In a bit of good news, lands enrolled under a federal easement are coming under more scrutiny to ensure that the terms of the easement protecting wetlands are being honored.
The 2014 Farm Bill consolidated all easement programs, including the Wetland Reserve Program, in the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP).
Landowners sign away their right to farm on the land typically for either 30 years or perpetuity, in return for annual payments. While the terms of an easement always include the right of inspection, the reality is most wetland easements are inspected, on average, once every 5 years.
The majority of easements meet the agreed upon conditions and don’t require a follow up visit. A 1981 study estimated that between .7% and 1.5% of wetland easements terms are violated annually. If violations occur, they are often a result of a change in land ownership, with the terms of the easement left unsaid or incomplete during a sale. More recent studies have found a similar level of violations, even if they have increased somewhat due to the high cost of commodities in recent years. Generally, if a violation is found, a restoration order is issued, and compliance is followed up on to ensure the violation is restored to its previous condition.
Despite the low level of violations, enforcement officers, few and far between, now have additional capabilities, including the now ubiquitous smartphone with National Wetland Inventory maps and other apps to determine which sites may require further review, and focus their limited time on these sites.
Enforcement is not always easy. There are always the outliers including the infamous Alvin Peterson, a retired North Dakota farmer who has fought the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for decades about perpetual easements his father signed in 1966, protecting prairie potholes on his property. In 2009, he was fined $10,000 and given a five-years probation - he had previously been charged three times with destroying government property.
The use of improved satellite and aerial photography has made the identification of wetland boundaries and detection of abnormalities easier. In the near future imagery will likely become much easier to collect in near real time with drones, allowing a wetland to be monitored seasonally, and from different angles, if needed. Lidar imaging is just now becoming a possibility on some larger commercial drones, even if the significant privacy issues they raise have yet to be fully addressed.
Sources and Additional Reading:
Wetland Easements and their enforcement in North Dakota
Wildlife officers step up wetland protection
ND Farmer defies government by defying Government