In late July, the US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced plans for a potential rule change that, according to critics, could have drained large portions of North America’s most critical waterfowl breeding grounds. The change would have allowed the installation of drain tiles (large underground drainage pipes) near protected wetlands in the Prairie Potholes Region (PPR) of Montana, the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Iowa. But after a notable backlash from hunters, conservation groups, and the commercial hunting industry, USFWS says it is pumping the brakes on the controversial plan.
The change would have impacted voluntary conservation easements in the PPR purchased with money generated by the federal Duck Stamp program. By selling those easements to USFWS, private land owners in the region have agreed to keep key wetlands in the area in their natural state. Because the easements run in perpetuity, even after ownership changes hands, they allow ducks to breed in the PPR in big numbers each spring, ensuring the future of waterfowl hunting in America.
Hunter Opposition Mounts
Ducks Unlimited quickly pushed back against any possible changes to the so-called drain-tile setback regulations. Shortly after the announcement of a 14-day comment window, they launched a campaign called “Don’t Drain the Duck Factory,” encouraging members to send in comments opposing the proposed changes.
They pointed out that the PPR produces more than half of the continent’s migratory waterfowl, and that hunters and anglers have invested billions in PPR conservation through a combination of Pittman-Robinson contributions and Duck Stamp dollars. Allowing the removal of drain-tile setback rules “would lead to widespread drainage and loss of protected duck habitat,” the organization wrote on its action-alert webpage.
Feds Respond
DU’s campaign mobilized a broad coalition of hunters and anglers, from national camouflage and hunting-gear brands to everyday waterfowlers across the country. And, late last week, higher ups at the Department of Interior, which oversees USFWS, took note.
“The Fish and Wildlife Service thanks the more than 200,000 commenters who responded to the request for information on the process for calculating setbacks for the drain tiles around the wetland easements,” the Service said in an August 14 tweet. “Our administration is dedicated to protecting both the wetland easements purchased by the FWS that are necessary to protect our conservation heritage as well as the private landowners’ use of their lands outside the easement boundaries. At this time, no further action is planned as we review the information received.”
The tweet came just days after a large consortium of waterfowl groups including, DU, Delta Waterfowl, California Waterfowl, and South Carolina Waterfowl, issued a joint letter to Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum urging him to maintain the current drain-tile setback rules. Separate letters from bi-partisan groups of elected officials in both the House and Senate also urged Burgum to keep the rules in place.
Unprecedented Pushback
“The 219,000 comments from hunters and the joint letter from the major waterfowl organizations were unprecedented,” Brad Bortner, former Chief of the USFWS’s Migratory Bird Division tells Field & Stream. “During my 50 years as a waterfowl hunter and 40 years as a biologist, I’ve never seen such a unified movement. DU and others really strapped up.”
Parker Williams, Communications Manager for Ducks Unlimited, says he’s never seen the broader hunting community so united and engaged around a waterfowl habitat threat. “It created a ton of awareness about the importance of the Prairie Potholes and the continued existence of conservation easements in the region,” Williams tells F&S. “The process mobilized and educated a ton of people who will be willing and ready to speak up again if need be.”
Not everyone was happy with USFWS’s August 14 tweet, however. North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer has long argued against drain-tile setback rules, saying they violate private property rights in the PPR. In a comment posted below the official USFWS tweet, Cramer had this to say:
While the recent tweet from USFWS appears to table any immediate changes to drain-tile setback rules in the PPR for now, hunters who want to preserve America’s Duck Factory for future generations should stay vigilant, Bortner says. Field & Stream will continue to cover the issue as more details emerge.
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