Missouri Farm Bureau
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Kevin Craig - "Liberty Under God"
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| General |
These are largely state, rather than
federal issues. |
| We believe
the Conservation Department should place more emphasis on informing
and working with adjoining landowners of land owned or under
consideration to be purchased by the Conservation Department. |
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| The public
access to Conservation Department lands creates many potential
problems for neighboring landowners. The Conservation Department
should manage and adequately supervise their lands to address such
concerns as hunting and trespassing on private land, increased
traffic on local roads, safety of neighbors, littering, vandalism
and other related activities. |
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| We favor a
cooperative land agreement with landowners to provide incentives for
the development of game habitat on private land as an alternative to
additional land purchases by the Conservation Department. |
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| We support
the Conservation Department in their program of using prairie grass
to promote and support wildlife in Missouri. |
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| We believe
the Conservation Department should continue to make payments in lieu
of taxes on their land. We support legislation to require that
payments by MDC for property tax be adjusted periodically to reflect
changes in property taxes paid by surrounding landowners. |
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| We believe
land owned by the Conservation Department should have reasonable
access facilities and that the Department should help maintain roads
leading to these facilities. |
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| We believe
the Conservation Department should mow their rights-of-way at least
annually. |
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| We strongly
oppose any effort by animal rights
groups to limit the rights of individuals to legally harvest and
control wildlife. |
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| We support
amending the Missouri Constitution to guarantee the right to hunt,
fish and harvest game subject to state law and regulations. |
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| We urge the
Missouri Legislature to pass a law requiring the Missouri
Conservation Department to pay the deductible on all comprehensive
insured, Missouri licensed vehicles when they are involved in a
collision with a deer, coyote, turkey or any other protected
wildlife capable of damaging a vehicle in the state of Missouri. |
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| We oppose any
restrictions on landowners related to the Missouri Department of
Conservation's (MDC) Exotic Plant Policy or the Clinton
Administration's Invasive Species Executive Order. The list of
exotic plants that will be eradicated from land managed by MDC
includes tall fescue, Caucasian bluestem and other varieties which
have contributed significantly to the economic viability of the
cattle industry and the fescue seed industry of Missouri. Tall
fescue has also provided tremendous soil conservation benefits to
Missouri landowners. |
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| We believe
that the Missouri Department of Conservation should establish
policies which promote soil conservation and economic viability on
private lands. |
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| We believe
the Missouri Department of Conservation should make handfishing for
catfish a legally regulated sport in the state of Missouri. |
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| We believe
landowners, farmers and individuals holding licenses to hunt turkeys
in Missouri should be able to legally kill bobcats or coyotes that
respond to a hunter's call. |
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| We support
state legislation to protect landowners from liability for damages
associated with allowing others to hunt or fish on their property. |
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| We believe
landowners or tenants should have the authority to remove wolves,
bears or mountain lions when these species cause damage on their
property. |
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| We believe
the Missouri Department of Conservation should work more closely
with other state agencies and Missouri's agricultural and
transportation interests on issues associated with future management
of the Missouri River. |
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| We believe
that recommendations by the Missouri Department of Conservation to
the Missouri Department of Natural Resources or other state or
federal agencies should be based on sound science and the supporting
scientific studies be available for review by the public. |
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| We also
believe recommendations by the Missouri Department of Conservation
to regulatory agencies should be carefully considered within the
Missouri Department of Conservation and should represent the
official position of the Missouri Department of Conservation on
various issues. |
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| We oppose
aerial videotaping conducted by MDC without the consent of private
landowners whose property is observed on taped footage. |
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| To preserve
the integrity of the Ozark Trail as a multi-use trail, we believe
the Conservation Department should allow equine and bicycles on the
trail or on alternate routes . |
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| We believe
any active duty military member that is a resident of the State of
Missouri shall be exempt from any license fees of the Missouri
Department of Conservation to include deer, turkey, small game and
fishing licenses. |
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| We oppose
increasing the resident landowner acreage threshold for large game
permit privileges. |
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| The Missouri
Department of Conservation already derives significant revenue from
the dedicated 1/8 cent sales tax and we oppose any efforts to
increase permit fees, or the requirement for new permits, beyond
those currently in place. |
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| We are
opposed to permit fee pricing being tied to the Consumer Price Index
or any other index. |
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| We oppose the
creation of a landowner registry for the purpose of allocating
landowner hunting permits. |
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| Conservation
Commission |
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| Since most of
the functions of the Conservation Department are concentrated in the
rural areas of the state and because many of the Department's
activities have a direct impact upon agriculture, we believe at
least half of the Conservation Commission members should come from
the rural areas and be directly involved with or at least
knowledgeable about agriculture. We believe proposals to increase
the number of commissioners provides the opportunity for greater
accountability and increased representation for rural Missouri. |
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| We support
the creation of the Conservation Commission Advisory Board with one
member from each of the department's eight conservation districts
appointed by the governor to serve as volunteers without
compensation. |
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| Deer
Overpopulation |
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| Overpopulation
of deer in many areas of the state has created serious problems
including crop and property destruction. We recommend additional
steps be taken to reduce deer numbers in Missouri. We support the
development of a program in which landowners are voluntarily linked
up with hunters to provide hunting opportunities under controlled
circumstances to further reduce the size of the deer herd. |
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| We support
opening the deer season one week earlier for landowners hunting on
their own property. This would allow safer hunting for farm families
and could perhaps be helpful in making landowners more willing to
allow hunting on their property after the opening of the regular
deer season. |
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| We favor the
continuation of the practice of allowing deer hunting in certain
state parks adjacent to agricultural areas whenever it is necessary
to control the deer population. |
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| We favor
landowners being given the opportunity to give their deer tags away
to other hunters during deer season to further reduce the
population. |
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| We support
creating a statewide program funded by the Missouri Department of
Conservation to pay for the processing of deer that are donated to a
food pantry . |
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| Hunting or
Fishing Trespass |
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| We recommend
anyone found guilty of trespass in the first degree for the purpose
of hunting or fishing should have their hunting and fishing license
revoked for one year. We further recommend that their license be
revoked for five years if a second trespass occurs within five years
of the first offense. |
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| Land
Acquisition |
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| We favor a
constitutional amendment to require any additional land purchased by
the Missouri Department of Conservation to be approved by the
Missouri General Assembly. |
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| Multiflora
Rose, Thistle and Noxious Weeds |
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| We urge
counties to make funds available for multi-flora rose eradication in
order to assist landowners in their effort to control multi-flora
rose and to take advantage of the Department of Conservation's
cost-share funds. |
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| We believe
the Conservation Department should eradicate the multi-flora rose,
thistle and other noxious weeds on their property. |
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| We favor
federal and state governments and corporations having the same
responsibilities as private landowners in controlling their
multi-flora, thistle and other noxious weeds. |
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| We believe
sericea lespedeza should be classified as a noxious weed. |
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| One-Eighth
Cent Sales Tax |
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| We believe
the issue of retaining the one-eighth cent sales tax for
Conservation should be placed before the voters every ten years. If
the state legislature fails to pass a constitutional amendment to
place renewal of the one-eighth cent sales tax on the ballot, then
we believe an initiative petition should be pursued, and we also
believe that earmarked tax issues should never be placed in the
Missouri Constitution unless there are also provisions for
automatic, periodic voter review. Also, we urge that less money from
this tax be used for land acquisition. This land acquisition should
never result in eroding the population base of school districts and
rural communities, and more money should be used for other purposes
such as small game cover and food plots on private land, weed
control, timber stand improvement, warmseason grasses, fencing, etc. |
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| We believe
the state legislature should have more authority in appropriating
and controlling the expenditures of the department's sales tax,
hunting and fishing fees, and other funds. We support capping the
revenue received by the Department of Conservation from the
one-eighth cent sales tax . |
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| Re-Introduction
of Wild Animals |
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| We oppose the
re-introduction of wild elk in Missouri. |
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| We are
opposed to the reintroduction or release of any wildlife species
without public hearings and public comment periods. |
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| We believe
landowners should have the authority to destroy elk on their land
anytime damages occur. |
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| We are
opposed to the introduction or release of mountain lions anywhere in
the state of Missouri. |
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| We oppose any
wolf introduction or reintroduction program. |
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| Streambank
Stabilization |
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| We urge MDC
to provide more flexibility and financial assistance in streambank
recovery programs to include the removal of gravel and obstructions
from the stream channel and the use of removed material to repair
stream bank erosion. |
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| Wildlife
Damage |
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| We favor the
Conservation Department establishing a program to help compensate
farmers who have crop or livestock damage due to wildlife. |
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| We favor an
increase in the wild game harvest in areas where there is excess
population or excessive property damage. |
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| We believe
the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) should do
more to reduce wildlife damage to Missouri crops. This includes
giving the Missouri Department of Conservation authority to enable
landowners to increase the harvest of wildlife in cases of excessive
property damage and we believe the Missouri Department of
Conservation should attempt to cooperate with APHIS to enable
Missouri to receive the maximum amount of federal help in this
matter. |
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| We believe
feral hogs are an unacceptable risk to both humans and livestock and
support federal and state eradication efforts. We support increasing
the penalty in Missouri from a misdemeanor to a felony for the
intentional release of any hogs on public land or private land
without acceptable confinement. We also believe it should be a
felony to hold alive or transport feral hogs without a special
permit from the Missouri Department of Agriculture. |
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| We believe
the Missouri Department of Conservation should take steps to reduce
the coyote population in Missouri, including expanding the hunting
season to be year-round and initiating a statewide bounty on
coyotes. |
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| We support
the efforts of the Missouri Department of Conservation to renew
special light goose hunting provisions to manage overpopulation
and/or enact a program similar to that in the cities to take care of
nuisance wildlife. |
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| Wildlife
Protection |
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| We do not
believe regulations should go beyond those necessary to encourage
the proper disposition of game animals and game fish taken legally
within the State of Missouri. |
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| We support
state legislation to make it an offense to remove wild plants from
the property of others without the permission of the landowners . |
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