There is hope to save/repair wetlands

[Mark Christianson]

Hopefully that subject catches some eyes.

There is a lot of talk on forums and publications about habitat and loss of it.

Not many people realize it, but the USFWS has a couple programs that address this issue head-on.

Wetland Easement Program

This program is for private land owners who have wetlands, and they want to protect them indefinitely.

The WEP is a program that offers a one time payment for lands that are described as wetlands basically.

An appraiser comes out, and issues an appraisal for the wetlands to the owner. The land owner gets a one time payment for those acres to enroll in WEP.

The stipulation is that you cannot burn, fill, drain or level any of the property in the program. You can however, use normal farming practices on that land. For instance, you can still have the land in pasture area, or if the wetland drains naturally, you can farm it. But when the waters come back, you can do nothing to stop the natural return to its original state.

AND, this does not in any way, force the landowner to open the land to public hunting/trapping. You still own all the land. This ensures that nobody down the road can buy the land and drain it. It goes on the property description, and those wetlands are saved indefinitely.

Also, if you have a piece of property that has been drained, tiled, ditched, etc; you can also get some help from the USFWS to fix that land up at no charge. They bring out the heavy equipment and do whatever is needed to bring that land, back to a wetland.

I see a lot of negative talk about our losses, and continued losses, but there are avenues to save some of it, and its a matter of people knowing that there is help out there.

Does the above measures cure all our duck woes? No, but it sure does not hurt them. There is obviously more work needed, but lets use the options we have and save a few wetlands. Its a mountain to climb for sure.

Just thought I would try to put some positive vibes into the waterfowl arena.

Let me know if you have ANY questions. I can get the answers.

[Mark Christianson]

Nobody owns land or knows anyone that owns land that might be interested in this??

[dkhntr]

Wish I did.

[fishinphilth]

My dad, brother and I are in the process of purchasing 120 acres. I would say 70 arces of it is wetland. But there is no ponds on it. I was wondering if there are programs to convert some of the wetlands into actual ponds. The ponds would not be more than 2 arces a piece.

[PikeTipper]

Programs like this are great but how much money is going to landowners that wouldn't have done anything to their ponds anyway? I realize we need to keep the wetlands we do have but it gets old seeing a new WPA being dedicated and all of the land was already great habitat for wildlife, just owned privately.

It would be nice to see a plowed field purchased and turned into good habitat some time.

[Mark Christianson]

Pike

You are correct, but this locks that land forever.

Who is to say that a guy that owns it today, isnt going to sell it tomorrow to a guy that wants it drained? This program will not allow anyone to ever drain, fill, level or burn those enrolled acres.

Gotta start locking up what we have now.

And yes, getting some reclaimed wetlands is needed too.

The USFWS has a program where they will come out and reclaim wetlands that have been drained. Free of charge.

We had them bring a dozer to our land, and they filled a ditch, and built an earthen dam to hold water in another spot.

Not a single penny out of our pocket.

Guys,

There is help available, so we need to slow the cries for help and spend some of that time looking at the things that are offered to us today. I am not saying we do not need more help, but I think a lot of people are crying wolf without realizing there is help just out there waiting for you to call.

[PikeTipper]

Does the USFWS look at the wetland to see how much value it has? Some of the lands that have been put into a WPA are minnow filled, muck bottom swamps that are in desperate need of draining to try and freeze out fish and stimulate some weed growth.

Don't get me wrong this program is great and very important but I would also like to see some programs that encourage farmers to plug up their drain tile. In a dry year they could go ahead and farm the low spots but maybe give them a bump for lost potential in those areas if it is flooded for the season. Maybe these exist and I just haven't heard about them.

Just venting after a frustrating waterfowl season in Minnesota. Makes it even tougher to swallow when you go over to the Dakotas and see the birds they have.

[Mark Christianson]

The USFWS appraises it. I honestly don't know what criteria they use.

I can say that we had 20 acres or so that is going in this, and I can say the appraisal was in the thousands....Several thousands....

I hear ya Pike. It is frustrating to not see birds like not too many years ago. This post wont make a big dent in you or myself seeing more birds, but it sure beats just watching empty skies. I gotta try something. If we don't make some positive efforts to try and change what we can, I don't think we are justified to complain. We are all in this together. Its not going to do any good to sit and wait for someone else to make positive changes.

[Mark Christianson]

It is pretty obvious that I should change the title of this topic to "There is little hope to save/repair wetlands".

With all the emotion and negative duck reports, I really thought this might catch some eyes and attention.

If you hunt private lands, which I know a lot of people do, see if the landowner is aware of this program to save wetlands. Its a win/win.

If you do not spend a little effort to help improve your hunting future instead of just complaining, you have little rights to b*tch about the lack of game.

[doser]

Anyone read Dennis Anderson's article in Sun. Star Trib. and the march to the Capitol. Sounds like a great idea. You can count me in on the march to the Capitol.