Comment from Ducks Unlimited
Ducks UnlimitedSupportAdvocacy
Summary: Ducks Unlimited supports maintaining the "No Impact" policy for drain tile setbacks to protect wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region. They argue that weakening these protections would cause irreversible damage to wildlife and water quality.
Ducks Unlimited strongly supports maintaining this long-standing "No Impact" policy while providing safe harbor protections for landowners operating under approved tile drainage plans. Weakening this rule would open the door to the gradual destruction of thousands of acres of protected wetlands, undermining decades of voluntary conservation efforts and causing irreversible damage to the Prairie Pothole Region—the "Duck Factory" of North America. Once these wetlands are lost, the wildlife, water quality, and public benefits they provide cannot simply be replaced. Congress and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must preserve the integrity of these easements and reject any changes that diminish their protection.