Hunters Cry Fowl Over Trump Review They Fear Could Hammer Duck Populations Nationwide

American duck hunters are revolting over a quiet Trump administration review they fear could put some of the nation’s most important duck breeding grounds at risk.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service opened a 14-day public review July 24 of a 2024 rule governing how close farmers can install underground drainage pipes, known as “drain tile,” to federally protected prairie wetlands. The administration has not proposed changing the rule, but is asking whether the current protections are working and whether they should be revised.

Duck hunters and major waterfowl conservation groups, including Ducks Unlimited and Delta Waterfowl, have spent the past two weeks urging the Trump administration to leave the protections in place — an unusual backlash from a constituency that skews rural and conservative.

The response has extended beyond conservation-group leadership. Hunting organizations have mobilized waterfowlers across the country to weigh in, and more than 10,000 public comments had been submitted to Fish and Wildlife by Aug. 5, according to Realtree.

The issue was a major topic among waterfowlers at Ducks Unlimited’s annual expo in Memphis, according to Outdoor Life. Parker Williams, communications director at Ducks Unlimited, said hunters were speaking with “one voice” in support of keeping the current protections.

“For decades, the dollars of duck hunters across America have been invested directly into conserving this critical breeding habitat in the Duck Factory,” Williams told the Daily Caller. “Rescinding this rule would impact every duck blind in America.”

The breeding ground Williams is referring to is the Prairie Pothole Region, which stretches across parts of Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.

The region is dotted with shallow depressions formed by ancient glaciers. Known as prairie potholes, they can dry out during dry periods and refill with snowmelt and spring rains — a cycle that also makes them especially sensitive to changes in how water moves through the surrounding land.

The scale is hard to overstate. Fish and Wildlife says the Prairie Pothole Region provides habitat for more than 60 percent of North America’s breeding waterfowl and produces roughly 50 percent to 75 percent of several major duck populations, including mallards, pintails, canvasbacks and blue-winged teal.

Despite their small size, the wetlands provide breeding ducks with food and young birds with cover from predators.

In other words, the Prairie Pothole Region is duck paradise — and a pretty good place to be a duck hunter, too.

Waterfowl hunting is a major economic engine for the region. Fish and Wildlife estimates the sport and its associated industries support roughly 30,000 jobs and generate nearly $1 billion in economic activity.

Much of that habitat would not be protected without “Duck Stamps.”

Waterfowl hunters over 16 are required to purchase a Federal Duck Stamp. The money doesn’t just fund a day in the blind — it helps protect the habitat that puts ducks there in the first place.

Since Congress expanded the Duck Stamp program in 1958, proceeds from stamp sales have helped the federal government protect prairie wetlands, including by purchasing conservation easements from willing landowners in the Prairie Pothole Region.

The easements are voluntary: landowners agree to protect designated wetlands while retaining ownership of the property. They can still farm or graze the land when the wetlands dry naturally, but cannot drain, fill or level the protected areas.

Hunters have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Duck Stamps over the decades, with 98 percent of the revenue going toward wetland habitat conservation. For waterfowlers, that investment protects both the birds and a hunting tradition passed down through generations.

Some farmers have embraced a “farm the best, conserve the rest” approach, selling less-productive acres into conservation easements while continuing to work their best land. For struggling operations, those sales have also provided a financial lifeline that can help keep a family farm intact for the next generation.

Modern “drain tile” complicated that longstanding arrangement.

Drain tile is a network of perforated pipes buried beneath farmland to carry excess water away from fields and keep crops from becoming waterlogged.

Conservation groups warn that drain tile can affect protected wetlands even when the pipes are installed outside the easement. By intercepting groundwater and runoff that would otherwise feed a prairie pothole, the system can leave the wetland with less water.

In 2024, Fish and Wildlife formalized a policy it had followed for roughly 60 years, requiring drain tile to stay a safe distance from protected wetlands. The setback could vary by property based on factors such as soil, terrain, water flow and the drainage system itself.

The rule also gave farmers legal protection: if their drain tile stayed within the approved setback and was not expanded or modified, they would not be held responsible if a protected wetland later lost water.

There is no formal proposal to change the rule. But hunters and conservation groups fear the review could lead Fish and Wildlife to weaken or eliminate the setback requirements, allowing drain tile closer to protected wetlands and increasing the risk that some could dry out permanently.

Delta Waterfowl, a nonprofit conservation group focused on ducks, wetlands and waterfowl hunting, says hunters should have a say in what happens next.

“These easements are duck hunters’ legacy asset, and hunters need to have a voice in the future of how the easement program is managed,” John Devney, the group’s chief policy officer, told the Caller.

Several Republican senators also raised similar concerns in a Wednesday letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

The senators warned the review could be a first step toward adopting a looser USDA standard that allows some wetland drainage when the effects are considered “minimal.”

“Such a change would fundamentally alter the purpose and protections of permanent [Fish and Wildlife] wetland easements,” the senators wrote.

“We respectfully urge you to maintain the scientific drain tile setback rule that’s been successful for more than 60 years,” the senators wrote, arguing the protections honor commitments to landowners and preserve waterfowl habitat.

The letter was signed by Republican Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy of Louisiana, Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, and Roger Marshall of Kansas.

But some farmers and landowners argue the federal government has gone too far.

North Dakota farmer and landowner Cody Peterson is suing Fish and Wildlife, arguing the agency has expanded its control beyond the terms of the original easement on his property.

In a recent Washington Post op-ed, Peterson wrote that Fish and Wildlife had “expanded the regulated farmland to include 40 percent of my property, covering areas that were not a part of the original [easement] agreement.”

Peterson said the rule prevents him from installing drainage improvements within 190 feet of prairie potholes, limiting where he can improve crop yields. He also argues the restrictions have complicated efforts to help a nearby town address persistent flooding because the proposed solution could affect the wetland easement.

“I’m a conservationist. I hunt ducks. I believe in protecting the land,” Peterson wrote. “I’m not trying to drain every wetland on my property. I just want to farm productively and help my community. But the federal government seems to believe the only acceptable path forward is for me to let them manage my land.”

Jeffrey McCoy, a senior attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation representing Peterson, said the rule has had significant consequences for his client.

“Conservation does not give the federal government permission to rewrite a 60-year-old easement and claim control over far more of his family farm than the agreement allows,” McCoy told the Caller. “The original agreement adequately protects waterfowl habitat while ensuring that farmers can use their land.”

McCoy said the rule could prevent Peterson from farming roughly 40 percent of his property and interfere with efforts to address flooding in a nearby community. He said Peterson is not seeking to disregard the easement, but wants the government to enforce the agreement as originally written, including its protections for normal farming practices.

Hunters argue the consequences would extend far beyond the Prairie Pothole Region. Ducks hatched in the northern prairies migrate south through major flyways, eventually filling marshes and hunting blinds in southern states.

A Republican consultant and avid waterfowl hunter who requested anonymity to speak freely about the regulatory review said that connection is precisely why the review matters nationally.

“It doesn’t just affect farmers and hunters in North Dakota or Minnesota,” the consultant told the Daily Caller. “It affects the guys in a blind in Arkansas or Louisiana who are counting on birds that were hatched five states away. This is a billion-dollar sportsmen’s economy on the line over a rule nobody asked to change.”

“What makes this interesting politically is that it doesn’t split along the usual lines,” the consultant added. “Duck hunters and conservation groups skew rural and often conservative, and they’re the ones sounding the alarm — not the groups you’d expect to be at odds with this administration.”

Asked about the concerns raised by hunters, conservation groups and lawmakers, Fish and Wildlife referred the Daily Caller to the information contained in its RFI. The U.S. Department of Agriculture referred questions about the issue back to Fish and Wildlife.

“America’s sportsmen have made themselves loud and clear on this issue. Now we’ll see if anyone listens,” Williams said.