Pratt v. State, Department of Natural Resources

Pratt (plaintiff) harvested wild rice using a mechanical picker on three lakes to which he held riparian rights, but Minnesota (defendant) reclassified the lakes as public in 1973 and enforced a statute banning mechanical rice harvesters on public waters, intended to preserve traditional hand-harvesting for Minnesota Indians and conserve wild rice; the lakes had little economic value beyond rice harvesting. The trial court found the reclassification proper but ruled it constituted a compensable taking, and the state appealed.