Proposed legislation would halt purchases of public land

Republican legislators say their proposed moratorium on the purchase of state land exemplifies the clash between wants and needs in their efforts to control the state budget.

“Legislators see the importance and benefits of public land, but in tight budget circumstances, we have to distinguish between wants and needs, and public land goes into the wants column,” said Rep. Nick Wagner, R-Marion, floor manager of House File 45, which passed 60-40 last week on a party-line vote.

“More land means more resources needed for maintenance, and the Department of Natural Resources is already overextended. We're just saying, ‘Put it on the back burner until we can handle it,' ” Wagner said.

Conservationists, noting that state land is purchased without recourse to the state's general fund, say the moratorium will derail a popular and valuable program without improving the state's bottom line.

“It makes no sense at all,” said Harry Graves, director of the Johnson County Conservation Department.

Noting that Iowa ranks 49th among the 50 states in publicly owned land, Graves said the moratorium will thwart efforts to expand Iowans' recreational opportunities while conserving soil and water and providing much-needed wildlife habitat.

“It threatens a lot of the environmental progress Iowa has made in the past 15 years,” said Marian Riggs Gelb, executive director of the Iowa Environmental Council.

House File 45 would cut $500 million in state spending over the next three years. Included in that sweeping bill, which has yet to be considered by the Democrat-controlled Senate, is a controversial provision to halt DNR land purchases through June 30. It also would slash the fiscal 2011 appropriation to the Resource Enhancement and Protection Program, in which gambling proceeds are used for land acquisition and other conservation programs, from $15 million to $11.9 million.

Both measures run counter to the wishes of Iowans who on Nov. 2 overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment to establish a natural resources trust fund, said Mark Langgin, executive director of Iowa's Water and Land Legacy, a coalition of Iowans who supported the constitutional amendment. So did 63 percent of voters.

The moratorium would be “a stumbling block for our work,” said Anita O'Gara, vice president of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, which advocates public ownership of land and brokers and otherwise assists many DNR land purchases.

“More public land would stimulate economic development,” said Rosalyn Lehman, executive director of Iowa Rivers Revival, which is lobbying against the moratorium.

Matt McQuillen, a leader in the Twin Rivers Chapter of Pheasants Forever, which has coordinated the acquisition of more than 800 acres of public land in Jones County since 1999, called the proposed moratorium either shortsighted or misguided.

Diane Ford, deputy division administrator for the DNR's Conservation and Recreation Division, said the DNR buys only from willing sellers at or below the appraised fair market value.

In fiscal 2009, the DNR acquired or protected 38 parcels, totaling 2,482 acres, at a cost of $4.2 million. The funds came from the sale of hunting and fishing licenses, excise taxes on sporting goods and private-sector fundraising by conservation groups like Pheasants Forever, Ducks Unlimited, the National Wild Turkey Federation and Whitetails Unlimited.

In the four preceding years, the DNR purchased or protected 188 parcels at a combined cost of $30.7 million.

Altogether, the DNR owns 350,900 acres, but it manages an additional 129,000 acres owned by other entities, usually the Army Corps of Engineers or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The average corn suitability rating of DNR-owned land is 32.1, which compares with the highest countywide average of 86 in Grundy and the lowest, 35, in Decatur.

The DNR also pays property taxes on land acquired through REAP and Habitat Stamp funding - a sum which in fiscal 2009 amounted to $587,802 on 65,332 acres.