My family farm has prairie potholes. In swooped the feds.

The Washington Post ^ | July 29, 2026 7:00 a.m. EDT | Cody Peterson

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Cody Peterson is a farmer and property owner in North Dakota.

My family has been farming in North Dakota for generations. Like most farmers, we have lived and worked through droughts, floods and price swings that would make a Wall Street trader’s head spin.

Now the government is adding an obstacle that threatens my ability to work my land. In the 1960s, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service came to landowners across the Midwest, including the farmer who previously owned my land, with a deal. The government wanted an easement on part of the property to protect wetlands that provide habitats for ducks and other waterfowl. The agency did not offer much money. It paid about $630 for rights across roughly 328 acres of land I now own. The easement document explicitly states that farmers could continue “normal farming practices.”

Farmers across the northern Great Plains signed these deals. In North Dakota, the government claimed easements on 1.5 million acres of privately owned land. It made sense at the time: Landowners got some money for land that they couldn’t farm effectively, and the government got to protect wetlands for waterfowl. It was as simple as a handshake deal between neighbors — except one neighbor was the federal government.

When my family bought farmland in LaMoure County‚ the property had one of these easements on it. If the government had stuck to the agreement, the easement would not have been a big obstacle to our land management practices.

But in 2024, the Fish and Wildlife Service reinterpreted the scope of the wetland easements and updated the restrictions applied to prairie potholes. Prairie potholes are shallow depressions created by glacial runoff thousands of years ago. Water can accumulate in these holes, leaving some wet for large parts of the year. To the government,...

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TOPICS: Outdoors
KEYWORDS:

[E. Pluribus Unum]

But in 2024, the Fish and Wildlife Service reinterpreted the scope of the wetland easements and updated the restrictions applied to prairie potholes.

We're from the government, and we are here to help.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

We get letters from state and federal government every year connected to our land, which is farmland and woodland on a fishable river. They will pay us if we just allow them to fill in the blank. It is just a small thing, a trifle they assure us. Will not change anything for you at all.

They lie about other things too.

[Kozak]

Sounds like the “Vernal Pools” near Sacramento.
In the Midwest we called them “puddles”.
But in California protected habitat for fresh water shrimp.
God help you if you had them on your property…

[Wallace T.]

I hit a paywall when I tried to read the remainder of the article. The question arises, as we are into the second year of the second Trump Administration. Has the Fish and Wildlife Service backed off from its 2024 position, which was of course under Biden?

[Lockbox]

One sided "reinterpreted the scope of the wetland easements and updated the restrictions applied to prairie potholes". No negotiation. And of course that side controls the courts where this would be adjudicated.

Excuse me I need to go and tell the IRS that MY TAX RATE changed.......

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Go to the top of my homepage and follow the instructions: https://freerepublic.com/~epluribusunum/index

[Zuriel]

That looks like ground that has been strip mined decades ago, and since only useful for pasture.

[Carry_Okie]

But in 2024, the Fish and Wildlife Service reinterpreted the scope of the wetland easements and updated the restrictions applied to prairie potholes.

They are not entitled to do that but use their legal heft to push it anyway to see if they can get away with establishing a prescriptive easement.

Somebody should go to jail for this kind of behavior.

[DIRTYSECRET]

I thought this was about shooting p-dogs.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

That looks like ground that has been strip mined decades ago, and since only useful for pasture.

Except that's not what it is.

[Deaf Smith]

“the Fish and Wildlife Service reinterpreted the scope of the wetlands easement”

Is that the federal agency acting under the scope of Chevron Deference?

[Az Joe]

Bump

[PGR88]

Governments are not people.

They have no morals, they have no memory. They feel no connection of community, history, or kinship. Their political operators bear no responsibility.

NEVER trust them

[dayglored]

Hey E. Does that paywall extension work on the Firefox iPhone app version?

[moviefan8]

https://archive.is/oTX4g

[yesthatjallen]

"Water can accumulate in these holes, leaving some wet for large parts of the year. To the government,..."

It cuts off at the reason. What if the government's reason for changing the contract?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

We are limited to 300 word excerpts.

"To the government, any activity that affected prairie potholes was a violation of the easement. Not just big, destructive drainage. Not just reckless projects that flood fields or destroy habitat. Any attempt to manage my land that affected the potholes was off-limits, with a violation potentially resulting in up to a year in jail and tens of thousands of dollars in fines."

Go to the top of my homepage and follow the instructions: https://freerepublic.com/~epluribusunum/index

[Red Badger]

[sauropod]

Bkmk