Dear Editor, There’s a lot of talk right now about landowner rights being violated and government overreach, but there’s a bill, H.723, now before the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy that would update Vermont’s land posting laws — the rules governing how landowners n otify the public that their property is off-limits to hunting, fishing or trapping. As the law currently stands, landowners must physically post and date signs every year, no farther than 400 feet apart, and annually record their property with the town clerk for a small fee if they want to keep strangers from hunting, hounding or trapping on their land without their knowledge. Hunters, including those using packs of hounds, may be on your property — even at night — to hunt certain species such as raccoons and coyotes. If even one sign is missing or improperly dated, your property is no longer legally posted. People, including hunters themselves, post their land for different reasons, and it is not the government’s place to put such an unreasonable burden on landowners.  During a Feb.18 House Committee on Environment hearing, Jason Batchelder, the Vermont Fish and Wildlife commissioner, didn’t try to hide his bias. He said, “As a person who’s got 80,000 hunters — or 70,000 hunters, depending on the year — that need open, private land, I don’t want to make the path too easy for folks to slam the door on all these hunters. … I need to look out for the hunters because I am one and because I am protective of them.”  Why isn’t the commissioner protective of the elderly, those with disabilities and others who are being forced to allow activities on their land because they cannot meet these strict land posting requirements? Does the commissioner pay our property taxes? Maintain our land? Does he deal with the consequences when your property rights are ignored? No, he does not. So why is he telling us what to do on our land? READ MORE The Legislature has heard from hundreds of Vermonters who want to reclaim their property rights from what they feel is a very clear act of government overreach. The original version of H.723 included a purple paint provision — which allows landowners to mark trees or fence posts with purple paint stripes as a legally recognized substitute for posted signs — which around 20 other states, including Maine, have adopted. That would have greatly eased the posting burden and made enforcement easier for wardens. However, the commissioner opposed that, because it seems to me he doesn’t want to ease the landowner’s burden.  The current version of the bill is still worth supporting, as it removes the requirement to date the posted signs. As long as your signs are legible, hunters, hounders and trappers are required to keep off. It also protects landowners in case a sign blows away or is torn down.  Vermont has one of the oldest populations in the U.S., with close to a quarter of our population 65 years or older. This bill provides Vermonters like me with a more practical solution to exercising my property rights. Lark Shields, Craftsbury, Vt. Read the story on VTDigger here: Lark Shields: Why does Vermont make it so hard to keep strangers off your land?. ...read more read less