HF1656 Summary

• Allows commissioner to reimburse grant-eligible outdoor recreation expenditures made on or after appropriation effective date for grants-in-aid, local recreation grants, and enforcement/public education grants.

• Establishes performance-based funding formulas for snowmobile and cross-country ski trail grants with annual amounts determined by historical costs, snowfall, use, and tourism; allows penalties for nonperforming recipients.

• Expands definition of "game fish" to include additional species such as American eel, burbot, and lake whitefish, and removes burbot and cisco from "rough fish" definition.

• Allows persons to remove beaver dams causing property damage on owned or managed land without permit, except where dam removal would alter public waterways or where landowner permission is required; establishes district court relief process if permission cannot be obtained.

• Prohibits use of neonicotinoid class insecticides in wildlife management areas and creates new law allowing persons to use dogs to locate and retrieve wounded deer or bear under specified conditions with licensing requirements.