I had a chance meeting with the staff person in charge of agriculture for one of our elected Washington officials. He told me our local USFWS employee was in Washington, DC recently asking for money to do wetland mapping to put USFWS in compliance with the Johansen victory. (USFWS must identify the acres of wetlands contained in the easement summaries that accompany each wetland easement and provide maps of wetlands that correspond to the date the easements were signed.) Our county alone would cost $1 million. (A fantastic figure in my opinion.) Ducks Unlimited was also asking for money to purchase perpetual conservation easements on grasslands in Western ND.

I asked the staff person a number of questions, including: How come so many landowners are forced into bankruptcy proving themselves innocent against the Federal government? How come USFWS has money to purchase land and easements but not to pay taxes or to properly administer what they own? Why doesn't Congress rein in these non-government organizations who make life miserable for the citizens of the state? (At least 6 of my neighbors are currently dealing with USFWS on supposed infractions.)

He replied that only a small number of easements cause problems each year and that the Federal government is a pretty large adversary. I asked "Who is in charge, Congress or the system?" to which he offered no reply.

I saw a news article of interest. The first was in our local newspaper and titled "ATV ban plan is slowed." After heavy public response, the Forest Service proposal to ban cross country vehicles from 15.9 million acres of Federal property in the Dakotas and Montana has been delayed. This was considered a “slam dunk” by the Forest Service, but people got involved. They wrote letters and made phone calls until the Forest Service was forced to reconsider their action. It isn’t over, but now there’s time to mobilize opposition.

Thank you to all those who have generously responded to our fundraiser. Keep up the good work.