Are farmers increasingly interested in the conservation aspects of their land?
We have a number of landowners who want to sell us an easement on grasslands, and less that want to sell an easement on wet areas that are cropped. When owners have already converted grassland to cropland, there is a stronger incentive to drain because the wetland interferes with activities like disking. But for wetlands in grazing land, there is virtually no incentive to remove the wetlands that in dry years provide forage and water for their cattle. Q: What percentage of the pothole region is ranched versus farmed? A: About 70 percent of prairie pothole portion of the Dakotas is cropland, and when you get over to Minnesota and Iowa, it’s probably 90 percent to 95 percent cropland. In the Dakotas we still retain somewhere between 50 percent and 80 percent of the wetlands. Q: What concerns do you have for those wetlands? A: One of the big concerns is the SWANCC decision. There was a wetland drained in Illinois—I believe it was a gravel pit. Someone filed a 404 violation of the Clean Wa
