increasing the nonresident license fees for fish houses, dark houses, and shelters; increasing the resident trapping license fees for adults and reduces the trapping license fee for those over age 13 and under 18; establishing a duplicate license fee for the new Minnesota super sporting license; exempting the new Minnesota super sporting license from the replacement fee for replacing firearms deer license; increasing the application fee for Camp Ripley archery hunting; allowing the commissioner to keep all issuing fees collected when issuing licenses by removing existing exemptions; exempting residents and nonresidents hunting under the new 72-hour small game hunting license from the pheasant stamp requirement and exempts nonresident youth from the requirement and requires nonresidents over age 65; exempting residents and nonresidents hunting under the new 72-hour small game hunting license from the migratory waterfowl stamp requirement; exempting 17 and 18 year olds from trout and salmon stamp requirements; exempting fishing under a 72-hour fishing license from trout and salmon stamp requirements; transferring money from the game and fish fund to the invasive species account; transferring money from the venison donation account to the walk-in access account; appropriating money from the invasive species account to be added to the appropriation to the DNR for invasive species activities in the omnibus finance bill passed last session; repealing provisions relating to nonresident youth small game hunting license fees and the exemption for those 65 and older from spearing license requirements
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