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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) highlighted the recent Director’s Order on Waterfowl Production Area (WPA) Easements during a committee oversight hearing this week. Senator Cramer – who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife – sought clarification on the process of implementing the order, the expected timeline, the newly-established appeals process, and the future release of these maps from Robert Wallace, the U.S. Department of Interior Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife, and Parks who oversees U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).
“The enforcement of these pre-1976 WPAs has been a confusing, longstanding issue for our landowners, oftentimes resulting in both unnecessary and zealous enforcement measures. More to the point, the federal footprint in these WPAs only grows with time, even though these are very specific purchased acres in these pre-1976 easements. This often results in what I would call a regulatory taking or a land grab,” said Senator Cramer. “Could you explain why it is important we do this at all, and why it’s important to update these maps?”
“A lot of those pre-1976 WPAs did not have complete maps, leading to disagreement being handed down from generation to generation,” answered Assistant Secretary Wallace. “So [efforts to send new maps, establish an appeals process, and fix how FWS approaches landowners] are already under way, and we’re now looking at tile setback regulation.”
“That’s a lot of good news,” concluded Senator Cramer.
The Director’s Order – which came as the direct result of Interior Secretary David Bernhardt’s visit to Hope, North Dakota, last October for a landowners’ roundtable on WPA Easements with Senators Cramer and John Hoeven – is a serious issue for many North Dakotans. The order promises new maps overlaid on aerial imagery, detailing the boundaries and acreage of its easements to landowners, and provides the first-ever administrative appeals process for landowners who have FWS easements pre-dating 1976 on their property.
During the hearing, Senator Cramer submitted into the record a Letter to the Editor he wrote for the Minot Daily News this week, which outlines the process for North Dakotans whose land falls under this qualification.
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