Fencing on Park-Owned Property

PURPOSE: This rule is established to provide procedures and guidelines in considering requests by adjacent landowners to fence common boundaries for purposes of preventing intrusion from livestock or commercial game. (1) Fencing on Park-Owned Property. The division director shall have the authority to fence any state park or historic site or parts thereof when fencing is essential for the use, care, and preservation of the park or park lands in question. (2) The division may participate in fencing park and historic site boundaries for the purpose of preventing intrusion from livestock or commercial game in accordance with Chapter 272, RSMo. Fencing requests shall be submitted in writing and approved by the director or his/her designee. The division’s procedures for participating in fencing of park and historic site boundaries for this purpose are as follows: (A) All fencing requests shall be directed to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Division of State Parks, PO Box 176, Jefferson City, MO 65102; (B) A “Fencing Request Form” shall be completed by the landowner and submitted to the address above; (C) Division personnel shall conduct an on-site inspection to determine need, natural, and cultural resource impacts, fencing materials as defined in Chapter 272, RSMo, and reasonable cost of the fencing materials. The division shall also assess the accuracy of the fence location along the boundary based on survey information and by consulting with the division’s survey crew. If the accuracy of the boundary is in question, the division may require a boundary survey, the cost of which shall be equally shared by the department and the landowner requesting the fence; and (D) The landowner shall receive written notification of approval or denial of their request from the division within sixty (60) days of receipt of the Fencing Request Form at the above division address. 1. If approved, the landowner shall be responsible for fence construction and to utilize fence construction methods that do not damage trees, structures, soil, wetlands, habitat for sensitive species, geologic, cultural, historic, and other resources that occur within the park or historic site boundary. Fence construction methods shall not employ modification of soil or debris elevations that drain wetlands or cause the impoundment of water on property owned by the department. The fence must be located on the boundary line to the extent that the line can be identified or verified. Any variances to these requirements must be approved, in writing, by the director or his/her designee. 2. The division, at its own expense, will provide all fence construction materials to the landowner and shall monitor the construction activities to ensure compliance with this section. The cost of fence material shall constitute the department’s share of costs to provide an enclosure as provided for in sections 272.020 and 272.060, RSMo. 3. The landowner and its successors are responsible for maintaining the fence, which shall include removing brush, vines, woody regrowth or resprouting of approved cut trees on state park property at no greater a distance than three feet (3') inside the park boundary. The landowner is not permitted to access park property with brushhogs, tractors, heavy equipment, ATVs, motorcycles, or any other vehicle of any kind without permission from the park or historic site facility manager. The landowner is not permitted to apply any herbicides for purposes of killing or controlling vegetation on the park side of the boundary, or which may drift onto park vegetation without permission of the park facility manager. The landowner is permitted to trim back overhanging branches at the point immediately above the park boundary line and to a height of eight feet (8') above the ground. 4. No fencing constructed under this section shall be removed without the written consent of the division, except to temporarily make repairs to said fence. (3) The division shall not participate in fencing saltpeter works, cotton gins, or lands upon which poisonous crops are planted; nor shall the division incur costs when other applicable laws or judgments require an individual landowner to fence their own land. (4) Landowners who attempt to fence department-owned land by moving fencing onto department-owned property without the consent of the division thereby deny public use of such fenced-in lands or incur damage to park property and/or natural and cultural resources. AUTHORITY: section 253.035, RSMo 2016.* Original rule filed Oct. 26, 2000, effective June 30, 2001. Amended: Filed June 7, 2018, effective Feb. 28, 2019. Amended: Filed Aug. 13, 2024, effective March 30, 2025. *Original authority: 253.035, RSMo 1961, amended 1967 1983, 1993, 1995.