The wildlife damage abatement program and the wildlife damage claim program. (FE)

Wildlife damage claim program and wildlife damage abatement program Current law authorizes a person who owns, leases, or controls land on which certain wild animals cause damage to crops or livestock (wildlife damage) to apply to the county for wildlife damage claim payments and for wildlife damage abatement assistance (wildlife damage payments). Wildlife damage for which a person is eligible to receive wildlife damage payments includes damage caused by deer, bears, geese, and cougars, as well as elk and sandhill cranes if hunting those animals is authorized. Current law requires that, to be eligible for wildlife damage payments, the location must be in a county that participates in the administration of these programs. A county must apply to DNR to administer these programs, including in its application a plan of administration that meets certain requirements. Once approved, DNR provides funding to the county for the costs incurred in administering these programs.

Under current law and DNR rule, a county pays 75 percent of the actual costs of providing wildlife damage abatement assistance, for which it is reimbursed by DNR, and the person receiving the assistance pays 25 percent of the costs. DNR pays wildlife damage claims directly.

DNR administration Effective January 1, 2025, the bill removes counties from the administration of the wildlife damage abatement program and the wildlife damage claim program and requires DNR to administer the programs instead. The bill specifies that, if DNR provides wildlife damage abatement assistance to a person, DNR must determine the actual cost of providing that assistance and pay 75 percent of that cost, leaving the remaining 25 percent as the responsibility of the recipient.

The bill also eliminates the requirement under current law that a county participate in the administration of these programs in order to be eligible for reimbursement by DNR for the costs that the county incurs in processing and donating venison from certain deer carcasses and in processing and donating meat from certain wild turkey carcasses.

Wildlife damage claims The bill increases from $10,000 to $25,000 the limit under current law on the total amount that may be paid to a claimant for each wildlife damage claim. The bill maintains the current law requirement that DNR pay wildlife damage claimants on a prorated basis if there is not a sufficient amount appropriated to pay all claims.

Under current law, if the amount of a wildlife damage claim exceeds $500 but does not exceed $5,250, the claimant is paid 100 percent of the amount, and if the amount of the claim exceeds $5,250, the claimant is paid that amount plus 80 percent of the amount that exceeds $5,250. The bill increases this threshold amount from $5,250 to $5,500.

Interaction with crop insurance payments Under the bill, generally, a person may not receive payment of a crop insurance claim for wildlife damage and payment for a wildlife damage claim arising from the same growing season. However, the bill provides that, with respect to crop damage caused by a bear, a person is not eligible for a wildlife damage claim payment unless the person has crop insurance that covers wildlife damage. Under the bill, the amount of a wildlife damage claim payment for crop damage caused by a bear may not be determined until an insurance claim for the damage is filed and settled.

However, under the bill, such a person is not required to submit a crop insurance claim for crop damage caused by a bear before receiving a wildlife damage claim payment for that damage if the cumulative crop damage is not sufficient to warrant a crop insurance claim. Under the bill, if a person receives a payment of a crop insurance claim for damage caused by a bear, the person is also eligible for a payment for a wildlife damage claim arising from the same growing season for up to the amount of the damage that was not covered by the insurance payment and subject to the overall $25,000 cap.

Type of damage Under current law, the type of wildlife damage that is eligible for wildlife damage claim payments is limited to damage to commercial seedings or crops growing on agricultural land, damage to crops that have been harvested for sale or further use but that have not been removed from the agricultural land, damage to orchard trees or nursery stock, and damage to apiaries or livestock. The bill adds that damage to commercial seedings or crops growing on agricultural land caused by operating a vehicle in a field in order to place a live bear trap under the wildlife damage abatement program is eligible for a wildlife damage claim payment.

Hunting requirements Under current law, with certain exceptions, a person may receive wildlife damage payments only if the person opens the land for hunting the type of animal that caused the wildlife damage. Under this bill, this hunting requirement does not apply to a person who receives wildlife damage abatement assistance to acquire a live bear trap for land the person leases.

Under the bill, when land is open to bear hunting because the landowner received wildlife damage payments related to damage caused by a bear, the bill requires DNR to establish and administer, without input by the landowner, an Internet-based registration system under which, beginning at midnight, hunters may register to hunt bear on a particular parcel of land that day. Under the bill, a landowner may only deny a hunter access to land if the hunter has not registered using DNR's registration system for that day, appears to be intoxicated or unruly, causes property damage, or brings a motor vehicle onto the land without permission.

Bear traps Under the bill, effective June 30, 2024, DNR must require all live bear traps acquired with wildlife damage abatement assistance to be equipped with remote monitors, including traps placed under the program prior to the effective date of the bill.