Lenny
06-22-2000, 07:08 PM
WEBSTER — About 20 farmers in northeast South Dakota are filing a lawsuit seeking the authority to keep the public from hunting and fishing on waters that have flooded their land.
Area rural residents during the S.D. Legislature this year turned down bills which would have made a similar change in state water law.
The bills presented to the legislature would not only have made lakes which have grown over private land part of the landowner’s “property.”
The bills also would have forced S.D. Game, Fish and Parks to mark these lands both winter and summer to keep the public off water or ice above what had been private land.
Aberdeen lawyer Jack Hieb, who also serves as Day County state’s attorney, said Wednesday he had mailed legal papers to the circuit court in Webster.
Hieb also had been the only states attorney in the state who had said he would prosecute anglers for trespassing on what other states attorneys and state officials had considered public waters under current state law.
State officials had said although the land under a “meandered” water itself remained the property of the landowner, the water, fish and surface of the water were public.
That resulted in enforcement difficulties, area officers said, since technically a fishing boat or ice shack would be legal — but only if anchors or fishing lures and line never touched bottom.
And speaking on condition of anonymity, many officers also said there were isolated instances especially during ice fishing season of anglers trespassing on private land and littering both private and public land and water.
The new lawsuit will ask a judge to determine if the waters are public or private. If the court finds they are private, the lawsuit asks for an injunction to keep the public from entering those waters without permission.
Hieb said landowners have grown frustrated with people ice fishing during the winter or angling from boats over private property during the spring, summer and fall. Sometimes they come within 50 yards of a farm house, he said.
‘‘There haven’t been any punches thrown, but we’ve gotten close. One guy had people who were almost fishing in his cattle corral, about 20 yards away,’’ Hieb said. ‘‘We need to determine one way or another whether this is private water or public water.’’
The state Game, Fish and Parks Department has generally maintained that the water can be used by the public for hunting or fishing if people don’t trespass to get access.
State legislators considered but rejected a proposal during the 2000 session that would have placed some of those waters off limits and forced Game, Fish and Parks to mark them.
Department Secretary John Cooper said at the time that maintaining property lines in thousands of acres of water would be impractical and expensive. He also was worried about restricting public access to fish and hunt.
Thousands of acres of private fields and pastures have been flooded during the last decade in the northeast, particularly in Day County. Many sloughs have turned into hot fishing spots 20 and even 30 feet deep.
Many swollen sloughs and lakes now cross public roads. Anglers drive or walk onto the sloughs and lakes during the winter and sometimes launch boats off the road during open-water months.
One former slough has flooded 1,500 acres of crop land and pasture owned or rented by Bristol farmer Bob Duerre. The slough covers nearly 5,000 acres and is 30 feet deep in places, Duerre said.
The slough has fish in it, although they haven’t started to bite regularly, Duerre said. When they do, he doesn’t want hordes of anglers to descend on the water.
‘‘We think there should be some kind of restrictions. People have virtually eliminated the fish from some of these smaller waters in a matter of a week,’’ Duerre said. ‘‘Right now, if they get on my water, they can virtually go into my feed lot. I want to know for certain if it’s private or not.’’
Area rural residents during the S.D. Legislature this year turned down bills which would have made a similar change in state water law.
The bills presented to the legislature would not only have made lakes which have grown over private land part of the landowner’s “property.”
The bills also would have forced S.D. Game, Fish and Parks to mark these lands both winter and summer to keep the public off water or ice above what had been private land.
Aberdeen lawyer Jack Hieb, who also serves as Day County state’s attorney, said Wednesday he had mailed legal papers to the circuit court in Webster.
Hieb also had been the only states attorney in the state who had said he would prosecute anglers for trespassing on what other states attorneys and state officials had considered public waters under current state law.
State officials had said although the land under a “meandered” water itself remained the property of the landowner, the water, fish and surface of the water were public.
That resulted in enforcement difficulties, area officers said, since technically a fishing boat or ice shack would be legal — but only if anchors or fishing lures and line never touched bottom.
And speaking on condition of anonymity, many officers also said there were isolated instances especially during ice fishing season of anglers trespassing on private land and littering both private and public land and water.
The new lawsuit will ask a judge to determine if the waters are public or private. If the court finds they are private, the lawsuit asks for an injunction to keep the public from entering those waters without permission.
Hieb said landowners have grown frustrated with people ice fishing during the winter or angling from boats over private property during the spring, summer and fall. Sometimes they come within 50 yards of a farm house, he said.
‘‘There haven’t been any punches thrown, but we’ve gotten close. One guy had people who were almost fishing in his cattle corral, about 20 yards away,’’ Hieb said. ‘‘We need to determine one way or another whether this is private water or public water.’’
The state Game, Fish and Parks Department has generally maintained that the water can be used by the public for hunting or fishing if people don’t trespass to get access.
State legislators considered but rejected a proposal during the 2000 session that would have placed some of those waters off limits and forced Game, Fish and Parks to mark them.
Department Secretary John Cooper said at the time that maintaining property lines in thousands of acres of water would be impractical and expensive. He also was worried about restricting public access to fish and hunt.
Thousands of acres of private fields and pastures have been flooded during the last decade in the northeast, particularly in Day County. Many sloughs have turned into hot fishing spots 20 and even 30 feet deep.
Many swollen sloughs and lakes now cross public roads. Anglers drive or walk onto the sloughs and lakes during the winter and sometimes launch boats off the road during open-water months.
One former slough has flooded 1,500 acres of crop land and pasture owned or rented by Bristol farmer Bob Duerre. The slough covers nearly 5,000 acres and is 30 feet deep in places, Duerre said.
The slough has fish in it, although they haven’t started to bite regularly, Duerre said. When they do, he doesn’t want hordes of anglers to descend on the water.
‘‘We think there should be some kind of restrictions. People have virtually eliminated the fish from some of these smaller waters in a matter of a week,’’ Duerre said. ‘‘Right now, if they get on my water, they can virtually go into my feed lot. I want to know for certain if it’s private or not.’’