Supposed to be brought to the floor of the Unicameral tomorrow. Click
here and type in 673 to be taken to the text of the bill. For the purpose of this bill,
" Manage means to limit the growth or spread of black-tailed prairie dog colonies and
monitor resident species for health and viability;"
and
"monitored for the viability of the grassland ecosystem, water quality, and species health and viabilty"
"When managed properly, a black-tailed prairie dog colony protects nongame and endangered species, water quality, and grassland ecosystems for animal grazing"
requires the establishment buffer zones of at least one mile for colonies of over 10 acres, and 1/2 mile for colonies of less than 10 acres.
Authorizes county boards to determine and impose fees on landowners, adopt rules and regulations, procure materials and equipment,
perform other such acts as may be necessary The director or anyone authorized thereby"may enter upon all land --and act without consent of the person owning or controlling such land and without being subject to any action for trespass
or damages, including damages for destruction of growing crops "
This goes on for 13 pages, authorizing a "fund" of $100,000 to be maintained at that level from fees collected from the landowners, authorizes fines of $100 a day for noncompliance, the placing of leins and foreclosure on property.
It doesn't say you can't shoot them, it even says you are supposed to limit the spread, but the whole monitoring thing, "state and federal agencies,,,The University of Nebraska Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, county government, agriculture, environmental groups, and others in the public and private sector" the fees, and other crap?
I think there might suddenly be a whole lot less prairie dog towns, cause most ranchers I know won't want to put up with this b.s.
bergie