The department is given broad powers to spend funds, acquire and manage land and wildlife resources, make rules and orders, and enter agreements and compacts, with some limits like consent for private-property entry.
The department is hereby authorized and empowered to: 1. Expend, as authorized by the general assembly under section 456A.19, any and all moneys accruing to the fish and game protection fund from any and all sources in carrying out the purposes of this chapter; any Act, or Acts, not consistent with this provision are hereby repealed so far as they may apply to the fish and game protection fund. 2. Acquire by purchase, condemnation, lease, agreement, gift, and devise lands or waters suitable for the purposes enumerated in this subsection, and rights-of-way to those lands and waters, and to maintain the lands and waters for the following purposes: a. Public hunting, fishing, and trapping grounds and waters to provide areas in which any person may hunt, fish, or trap in accordance with the law and the rules of the department. b. Fish hatcheries, fish nurseries, game farms, and wild mammal, fish, bird, reptile, and amphibian refuges. 3. Extend and consolidate lands or waters suitable for the purposes enumerated in subsection 2 by exchange for other lands or waters and to purchase, erect, and maintain buildings necessary to the work of the department. 4. Capture, propagate, buy, sell, or exchange any species of wild mammal, fish, bird, reptile, and amphibian needed for stocking the lands or waters of the state, and to feed, provide for, and care for them. 5. The department is hereby authorized to adopt and enforce such departmental rules governing procedure as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter; also to carry out any other laws the enforcement of which is vested in the department. 6. The department is hereby further authorized to adopt, publish, and enforce such administrative orders as are authorized in section 481A.38. 7. Pay the salaries, wages, compensation, traveling, and other necessary expenses of the commissioners, director, officers, and other employees of the department; expend money for necessary supplies and equipment; and make such other expenditures as may be necessary for the carrying into effect the purposes of this chapter. 8. Control by shooting or trapping any wild mammal, fish, bird, reptile, and amphibian for the purpose of preventing the destruction of or damage to private or public property, but shall not go upon private property for that purpose without the consent of the owner or occupant. 9. Provide for the protection against fire and other destructive agencies on state and privately owned forests, parks, wildlife areas, and other property under its jurisdiction, and cooperate with federal and other state agencies in protection programs approved by the department, and with the consent of the owner, on privately owned areas. 10. Provide conservation employees, when on duty, suitable uniforms, equipment, arms, and supplies. 11. Establish a program governing the harvesting and sale of American ginseng subject to the convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora and adopt rules providing for the time and conditions for harvesting the ginseng, the registration of dealers and exporters, the records kept by dealers and exporters, and the certification of legal taking. The time for harvesting of wild ginseng shall not begin before September 1 or extend beyond November 1. A person violating this subsection or rules adopted by the department pursuant to this subsection is subject to a scheduled fine pursuant to section 805.8B, subsection 4. 12. Adopt rules authorizing officers and employees of the department who are peace officers to issue warning citations for violations of this chapter and chapters 321G, 321I, 350, 456B, 457A, 461A, 461B, 461C, 462A, 462B, 464A, 465A, 465B, 465C, 481A, 481B, 482, 483A, 484A, and 484B. 13. Apply to any appropriate agency or officer of the United States government to participate in or receive aid from any federal program relating to forests or forestry management. The department may enter into contracts and agreements with the United States government or an appropriate agency of the United States government as necessary to secure funding for the acquisition, development, improvement, and management of forests and forestry resources and to provide funds or assistance to local governments or private citizens involved in forestry management. In connection with obtaining the benefits of a forestry program, the director shall coordinate the department’s activities with and represent the interests of all state agencies and the political subdivisions of the state having interests in forests or forestry management. 14. Enter into an interstate wildlife violators compact with one or more states to enforce state laws and rules relating to the protection and conservation of wildlife subject to the requirements of section 28E.9. The commission may adopt rules as necessary for the implementation of the compact. [C31, 35, §1703-d12; C39, §1703.50; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §107.24] 83 Acts, ch 33, §1; 83 Acts, ch 168, §2 – 4; 86 Acts, ch 1245, §1836, 1837, 1845; 91 Acts, ch 78, §1; 92 Acts, ch 1160, §16 C93, §456A.24 93 Acts, ch 13, §1; 93 Acts, ch 38, §1; 2001 Acts, ch 14, §1; 2001 Acts, ch 137, §5; 2004 Acts, ch 1132, §92; 2021 Acts, ch 48, §2; 2021 Acts, ch 80, §288, 289; 2022 Acts, ch 1032, §69 Referred to in §456A.26, 481A.48, 481A.67, 481A.130, 483A.28, 805.8B(4)