Rural Community in Decline? Can't Blame Game Fish & Parks

Last week I questioned the assertion of South Dakota Cattlemen's Association 1^st Vice-President Todd Mortenson of Hayes, Stanley County, that the state Game Fish & Parks Department is killing rural communities by driving farmers and ranchers away with big land purchases. I suggested that the expansion, consolidation, and industrialization of farms and ranches is much more to blame for the loss of small family farms than any GF&P policy.

Call the source biased, but a friend in the GF&P e-mails to support my contention:

...There is lots of land in Stanley County that is owned by the private sector and the owners don't even live here. They have either moved away, moved to town or the land is being bought up by corperate [sic] farms. Several land owners own over 10,000 acres.

GFP own hardly any land in Stanley County. And the land that we do own is very hard to access, mostly along the river, that was recently transferred to us by the Corp. of Engineers. Aside from the land along the river, which by the way is only a thin strip, not much wider than a couple 100 yards wide in most places, [GFP has] 2 GPA's, one in the center of the county, around 80 acres and another along the river that is 270 acres Antelope Creek [e-mail, 2008.08.18].

If Mr. Mortenson misses having lots of neighbors along the road from Hayes to Fort Pierre, he'll have to find someone other than the GF&P to blame.