OUTDOORS NOTEBOOK: North Dakota Game and Fish Department pays $621,000 in property taxes, May 4 is deadline for Minnesota bear season lottery etc.

Game and Fish pays $621,000 in property taxes

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department recently paid more than $621,000 in taxes to counties in which it owns or leases land. The 2017 in-lieu-of-tax payments are the same as property taxes paid by private landowners.

Game and Fish manages more than 200,000 acres for wildlife habitat and public hunting in 51 counties. The department does not own or manage any land in Traill or Renville counties.

Counties in eastern and northeast North Dakota and the tax payments they received include:

• Benson: $4,596.45.

• Cass: $7,054.45.

• Cavalier: $28,619.90.

• Grand Forks: $14,129.07.

• Nelson: $5,560.39.

• Pembina: $17,862.28.

• Ramsey: $15,390.45.

• Walsh: $10,871.86.

A full listing of counties and the payments they received is available at www.gf.nd.gov .

-- N.D. Game and Fish Department

May 4 is deadline for bear apps

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is accepting applications for bear hunting licenses through Friday, May 4, wherever hunting and fishing license are sold, online at mndnr.gov/buyalicense and by telephone at (888) 665-4236.

A total of 3,350 licenses are available in 13 permit areas. Bear licenses cost $44 for residents and $230 for nonresidents, and there is a $5 application fee. The season is open from Saturday, Sept. 1, through Sunday, Oct. 14.

The DNR will notify lottery winners by Friday, June 1. Lottery winners will receive a postcard in the mail and can check online at mndnr.gov/licenses/lotteries/index.html to see if they were drawn. The deadline to purchase licenses awarded by lottery will be Wednesday, Aug. 1. Any remaining unpurchased licenses will be available over the counter starting at noon Monday, Aug. 6.

An unlimited number of bear licenses again will be sold over the counter for the no-quota area that includes far northwest and east-central Minnesota. No-quota licenses are valid only in the no-quota area. Hunters with a no-quota license can shoot one bear.

More info: mndnr.gov/hunting/bear.

-- Minnesota DNR

Scholarships available for N.D. students

The North Dakota Game Wardens Association, Ray Goetz Memorial Fund and Kupper Chevrolet in Mandan, N.D., are providing scholarships to a graduating high school senior or current higher education student majoring in fisheries, wildlife management or law enforcement.

Applicants must be North Dakota residents and have maintained a 3.25 grade point average. Scholarships will be awarded this fall upon proof of enrollment.

Applications are available by contacting the North Dakota Game Warden's Association, Box 3581, Minot, ND 58702 or by email at btupdike@nd.gov . Applications must be postmarked no later than May 31.

-- N.D. Game and Fish Department

Late ice-out creates boat ramp challenges

This spring's lingering cold and late ice-out could make it difficult for Minnesota DNR crews to have the 1,500 public water accesses it manages ready in time for the May 12 fishing opener.

"I want Minnesotans to know that we are doing everything we can to get ready for the fishing opener," DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr said. "But mostly what we need are warmer temperatures and sunshine."

There are about 3,000 public water access sites statewide, and the DNR's Parks and Trails Division manages roughly half of them.

Every year, repairs are needed at hundreds of sites, because freezing temperatures and ice cause concrete to crack and buckle on the ramps. Some years, crews can get a head start on that work, even before ice-out, but this year the snow prevented them from assessing damage, and the ramps can't be re-leveled until the ground thaws.

In the meantime, crews are busy rehabbing docks by, for example, changing bumpers and wheels as needed so they'll be ready to pop in when the time comes.

"Even if every last dock isn't in by the opener, there will be places to fish and boat," said Nancy Stewart, water recreation program consultant.

More info is available on the DNR's Public Water Access website at www.mndnr.gov/wateraccess and by calling the DNR Info center at (888) 646-6367 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays.

-- Minnesota DNR