Given the political, economic and lifestyle divisions that prevail in America, perhaps the "No hunting" posters that have popped up in western Minnesota this fall are simply signs of the times.
Or maybe they're yet another indication that Minnesota is in fact a two-party state.
Not DFL and Republican. But urban and rural.
Regardless, the signs carry a straightforward message: Some farmers are still smarting over enactment in 2015 of Gov. Mark Dayton's stream- and ditch-buffer initiative.
And they're taking their gripes out on hunters, believing hunters' interests in pheasant habitat, and not the public's aspiration for cleaner lakes and rivers, are what's behind the governor's desire to improve state waters 25 percent by 2025.
Not all farmers are bothered by buffers.
According to the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR), which is implementing the buffer law, along with local Soil and Water Conservation districts, about 95 percent of affected waters were protected by the required 50-foot vegetative buffers by the Nov. 1 compliance deadline.
The buffers are intended to reduce sediment, phosphorus and nitrogen flowing into state waters from adjacent agriculture lands.