PEER COMMITTEE REPORT ON WRANPS, INC.

Subj:    Report # 380
Date:   7/16/00 10:53:47 AM Central Daylight Time
From:            Mccaleb5thdist
To:            Max.Arinder@peer.state.ms.us

  I have a question concerning the seventeen local governing authorities or private entities which received FY 1998 Tidelands Funds for Management projects complied with DMR grant agreement provisions.

I would like to know how I can obtain the names of all seventeen local governing authorities or private entities.

I have an interested in the, Wildlife Rehabilitation & Nature Preservation Society, Inc., Pass Christian, Mississippi.  This Society is located in the woods on the University of Southern Mississippi land.

This society, inc. has received over FY 1997, 1998, & 2000, $69,373.86 in Tidelands Funds.

Can you please explain how WRANPS, INC. qualified for Tidelands money?

Thank you,

  Steven A. McCaleb

Subj: tidelands
Date: 7/26/00 11:59:54 AM Central Daylight Time
From: Max.Arinder@peer.state.ms.us (Max Arinder)
To: mccaleb4thdist@aol.com

Mr. McCaleb:

I am writing to respond to your recent concerns regarding 
appropriation of Tidelands Funds to the Wildlife Rehabilitation and 
Nature Preservation Society (WRANPS). I must begin by stating that 
PEER staff is not permitted to conduct independent research without a 
legislative request and, in some cases, Committee approval for the 
work. As a result of this limitation, PEER staff addressed your 
concerns based upon information previously obtained from the 
Department of Marine Resources (DMR). This information is based upon 
interviews and research compiled during the staff's review of the use 
of Tidelands Funds (1998 PEER Report #380). To obtain additional 
information, a request should be submitted to the Committee and 
further work would be contingent upon Committee approval. 


How and why Tidelands Funds are directed?

MISS. CODE ANN. Section 29-15-3 (1972) declares the public policy of 
the state "to favor the preservation of the natural state of the 
public trust tidelands and their ecosystems and to prevent the 
despoliation and destruction of them, except where a specific 
alteration of specific public trust tidelands would serve a higher 
public interest in compliance with the public purposes of the public 
trust in which tidelands are held."

The Secretary of State serves as administrator of the state's public 
trust lands, overseeing lease management of the Public Trust 
Tidelands. The Department of Marine Resources is statutorily charged 
with tidelands management, which encompasses protection of the 
tidelands environment and administration of the Tidelands Act.

MISS. CODE ANN. Section 49-15-301 (1972) provides for the Mississippi 
Commission on Marine Resources to be the sole administrator of the 
Public Trust Tidelands Act. The commission's fifteen-year plan 
proposes that 50% of Tidelands Funds be dedicated to Public Access 
projects and 50% be dedicated to Management Projects. Public Access 
projects involve the construction and acquisition of coastal 
resources, while Tidelands Management project involve the 
conservation, reclamation, education, enhancement, preservation, and 
acquisition of marine-related coastal resources. The commission 
annually provides the Legislature with its recommended funding 
distribution plan for Management projects, as well as a list of 
applicants for Public Access projects.

In appropriating funds to DMR, the Legislature designates projects to 
be funded with Tidelands Funds in accordance with MISS. CODE ANN. 
Section 29-15-9. DMR uses any Tidelands Funds it receives in excess 
of those appropriated by the Legislature for distribution to specific 
projects at its discretion for tidelands management or for tidelands 
emergencies. 


Receipt of Tidelands Funds by WRANPS

Appropriated funds for the period FY1997 through FY 2000 were as follows;

FY 1997 $10,000
FY 1998 $20,000
FY 2000 $40,000

Total      $70,000


Explain how WRANPS does/does not meet the requirements for Tidelands Funds?

In the Committee's 1998 report, "A Review of the Use of Tidelands 
Funds", staff found the actions of the WRANPS program, with regard to 
FY 1997 and FY 1998, did not meet the requirements of MISS. CODE ANN. 
Section 29-15-9 (1972). The WRANPS programs objectives were to 
rescue, rehabilitate, and release wildlife and to educate the public 
concerning such. These actions did not conserve, reclaim, preserve, 
or acquire tidelands or educate the public concerning tidelands as 
required by MISS. CODE ANN. 29-15-9 (1972). 

According to DMR, in its FY1998 recommended funding request to the 
Legislature, the WRANPS project was included as a "Project of Special 
Merit", and as a result the project was contingent upon revenues 
exceeding appropriations. As stated above, DMR uses any Tidelands 
Funds it receives in excess of those appropriated by the Legislature 
for distribution to specific projects at its discretion for tidelands 
management or for tidelands emergencies.

PEER staff has not reviewed program objectives and activities for FY 
1999 and FY 2000, and as a result cannot accurately state the degree 
to which the program has met the objectives set forth in MISS. CODE 
ANN. 29-15-9 (1972) for this period.

How to obtain names of governing authorities or private entities

The Department of Marine Resources maintains contact information 
regarding each entity requesting funding on DMR Form TTF-1. You 
must contact DMR directly to receive this information.

--MKA

E-mail from the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources/Tidelands:

Mr. McCaleb:

WRANPS has been awarded grants from the Tidelands Trust Fund for three Years.  Following is the information you requested:

                            FY 97      $10,000.00

                            FY 98      $20,000.00

                            FY 2000  $39,373.86

Michaela Hill

Tidelands Office