Dakota BHA and ND Land Transfer

Backcountry Hunters & Anglers is in the initial steps of starting a Dakota Chapter that would include both North Dakota and South Dakota. Currently we are gauging interest in a chapter and trying to increase membership within the two states. I know there are a number of individuals from the Dakotas on HuntTalk and I would like to reach out to those members. If you have any interest in being a part of a BHA chapter please PM me or contact Ty Stubblefield, the BHA Chapter Coordinator http://www.backcountryhunters.org/staff. Even if you are not interested in being involved in a chapter I would strongly recommend looking into BHA and consider becoming a member. Having a Dakota Chapter of BHA would help provide a unified voice to support and protect our wild public lands.

One current issue that BHA is seeking help with is the transfer of Army Corps of Engineering along the Missouri River in North Dakota. The land was purchased from private landowners for the construction of Lake Sakakawea. Initially senator from the state legislature wanted to pass a bill to encourage the Corps to give the excess land to the former owners. When that was unsuccessful it was changed to transfer it to the state in HB 1456. Having it in state hands will make it easier to transfer it to private down the road. This land provides wildlife management areas, rifle ranges, hunting, boat ramps, and fishing access. North Dakota already has a low amount of public land for hunters and anglers so we need to protect what we have. If you would like more information regarding the issue please see the following two links from a North Dakota Hunting forum. The first one provides a lot of the background on the issue.

http://nodakangler.com/forums/showthread.php?5547-2016-Lake-Sakakawea-Land-Transfer

http://nodakangler.com/forums/showthread.php?6512-quot-Excess-quot-Corp-lands-above-1620-in-Emmons-and-Morton-Counties-to-Private-Owners

Cool. I'll be heading out for a walleye junket with buddies from SD and ND pretty soon. I'll beat the drum. I think I have my elevator speech down pat.

Good to hear. The more people that can become aware and show support for our public lands the better.

The two links below are updates on the two separate proposed land transfers.

The transfer of land around Sakakawea to the tribe: http://bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/transfer-land-a-fraction-of-what-tribes-have-lost/article_5281d635-66a8-5341-bda3-ed59150d8108.html

“The decision to transfer has been made. It’s just a question of when,” he said.

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The transfer of land around Oahe looks to be stalled for now: http://bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/oahe-transfer-put-on-the-shelf/article_5474600e-c63f-59dc-a8b5-b68f12cf6b13.html

Rep. Jim Schmidt, R-Huff, was a sponsor of a bill in the 2015 Legislature that asked Gov. Jack Dalrymple to put the transfer in motion with the Washington delegation. Schmidt said earlier his family would benefit if about 300 acres that are part of the Oahe Wildlife Management Area were returned and that he’d met with all the family’s 13 heirs on that possibility.

Schmidt said Thursday sportsmen have the wrong idea and that access to ramps and other public facilities would not have been interrupted. Any land returned to his family would have gone into production of agriculture and hunters might have found themselves able to drive into good hunting spots, instead of hiking, he said.

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I did see something somewhere, I believe where it was also being considered to transfer it to the TAT tribes.
Is that still considered? State of ND would be preferable to Indian management. Hell, privatization would too.

Whatever happens I sure hope it works out well for sportsmen. Sakakawea truly is world class fishing.