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farm406 16 e public needs a conservation license that is part of the purchase of a hunting, fishing, or trapping license to access state lands. Currently, $2 of the conservation license income is allocated for trust lands. If a person is participating in an activity, such as hiking or birdwatching that doesn't require a fishing or hunting license, the cost is $10. It is important to note that the land has been leased to someone for a purpose; the public needs a license to access state trust lands; there are specific ways this land can be used for recreation; and the public has certain responsibilities when they take advantage of these privileges. One of those responsibilities is to respect the lessee of the land by not driving in areas that are not public roads, or roads that are specifically designated by signage or federal travel plan maps as open road. Also, visitors should close gates and pack out all garbage. ey should not shoot guns around livestock. In other words, treat the property as if it belonged to them, which it does. Instead, the land that Mike Doran has leased has become a dumping ground where a huge amount of trash and garbage has been discarded. "I take trash that has been le on this land to the landfill on a regular basis," said Doran. "It all started when maps with state trust lands identified became available." To avoid paying the fee when taking old tires to the landfill, people started dumping them on the land leased by Doran by rolling the tires down into one of the coulees. Several years ago, DNRC workers took out two gooseneck trailers stacked with tires off of this land. "Geing rid of the tires and other debris made the section pristine again," said Doran. But that was short lived. People continued to dump their trash there. Old appliances, especially television sets, were dumped on the land. It became an area for seing up target practice sites where hundreds of shotgun shells were le strewn around, adding to the unsightliness of the area. Trash seemed to beget trash. en fence posts were torn away and metal gates were damaged by vehicles being rammed into them. It has been only recently that Doran rebuilt the fences around the four miles of the section. A pedestrian access was even made in the fence for easy entry. e problem hit its pinnacle last Labor Day weekend when use of explosive targets set off a fire on this state land and then eventually burned beyond this section to a total of 16,000 acres and destroyed structures. Luckily the cale that had ranged on the land in 2019 had already been removed. Burned grass from fire that started by an exploding target. Photo courtesy of Mike Doran Photo courtesy of Jaclyn Roberts of Public Lands Council Target site left for someone else to clean up. Trash left behind. Photo courtesy of Mike Doran

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