Management, expansion of public lands in Iowa topic of passionate debate

DES MOINES — The state would be required to emphasize maintaining current state-owned lands over new acquisitions — a move that critics say could stifle the state from acquiring new lands for recreation and conservation — under a proposal advancing in the Iowa Capitol.

Dozens of crop and cattle farmers, and advocates for conservation and recreation packed into a hearing room at the Iowa Capitol on Wednesday to comment on the legislation.

Farmers said there is already too much publicly-owned land in Iowa, and that they are forced to compete for land purchases with the government or organizations that purchase land and then sell it to the government.

In two studies, Iowa ranks 47th and 48th out of 50 U.S. states for its share of publicly-owned lands. Both studies, by Texas A&M University’s Natural Resources Institute and the hiking and climbing website the Summit Post, calculated that just roughly 3 percent of Iowa’s land is publicly-owned.

Only Kansas, Nebraska and Rhode Island had lower shares of publicly-owned land than Iowa in the two reports.

Iowa acquired 2,462 acres of land in 2022, a state official said during Wednesday’s hearing.

Cora Fox, director of government relations for the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association, said the organization has for decades discouraged the practice of government purchasing agricultural land.

“We believe (the legislative proposal) provides accountability, checks and balances,” Fox said.

Representatives of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources testified at Wednesday’s legislative hearing that the agency does not, by rule, compete against farmers for land purchases. Neither does the agency purchase any land from an organization that bid against a farmer in acquiring that land, the state officials said.

Officials representing conservation organizations like Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, and the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation said they oppose the bill because it could prevent the state from purchasing new lands for conservation or recreation. They said parks and trails are economic drivers because they are some of the most appealing features to people who may be considering moving to Iowa.

“We want Iowa to be vibrant. We want the best agriculture, and we want the best recreation,” Joe McGovern, president of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, said during the hearing.

Under the proposed legislation, Senate File 516, the DNR would be required to prepare a long-term plan that would “prioritize the maintenance and protection of significant open space property throughout the state.” The department would also be required to establish criteria for acquiring new lands, but would be required to “first consider and prioritize available partnership programs with private landowners as an alternative to acquiring new property.”

Iowa Rep. Austin Harris, a Republican from Moulton who led Wednesday’s legislative hearing on the bill, said he believes and has heard from constituents who believe the state has acquired more public land than it can appropriately manage.

Harris and fellow Republican Rep. Derek Wulf, of Hudson, advanced the legislation to the full House committee on natural resources and the environment.

Forest reserves tax exemption

Another bill opponents say targets non-agricultural landowners is Senate File 548. This bill, which has been approved by the Senate Ways and Means committee, would repeal a property tax exemption forest and fruit tree reserves now have and require owners, by 2025, to pay taxes on 50 percent of the assessed value of the land. The property would be assessed as agricultural land.

Paul Millice, a board member of the Iowa Woodland Owners Association who has six acres of timber south of Iowa City, said he thinks the measure will cause some people to cut down their trees in favor of agricultural land, which yields an annual profit.

“If you go ahead and tax these, even at 50 percent, over 40 years you won’t have any economic gain,” he said. “It will cause some landowners to throw in the towel. It will have a profound effect on water quality and runoff and all these other things.”

Erin Jordan of The Gazette contributed to this story.

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