MIKE BRAUN Federal rule helps protect state land

Thank God for the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act.
This piece of important hunting and fishing legislation was basically all that stood in the way of a portion of the Mosquito Wildlife Area being acquired recently by Greene Township.
The township made it known last month that it would be seeking a 25-acre plot in the northeast corner of the wildlife area for the construction of a fire station and a community park.
Petitions were handed out, meetings were held, plans were discussed. One of the meetings was held to garner support from representatives of the Trumbull County commissioners, State Rep. Timothy J. Ryan, the Trumbull County Sheriff's Department and 911 dispatch center.
There was even talk of going to the governor's office for assistance in getting the land.
Important to township
The project is important to the township. The current fire station is too small to continue serving the community, officials said.
But it seems the officials forgot to get an opinion from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife about the property.
Had they done that, they could have saved themselves some trouble.
"The parcel of land that some individuals in Green Township would like to acquire was purchased with 75 percent federal-aid dollars from the Pittman-Robertson Fund, administered by the U.S. Fish & amp; Wildlife Service, and 25 percent from hunting and fishing license dollars," Jeff Herrick, director of the DOW's District Three office in Akron, said in a recent memo to Julie Michael, the governor's regional representative in Youngstown, about the situation. "No state tax dollars were used for the purchase of this property."
Furthermore, Herrick said, the only contact they had with the township came in August when someone who said they represented the township zoning board expressed an interest. No other contact was initiated, Herrick said.
Act guides use
Had the township checked further, Herrick said, they would have found that the Pitman-Robertson connection tightly guides how the land is used. "The only uses of the land are for wildlife habitat and production, hunting, trapping, wildlife observation and education activities," Herrick said.
Additionally, Herrick explained, the only way the property could be traded to the township "is if they were to acquire and offer for trade a property of equal or greater value, and of greater ecological significance."
Township officials, including Trustee Roy B. Gregory, met to discuss the property with Herrick at Michael's office last week at the George V. Voinovich Government Center in Youngstown.
Created an understanding
"Once we explained about the property and that we could not give it away, we created an understanding," Herrick said later. "We told them we'd work with them, and we had a good discussion."
After the meeting, Gregory said the township still has some options and that the fire station project is not a dead issue.
"We might be meeting with the division again." Gregory said. The trustee, who is also a hunter, said there were a few things the trustees would be looking at. "I really don't want to say what, but we might still be talking about those 25 acres. We have a few options," Gregory said.
The township does own a number of plots of land, and Herrick did not rule out the possibility of a negotiated land swap. He added that there were several properties in the area that would qualify to swap for the acreage in question under the federal rules.
Along strict guidelines
He stressed that any swap would have to be done along the strict Pittman-Robertson guidelines.
Herrick said Ohio's sportsmen deserve as much for their contributions to the purchase of the Mosquito Creek Wildlife Area.
The DOW official also said he was glad the land was ruled by the federal act since political pressure might have been used if the land was governed by less restrictive guidelines. "Thank God for Pittman-Robertson," Herrick said.
braun@vindy.com