The Outdoors

By Scott Rall, Outdoors Columnist

This is the final installment of a public land acquisition process. We have covered a lot in the last three columns and this will get us to the end zone. Last week we left off at the appraisal review process. I have never had an appraisal review that ended up changing the value of a parcel, although the purchase agreement (PA) signed earlier does openly state that the PA is subject to an appraisal review and that the amount could change. It never has in the over 50 of these projects I have completed. The buyer’s attorney will generate the closing documents and send them to the seller for his/her review. They normally get about 10 days to complete this review and it is normally done by the seller’s attorney. Property closings are normally done through the mail so no party has to drive to the other.

When everyone has approved the closing documents and the date of closing arrives, the funds are sent to the seller by electronic funds transfer directly into the sellers designated checking account. No checks to get lost in the mail or delayed for what ever reason. As part of the closing, the seller will sign a deed that transfers the property to the buyer and this document is recorded at the courthouse in the county the parcel resides. Any person at any time can go to the recorder’s office and request a copy of just about anything. Most copies are about $1-$2 per page.

If Pheasants Forever was involved and was the buyer, they will hold the title to the property for only as long as it takes to transfer it to either the MN DNR or the USWFS. This process can take a little while but normally takes 12-16 months. The reason for this is that the grant recipient, in this case Pheasants Forever (PF), was also awarded funds to do any necessary restorations to the property. A few examples might be some tillable land that needed to be seeded to native grasses. Another could be if there were some wetland restorations to be done, those would be completed, grasses planted afterward and then the property is transferred. If the property had any active CRP acres located on it, then while PF owns it any mid-contract management required would be completed. All CRP contracts continue to stay in place after the sale. It is kind of interesting but for all practical purposes Pheasants Forever cannot receive the federal CRP payments. Across the nation there is a limit of how much any party can receive in CRP payments. That limit is $50,000 and with 750 chapters of Pheasants Forever nationwide, all doing great conservation work, all the payments about that limit are forfeited.

Grassland restorations are almost always done in the fall after the crops are removed. Corn field residue is not great for planting grass, so if the last crop was corn it is usually farmed one more year into a bean rotation with a limit on what chemicals can be used that year. Bean stubble is a great seed bed for native grasses and with no chemicals applied that have a residual it won’t kill the flowers and forbs that get planted.

When you think of chemical residual, here is an interesting factoid. (This is going to be one long sentence.) If you sprayed your pasture for broadleaf weeds with one of any number of broadleaf herbicides and then grazed cows on that grass and then use the manure that came from those cows to fertilize your land and then you planted native flowers on that same ground, the chemical residual of the herbicide (even after it has passed through a cow) can and does kill broadleaves like flowers and forbs the following year.

Once the restorations have been completed, that land transfers to a long-term land manager and it becomes open to all compatible public land uses. Even with the current availability of grant funds these days it would take all of natural resources entities combined between 50-100 years to impact just one additional percent of the land base in most counties. For the vast majority of us, public lands offer the only opportunity to recreate in wild places. If not for citizen-owned lands, only those lucky enough or wealthy enough to own their own private property would be able to shoot a rooster or harvest a deer. Public lands are critical to the rank-and-file outdoor person. Without them the vast majority of hunters would be shut out and what a shame that would be. Support citizen owned lands and support the organizations that do this most important work. Joining Pheasants Forever would be a great start!

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If you have any questions, reach out to me at scottarall@gmail.com.