ND Minn border wars

[TTTim]

Minnesota officials fired a shot across the border Tuesday with a lawsuit contesting a North Dakota law that places restrictions on visiting Minnesota hunters.

Attorney General Mike Hatch said he would file the lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Bismarck, N.D. It seeks to stop Gov. John Hoeven and that state's wildlife regulators from enforcing a law that prevents nonresidents from starting their waterfowl hunting in North Dakota at the same time as residents and limits the places visitors can hunt.

Hatch said the law restricts interstate commerce and is discriminatory toward out-of-state hunters.

U.S. Rep. Colin Peterson, D-Minn., is listed as a plaintiff. He said constituents in his district, which borders the Dakotas, are angry about being frozen out.

``What I really have a problem with is the migratory birds of this country belong to all of the people of the United States,'' Peterson said. ``They do not belong to the people in North Dakota.''

Calls to Hoeven's office and the North Dakota Game and Fish Department's director were not immediately returned.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty endorsed the move, saying months of discussions with Hoeven failed to produce a change in policy.

``Limiting out-of-state hunters - even if they own land in North Dakota - from hunting during the legal season sets an alarming precedent for interaction between the states,'' Pawlenty said in a news release.

He added, ``In our own Legislature, there is an effort to retaliate against the unfair North Dakota laws by putting restrictions on out-of-state anglers. It's not healthy or productive for either of our states, which is why we need to find ways to solve the problem before we start building walls.''

By law, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department gives residents a week's head start over nonresidents in some hunting seasons, including ducks and geese. Hunting grounds for nonresidents also are more restricted than those open to North Dakotans, and nonresidents pay more for many North Dakota hunting licenses.

An average of 30,000 nonresidents, half from Minnesota, hunt ducks and geese in North Dakota.

Hatch said if the goal is conservation of wildlife, North Dakota officials could enact stricter bag limits on each hunter rather than cut nonresident hunters out.

Last August, a federal appeals court struck down an Arizona regulation that limited the number of bull elk and antlered deer permits given to nonresidents to 10 percent of the total tags issued.

The federal judges found the cap ``substantially affects and discriminates against interstate commerce.'' The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Arizona's appeal.


STATEMENT OF GOV. JOHN HOEVEN ON MINNESOTA'S HUNTING
LAWSUIT

Bismarck, N.D. - Gov. John Hoeven today issued the following statement in response to a lawsuit filed by Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch today challenging North Dakota's right to manage its wildlife
resources:

"North Dakota has not only the right, but the responsibility to manage wildlife, hunting and fishing within its borders. Minnesota itself exercises that very same right, and makes distinctions in licensing between resident and nonresident sportsmen, as do most states. It does not make any sense to sue North Dakota for doing what Minnesota itself does. We will vigorously defend the lawsuit.

"Last year more than 11,000 Minnesota residents hunted waterfowl in North Dakota. On the other hand, South Dakota limited nonresident waterfowl licenses to a total of 4,000 hunters. Yet Minnesota is suing North Dakota because we reserve the opening week for residents. It's just not consistent.

"Attorney General Hatch needs to think through what he's asking for, because if his argument prevails, Minnesota will lose the right to regulate wildlife, hunting and fishing within its own borders. I doubt that's what Minnesotans really want.

"We in North Dakota will continue to build our resource and manage it in a way that is both fair and balanced, and best serves our citizens and our state. Minnesota will likely do the same, and litigation will not serve either one of us