Permission-only hunting on piece of public land questioned

Talk about it

FORT PIERRE — An offer of a free quarter section of land hit a rut Thursday with the state Game, Fish and Parks Commission.

The original donor gave it to the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Foundation about 10 years ago with the requirement that hunting be allowed by permission only.

Now the foundation wants to give it to the state Game, Fish and Parks Department for a game production area with the same condition attached.

That snagged the attention of Commissioner Susie Knippling of Gann Valley.

Through a series of questions about public land being treated as public land, she effectively put a hold on the deal.

Knippling, who chairs the commission, said department officials need to meet with their legal counsel and return with formal recommendations about how such an approach will work.

“How do you pick and choose?” she asked. “How is it going to work?”

The land is in southeastern Lyman County about one-half hour south of Oacoma. There are tree groves, native pasture, other grasses and a creek with two small dams.

Owner Dick Salzmann gave the property to the foundation, which technically is independent of the department. He used what’s known as a life estate, which allowed him to live there as long as he chose after making the donation.

After he passed away during the past year, the foundation took the next step by offering the property to the department.

Paul Coughlin, who oversees land acquisitions for the department, told the commission Thursday the plan calls for honoring the permission-only agreement made between Salzmann and the foundation.

He said an Internet reservation system would be one way to accomplish that.

Knippling challenged him about how that would work.

“It’s a new experience for us,” Coughlin said.

Knippling asked how the area would be marked on state GFP atlases and what the boundary signs would say.

Coughlin said all of those things are still in development.

None of the other commissioners said a word as Knippling deferred action on the resolution necessary for the department to accept the land.

“Why don’t you develop them and bring the resolution back?” she told him.

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