TO ALL IOWA BIRDERS-- Please read the urgent message below, provided by the Iowa REAP Alliance and Iowa’s Water & Land Legacy Coalition. This regards a bill filed in the Iowa House that would require DNR to sell public lands—YOUR BIRDING AREAS!
DOUG HARR Ogden *********************************************************************************************** REAP Alliance members – please pass this information on to your groups. IWILL Supporters & Coalition Members - Iowa's Water & Land Legacy wanted to bring it to your attention that we are registering as OPPOSED to HF 2434 that is currently under consideration by the Iowa House of Representative's Ways & Means Committee. The language Iowa's Water & Land Legacy is opposed to is copied below, but it directs the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to sell $20 million worth of public land and dedicate those funds to the Resource Enhancement & Protection fund. This would be one time money only, and couldn't be used to fill the Open Spaces account or used for additional land acquisition. Sec. 16. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES —— SALE OF REAL PROPERTY. During the fiscal period beginning on the effective date of this division of this Act, and ending June 30, 2013, the department of natural resources shall identify and sell real property under the control of the department, the sale of which is not otherwise prohibited by federal law, that is not utilized for state parks and forests in sufficient acreage that shall generate at least twenty million dollars. However, real property received by the department in the form of a devise or that is not farmable shall not be sold. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the department of natural resources shall be authorized to sell real property and moneys received for the sale of real property pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the Iowa resources enhancement and protection fund established in section 455A.18. Moneys deposited in the Iowa resources enhancement and protection fund from the sale of real property pursuant to this section shall not be allocated to the open spaces account in the fund and shall not be utilized for land acquisition. As we all know: 1. Iowa doesn't face an excess of public land. In fact, Iowa is 49th out of 50 states in the amount of public land held by the State of Iowa. 2. Public land helps improve water quality - wildlife areas, buffers and other public access areas help slow the flow of water, filter runoff and other important benefits....selling land is not the way to protect water quality. 3. Public wilderness areas and parks are important job creators ... outdoor recreation, hunting, fishing and other activities support over 27,000 jobs and billions in economic activity. We are asking our coalition partners to register as OPPOSED through the lobbyist registration system and to contact key legislators on the House Ways & Means Committee to let them know their opposition. Judy Frazier Director of Administration Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation 505 5th Avenue, Suite 444 Des Moines, IA 50309-2321 515/288-1846 / FAX 515/288-0137 [email protected] Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail. Notice of Confidentiality: This communication (including attachments) is for the exclusive use of addressee and may contain privileged or other confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or believe that you may have received this communication in error, please reply to the sender indicating that fact and delete the copy you received. In addition, you should not print, copy, retransmit, disseminate, or otherwise use the information. THANK YOU --- Please contribute your sightings to our list; it is only as good as members make it! --- Birding channel recommendation for FRS/GMRS radio use: Primary selection; channel 5/0 , alternate selection; channel 6/0 --- This mailing list is sponsored by the Iowa Ornithologists' Union. Membership available on-line at http://www.iowabirds.org/iou/PayDues.aspx. ----- You are currently subscribed to ia-bird as: [email protected]
