Agriculture committee considers $600k bill to cover wolf, elk damage

As the number of wolf and elk grow in northern Minnesota, the damage they cause area farmers through crop and livestock loss grows too.

Compensation for those losses is at the heart of a bill heard by the House Agriculture Finance Committee Thursday, then laid over for possible omnibus bill inclusion.

Rep. Dan Fabian

Sponsored by Rep. Dan Fabian (R-Roseau), HF772 would provide $630,000 to the Department of Agriculture for reimbursement payments. Of that amount, $350,000 would go for wolf depredation assistance and $250,000 could be used as compensation for elk damage.

The companion, SF845, is sponsored by Sen. Mark Johnson (R-East Grand Forks) and awaits action by the Senate Agriculture, Rural Development and Housing Finance Committee.

Fabian said he’d recently spent time on the phone with a constituent who found dozens of elk doing damage in one of his fields.

In a letter to the committee offering support for HF772, Krist Wollum, president of the Minnesota Cattleman’s Association, said the group’s members not only deal with the damage done by the animals, but often struggle to find assistance with the documentation needed to ensure compensation.

The bill addresses that issue as well through an amendment, which was adopted, allowing more flexibility when choosing adjusters who can come out to help with a claim.

“Ensuring an adequate amount of funding is appropriated to a compensation program is important to our members to help ease the burden of wildlife conflicts that result in loss or damage to their herds, feed and crops,” Wollum wrote. 

WATCH Full video of the hearing on YouTube