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residents hoping to hunt bighorn sheep, mountain goats, and elk. The increase is only from five dollars to ten dollars and the fee hasn't been raised for 27 years. The number of these licenses issued is very limited but the amount of applicants for these licenses is often very large. A lottery drawing is used to determine who will actually get the licenses. All profits from the application fees go towards big game management and research.
• Both last Session and during our current one, there have been many drafts of proposed legislation as we review the non-meandering waters issue. The current bill is a good compromise between land owners and sportsman. A sunset clause was put into the proposal and also an appeal process that would be heard by the GF &P Commission. I'll continue to update you on this important topic.
• House Bill 1006 valuing agriculture land was moved from Tues. Jan. 28 to Tues. Feb. 4th at 7:45 am in Room 464 and I invite interested parties to be on hand in Pierre to hear the debate. I support this bill as it will protect our natural grasslands and will promote habitat for our pheasant population, so important to our Tourism industry, as well as our GF&P protection of wildlife.
• I know there is opposition of this bill from the Corn Growers Association which has stirred responses from School Boards, Administrators, and School Districts which are so reliant on property taxes. Certainly, it could cause some shift in the tax burden. Keep in mind that grassland also has a type of revenue guarantee as does corn and bean cropland under federal crop insurance. Let's be fair. We all know (Continued on page 12)
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