It's good to see the Minneapolis Star Tribune report Minnesota lawmakers may end commercial turtle harvest, but we're not so appreciative that reporter Greg Stanley saves the news of which lawmaker leading that effort until the last two paragraphs in the article:
The proposed ban, introduced by Rep. Samantha Vang, DFL-Brooklyn Center, would still allow individuals to catch and keep up to three turtles.
"So many other states have already banned this that we're getting all this additional pressure," Vang said. "It's exploiting our [turtle] population, in a way."
Earlier in the article, the copy implies that this is an agency bill:
After trying, unsuccessfully, for nearly 20 years to phase out commercial turtle trapping in Minnesota, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is asking lawmakers to put an immediate end to the capturing and selling of painted turtles, snapping turtles and spiny softshells. The state has lost thousands of the shelled reptiles in recent years, and wildlife officials say the practice is not sustainable long-term.
The proposed ban recognizes "the grave danger our turtle populations are in," Bob Meier, an assistant DNR commissioner, told lawmakers at a committee hearing. "They are significantly threatened and we need to do whatever we can to protect them."
We think it's good that the agency is supporting the Vang legislation. But a walk through the history the legislation--HF0749 in 2019 and HF0387 in 2021 suggests that lawmakers under the leadership of Vang and the science activism of a fearless herpetologist brought the agency to consider the science that brought it to its current position.
But readers aren't told that Vang herself first introduced the legislation in February 2019--and HF749 was heard in the Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resources Finance Division on March 5, 2019 (audio begins around the 39 minute mark here). As Representative Vang was busy at other legislative business, Representative Fue Lee presented the bill on her behalf. Speaking for the Minnesota Herpetological Society, scientist Christopher Smith said pretty much the same thing he told the Star Tribune.
Another testifier, Bob Meier, an assistant DNR commissioner--cited in the Strib article--is asked by former Representative Dan Fabian about the bill. Meier is concerned about the fiscal impact of the loss of the licence revenue then hands the answer over to Anne Pierce, Deputy Director of the Ecological and Water Resources division. She says the DNR has concerns about the harvest, but shares Meier's concern about the turtle harvest industry licence revenue.
Fabian asks Pierce if the DNR has had any meetings with the licensed turtle trappers; she says that they haven't, but would like to do that. Fabian decries the bill as the sort of thing that makes people frustrated with state agencies--that the Minnesota legislature doesn't take the concerns of stakeholders into consideration.
A speaker (not identified on the audio) notes that this is not a DNR bill. Meier says that the agency is neutral on the Vang bill.
While Bluestem is very pleased that the DNR supports the legislation in 2021, framing it as an agency bill isn't accurate. As far as we can tell, public scientists like Smith and Vang herself are responsible for getting the ball rolling on this one.
Perhaps the Star Tribune could avoid diminishing the role of talented new legislators. The Brooklyn Center DFLer who was "the second youngest woman to be elected to the Minnesota Legislature at the time of her swearing in," turned 27 last month.
Photo: Fue Lee presented and Christopher Smith testified on HF749 in March 2019. Like Vang, Minneapolis Democrat Lee--who now chairs the Capital Investment committee in his third term--is no slouch on environmental issues. He will turn 30 in August. Photo via Smith (@FieldEcology) on Twitter.
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