An assistant director of the Missouri Department of Conservation has explained the department’s position on requiring landowners to submit a legal description of their property to a “Landowner Registry” to qualify for no-cost hunting permits.
In a phone conservation and follow-up letter, assistant director Dave Erickson responded to Ozarks Property Rights President Russell Wood’s request for specifics of the MDC intentions.
The inquiry was made after MDC had withdrawn other proposed changes in hunting regulations effecting landowners but left what had been referred to in Jefferson City releases and the MDC Web site as requiring “collection of the legal description of their land” and “register their property with the Landowner Registry.”
Erickson stated that it had never been the intent of MDC to require the legal description of private property, only to revive a system used before 2005 that asked for property location by county, township, range and section. When it was pointed out that this conflicted with previous statements, Erickson called the original statement “poorly worded.”
The assistant director said the term “landowner registry” was adopted from the landowner hunting permit system used in Iowa. He said “this unfortunate title choice had implications that went far beyond anything known by us at the time.” He emphasized that MDC has no plans for a land registry under this or any other title.
“It appears MDC has dropped the proposals we vigorously opposed, which were changing ownership minimum acreage requirements from five to 80, and the registering of the owner’s legal land description with a MDC landowner registry. They have sent us written confirmation to that effect,” Wood said.