By Sara Quam The Rock County Board of Commissioners Tuesday approved a request to add 79.4 acres to Pheasants Forever’s public land. Leroy Lorenzen in southeast Rose Dell Township is selling the land to Pheasants Forever, which now has more than 1,000 acres in Rock County. The land is designated for preserving and developing wildlife habitat, for public hunting, trapping or for other recreational activities like bird watching. Chuck Van Wyhe represented the local Pheasants Forever chapter at the meeting. He said, "Our goal in Pheasants Forever is to have one piece of land in every township to be preserved for future generations." Commissioner Richard Bakken voted against the land acquisition because he thinks hunters and wildlife enthusiasts can cooperate with farmers and ranchers to use private land, without taking it out of production. "I would like to see a cooperative effort. But this I’m 100 percent against. ... I think there’s a problem this is just masking," Bakken said. He said he allows hunters on his land, but knows other land owners who have had bad experiences and don’t allow hunting anymore. Van Wyhe said, "This is for public access because it’s getting harder and harder to get permission. ... One bad hunter can ruin it for a hundred good ones." Non-local hunters and people who don’t know which landowners to contact in order to get permission to hunt are frequent users of public land, Van Wyhe said. "There are times you can’t locate the landowner to get permission to hunt," he said. Taxes on the Lorenzen land for 2004 were $566. The land will be turned over to the Department of Natural Resources through Pheasants Forever. The DNR will make an estimated payment in lieu of taxes of $945. Payments in lieu of taxes are given to taxing entities, such as the school district and county, in the same proportion in which property taxes would have been. Winter driving improvements Commissioners Tuesday gave County Engineer Mark Sehr approval to solicit estimates for new equipment parts that could improve driving conditions on county roads. Sehr estimated that the equipment would cost about $12,000. The new features on the trucks will use a salty brine that is applied to snow-packed or icy roads. Because it is wet, it will stick to the surface better than loose salt and sand, which often blow away or are shifted by vehicles on the road. The state has used this system for a few years. Sehr said the new method may reduce sand use in the county.