Source: United States Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, introduced the Landowner Easement Rights Act with Senators Mike Rounds (R-SD) and John Hoeven (R-ND). This bill will prohibit the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) from entering into a conservation easement with a term of more than 50 years. It will also give owners of existing easements the option to renegotiate, renew, or buy out the easement.
“For far too long farmers and landowners have been subject to the heavy-handed and punitive enforcement of conservation easements managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service. Too often, these bureaucrats have overstepped the legal bounds of their contracts and turned a blind eye to the appeals of North Dakotans. Our bill acknowledges private property owners’ grievances and provides them the opportunity to make decisions on the land they live and work on,” said Senator Cramer.
“The Landowner Easement Rights Act protects the private property rights of South Dakotans,” said Senator Rounds. “By ending the practice of permanent, non-transparent easements, this bill will make certain the power is with our farmers, ranchers, and other landowners across the state, not federal bureaucrats.”
“Following our efforts to provide regulatory relief for landowners under the FWS easement process, this legislation would help further reduce the burden that long-term easements have on our producers,” said Senator Hoeven. “By limiting easements to 50 years and giving landowners the ability to renegotiate or buy out existing easements that have existed beyond that timeframe, our bill provides greater flexibility and empowers farmers, ranchers, and other landowners to make the best use of their property.”
In March, U.S. Congressman Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) and Congresswoman Michelle Fischbach (R-MN) introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives.
Click here for bill text.
Background:
Senator Cramer has long discussed the history of FWS’s heavy-handed enforcement of conservation easements and its impact on North Dakota landowners and producers. A September 2017 townhall hosted by Senator Cramer featured testimony from several North Dakotans upset with federal agents being armed when they came to their property to discuss the easements, a practice which was then walked back by the Trump Administration. In October 2019, then-Interior Secretary David Bernhardt visited the state to hear directly about these issues, which led to FWS releasing a memorandum establishing a template for consistent enforcement and the first-ever appeals process.
A subsequent site visit and roundtable in Devils Lake, North Dakota with then-FWS Director Auriela Skipwith in August 2020 revealed the new appeals process was proving ineffective in making the meaningful changes sought by North Dakotans. Senator Cramer outlined these problems to Assistant Secretary of Fish and Wildlife and Parks, Shannon Estenoz, during her EPW nomination hearing in May 2021. As her first official visit as Assistant Secretary, Estenoz came to North Dakota to hear about these problems firsthand. Senator Cramer voted against the current FWS Director, Martha Williams because the FWS remains intransigent.
There has not been a single substantive change in any appeal under the review of the FWS Director, but the new mapping and appeals process has created a beneficial administrative record for landowners and the state.