Source: United States Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
WASHINGTON – Agri-Pulse published an article highlighting U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer’s (R-ND) efforts to protect private property rights and fight against bureaucratic overreach in the heavy-handed enforcement of conservation easements.
The article discussed legislation introduced by Senator Cramer to rein in the federal bureaucracy and prohibit agencies from entering into a conservation easement for a term longer than 50 years.
“Earlier this year, Cramer proposed another bill that would prohibit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife from entering into easements with a term of more than 50 years. Fischbach and Armstrong sponsored companion legislation in the House. The bills are supported by several farm groups in Minnesota and the Dakotas that have raised concerns about the limitations permanent easements place on future farmers and the role agencies play in interpreting the language of the agreements,” wrote the article.
The article also mentions Senator Cramer’s town hall from 2017, which featured testimony from several North Dakotans upset with federal agents being armed when they came to their property to discuss the easements.
“Concerns about agency relations with landowners have also fueled opposition to permanent easements. North Dakota farmers, in particular, have objected to the Fish and Wildlife Service’s determinations of what constitutes a ‘wetland’ under current agreements and the agency’s responses to suspected violations, which Cramer calls ‘heavy-handed.’ Easement deeds signed before 1976 did not contain maps or detailed descriptions of easement boundaries. That lack of clarity caused several disputes between North Dakota landowners and the Fish and Wildlife Service. Frustrations over the maps were brought up during a town hall meeting Cramer hosted with Fish and Wildlife Service officials in 2017 and later that year, acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt promised to update easement maps and create an appeals process for landowners that disagree with the agency,” continued the article.
The article references a letter North Dakota agriculture groups sent to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in March 2021, which only received a response over a year after it was sent and was raised directly by Senator Cramer with FWS Director Martha Williams at a Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) hearing.
The article concluded: “But Cramer told Agri-Pulse he is concerned the agency still isn’t taking farmers’ objections seriously, pointing out that not a single farmer has won an appeal with the agency. He also said that Williams’ response came over a year after the commodity groups had sent their letter. ‘They’re supposed to be partners,’ Cramer said. ‘The problem is if you’re in a partnership with the federal government, you’re the junior partner every time.’”
Click here for the full Agri-Pulse article.
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. 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 Aurelia 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.
In April, Senator Cramer introduced the Landowner Easement Rights Act with Senators Mike Rounds (R-SD) and John Hoeven (R-ND) to prohibit the Department of the Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from entering into a conservation easement with a term of more than 50 years. Learn more here.
In September, Senator Cramer joined Senator Rounds in introducing The NRCS Wetland Compliance and Appeals Reform Act to safeguard farmers, ranchers, and landowners from bureaucratic overreach by the Natural Resources Conservation Service and empower them to continue to protect their land as they see fit. Learn more here.