Image: pothole_drain_2

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has purchased more than 28,000 wetland easements in the Prairie Pothole Region. Photo by Steve Oehlenschlager.

Duck hunters raised their voices to protect the waterfowl resource, and it appears that the government listened.

After receiving more than 219,000 public comments, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it has halted further action on reviewing its drain tile setback rules. The agency said it’s currently only reviewing the feedback and plans no changes to current wetland easement protections in the Prairie Pothole Region, which produces more than 50% of North America’s ducks and is known as America’s Duck Factory.

The move was hailed as a victory by the duck hunting community, as the seemingly mundane bit of public policy could have potentially set the stage for major losses of waterfowl habitat, production, and hunting.

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“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,” the agency said in an online post. “At this time, no further action is planned as we review the information received.”

On July 24, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service opened an unusually brief public comment period — 14 days — on how it calculates drain tile setbacks near federally protected wetland easements in the PPR. The agency did not propose changes. Rather, it essentially asked whether a rule codified in 2024 — and built on about six decades of policy — is working as intended.

Conservation groups immediately fought back against the review, cautioning that a move could pave the way for policies that weaken scientifically formulated buffer zones around those federally protected wetlands, robbing the areas of vital water. In late July, Delta Waterfowl, Ducks Unlimited, California Waterfowl, and the South Carolina Waterfowl Association sent a letter to the U.S. Department of the Interior and five Republican lawmakers asking them to uphold the conservation easements. Groups also mobilized hunters and conservationists to comment against potential changes. Outdoor Life reported that about 80% of the roughly 98,100 comments published by the USFWS supported existing drain tile rules.

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“Duck hunters have invested in this asset,” said John Devney, chief policy officer for Delta Waterfowl. “It’s protecting more than a third of the important breeding habitat wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region. It’s foundational to North American duck populations, and duck hunters need to have a voice in any action or decision that has an impact on these easements.”

Currently, there are more than 28,000 wetland easements covering about 1.5 million acres in the PPR. Most are in the eastern Dakotas. The government purchases the easements via money generated through federal duck stamp sales to ensure that specified wetlands are not drained, filled or otherwise changed. Most of the wetlands are smaller than 1 acre. The easements are perpetual. The PPR — which stretches through parts of Iowa, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Montana and Canada — has already lost about 80% of its historic wetland acreage.

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Drain tile complicates easement protections because pipe placed outside an easement boundary but too close to a wetland can redirect water, drying potholes. The 2024 rule framework essentially cemented longstanding wetland easement policy by establishing site-specific drain tile distance calculations based on soil, depth and hydrology. The rule includes a “safe harbor” for landowners, in which they’re generally immune from legal action even if the wetland is affected, provided they don’t later modify the system. Some landowners and politicians have argued that the buffers amount to uncompensated restrictions on the use of their surrounding property. Proponents, however, maintain that the framework works as intended for wetlands and neighboring property owners.