Sen. Cramer: Interior Dept. Issues Director's Order to Provide Due Process for Landowners

Statement

Following Secretary Bernhardt's visit to Hope in October, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is issuing a Director's Order today to provide due process for landowners who have perpetual FWS easements pre-dating 1976 on their property. Senator Cramer has been working with the Trump Administration for the last three years to provide effective oversight and meaningful reforms to FWS's implementation of the Waterfowl Production Area (WPA) easement program.

"I am glad to see Secretary Bernhardt respond to the concerns of the North Dakota landowners whom we met with during our trip to Hope earlier this year. Providing quality maps is fundamental to defining property ownership and establishing an appeals process ensures we follow due process and protect people's private property rights," said Senator Cramer. "I am confident this process will produce mutually beneficial results, building on the important FWS guidance from 2017 which instructs the agency to be cooperative, willing partners while limiting the use of law enforcement officers. I thank the Secretary for his work -- including on the issuance of new and improved maps --and I encourage landowners to engage in this process."

"I appreciate the leadership of Senators Hoeven and Cramer in bringing this issue to light as we have taken action to minimize needless conflict with farmers in protecting waterfowl," said Secretary Bernhardt. "President Trump and I are committed to ensuring that we have a government that better serves the American people and is responsive to addressing real concerns."

In the coming year, FWS will contact thousands of landowners with pre-1976 wetland easement deeds to provide them with maps overlaid on aerial imagery detailing the boundaries and acreage of their easements. As discussed in last October's roundtable, the maps will also be available electronically, allowing landowners to insert data into their mapping systems and GIS-capable equipment. More importantly, this outreach will provide detailed instructions for landowners on how to appeal the mapping determinations if necessary. Since the WPA program's inception, defining the boundaries of FWS's footprint has been a struggle, leading to an unnecessarily adversarial relationship between FWS and North Dakota landowners. Providing updated, modern maps -- along with an appeals process to sort out differences -- is a fundamental first step to rightsizing the influence of the federal government.

Protecting private property rights is a hallmark of Senator Cramer's public service. North Dakota landowners like Mike Johansen, whose property Senator Cramer and Secretary Bernhardt visited before the roundtable, have been intimidated and criminally charged by FWS for supposed infractions on these easements. These confrontations have led to elongated court battles, personal loss, and even bankruptcy.

In 2017, Senator Cramer held a town hall in Devils Lake to address this issue. Following the town hall, FWS released new guidance instructing its officials to be cooperative partners and to limit the use of law enforcement when working with landowners. Since coming to the Senate, Senator Cramer has met multiple times with Secretary Bernhardt and FWS Director Aurelia Skipwith, urging them to listen to the concerns of North Dakota landowners.

Additionally, today's announcement from FWS says it will soon clarify how drain tile setback recommendations are calculated, as well as how and when FWS will pursue legal action for setback violations. FWS will also clarify how it initiates contact with landowners when it suspects there has been a wetland easement violation, and how landowners can appeal that violation. Senator Cramer plans to continue advocating on behalf of North Dakota landowners as Secretary Bernhardt and Director Skipwith develop and implement each of these reforms.

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