Farmers Accuse Gov’t Of ‘Overstepping’ Their Property Rights In Rural Battle Over Trump’s Nominations

Farmers in North Dakota said a federal rule put in place by former President Joe Biden’s administration violates their property rights and has caused them to suffer financially as Republican North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer threatened to hold President Donald Trump’s nominations over the rule.

Farmers impacted by the policy say the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) policy prevents them from installing underground agricultural drainage tiles near protected federal easements, arguing it interferes with their property rights and causes them financial harm. The Trump administration backed out of its initial plans to rescind the policy on behalf of farmers, prompting Cramer’s plan to withhold “any and all” of Trump’s nominations until the administration agrees to change it.

Some impacted by the policy told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the FWS was “overstepping” its boundaries and was unwilling to compromise with struggling farmers. Conservation groups and hunters argued that the policy protects birds habitats.

Steve Hansen, a farmer from Oakes, North Dakota, told the DCNF that easements make it difficult for him and other farmers to grow food and argued they hurt the wildlife population.

“What happens is when water ponds, if not managed properly, then what it does is it pushes the salt out of the soil and up to the surface, and it kills. The salt will kill everything, nothing grows there,” Hansen said. “The setbacks are we’re supposed to stay back when it comes to managing these wetlands. They won’t allow us to do it. We’ve offered to move these wetlands. Let’s move them to different areas where we can manage it better and after a certain time, we can hay some stuff off after the primary nesting period.”

“It negatively impacts me because now I can’t produce food for the country on my land because it’s so tied up as salt because of their setback rules,” Hansen continued. “And by the way, if there happens to be any ducks nesting anywhere around or anything, we’ll tend to till right through that or plant through it. We’re providing a solution. They just don’t want to hear it.”

Since the 1970s, the FWS has purchased hundreds of thousands of acres of easements in the Midwest to conserve the region’s Prairie Pothole wetlands and protect waterfowl habitats, according to E&E News. In 2024, former President Joe Biden’s administration finalized a rule to ensure that farmers did not interfere with protected wetlands while draining soil.

The FWS initially planned to reduce farming restrictions after farmers argued the policy put a lot of farmland out of production, according to E&E News. The agency paused the Biden-era rule after tens of thousands of duck hunters, conservation groups and some lawmakers urged the administration to keep the existing rule in place to protect waterbird habitats.

Drain tile is a network of perforated pipes buried beneath farmland to carry excess water away from fields and keep crops from becoming waterlogged. North Dakota is located in the “Prairie Pothole” of the Upper Midwest, which are soil depressions formed by a glacial melt.

Hansen added that the easements are costing taxpayers money, hurting the waterfowl habitats and “overstepping” in farmers’ operations.

“So, do I think they’re overstepping? They are,” Hansen continued. “They took advantage of a farmer when they were in financial peril and now it’s just like they’re just stepping on top of them again. They’re not willing to look at this.”

Hansen stated if the policy is not changed, everyone will suffer the consequences.

“It’ll mean less money in farmers’ pockets, it’ll be more money out of taxpayers’ pockets, while nobody likes to hear,” he said.

Drew Courtney, another farmer from Oakes, North Dakota, arguedthat the rule offers no respect for private property rights and forces them to “watch land go backward.”

“The fundamental issue is regulatory overreach. These rigid setbacks effectively force federal control onto unencumbered private land that was never part of any original easement agreement. Farmers are simply asking for common ground—a reasonable, predictable setback standard that respects private property rights while allowing us to manage our fields,” Drew Courtney told the DCNF.

“Without reasonable drain tile management, we are forced to watch our land go backward. Moisture control is vital for soil health,” Courtney continued. “When we cannot properly manage water, subsoil salts rise to the surface, creating degraded, barren salt alkali spots. These saline areas do not produce crops and do not help wildlife; they leave behind unusable ground that serves no one.”

FWS did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment. The agency said it is “dedicated” to protecting wildlife and landowners’ property rights.

“Our administration is dedicated to protecting both the wetland easements purchased by the FWS that are necessary to protect our conservation heritage as well as the private landowners’ use of their lands outside the easement boundaries. At this time, no further action is planned as we review the information received,” FWS said on X.

North Dakota farmer Cody Peterson told the AG Web Farm Journal that he and many other farmers were financially struggling because of the rules.

“It’s federal abuse and it’s at an all-time high,” Peterson said. “Government officials have no sense of reason when it comes to farmland. They use a wedge on a small piece of land and then take control of everything you have. I’m just one guy, but there are thousands of irate farmers like me with the same bureaucratic problems on their land. We’re steadily losing money and struggling while FWS comes up with more ridiculous rules. We’re sick of Washington, D.C.”

Peterson, who grows corn and soybeans, obtained a map from FWS identifying 21 prairie potholes within a 140-acre field subject to an FWS conservation easement signed in 1963 by a previous owner, according to AG Web. Peterson said the rule “knocked out” up to 60 to 70 acres of his field.

“I love to hunt and fish, and I love being in nature, but I’ve got to make a living and work my farmland with common sense,” Peterson continued. “That’s all me and the other landowners around have asked for. But that’s the core of the problem, as I see it: Common sense is at a zero-level with our government officials.”

Northland Township, North Dakota, Supervisor Mike Thoreson said he cut a ditch and drained several feet of high water after a snowmelt flood so residents could use a road, though the FWS told him he had to fill it in or face penalties, according to AG Web.

“No way was I backing down,” Thoreson said. “We were protecting our citizens’ access to emergency services. What if that was your family? I didn’t care how much FWS fined us. I was beyond pissed and ready for a legal fight.”

Thoreson said the draining gave them a road again after the flooding covered it, according to AG Web. Jeff McCoy, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, reached an agreement with FWS that if a portion of the drainage work were removed, Northland Township would be allowed to lower water to ensure their street is passable.

Ducks Unlimited, a pro-conservation group, said the policy helps “safeguard some of North America’s most important waterfowl habitat.”

Parker Williams, communications director at Ducks Unlimited, told the Daily Caller that 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.”

Hunters argued that allowing agricultural drainage pipes too close to wetlands would dry out prairie habitats, destroy millions of dollars in hunter-funded conservation investments and harm waterfowl populations, according to Ducks Unlimited and Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.

“When installed too close to a protected wetland, however, they can also pull water out of that wetland and reduce its value for waterfowl and other wildlife,” BHA said. “To prevent this, the Fish and Wildlife Service establishes minimum distances—known as setbacks—between new drain tile and protected wetlands. These protections are particularly important given that more than half of the nation’s historic lower 48 wetland waterfowl habitats have already been since America’s founding.”

“BHA believes any changes should protect both the conservation value of these wetlands and the investments sportsmen and women have made in them,” the statement continued. “For decades, hunters have helped finance these voluntary easements through the Federal Duck Stamp, with Duck Stamp revenues helping permanently protect millions of acres of wetlands and grasslands in the Prairie Pothole Region.”

Ellingson Drainage, a firm serving Prairie Pothole farmers, sued over the 2024 rule, claiming it reduced installable areas and imposed a strict “no effect” standard. A federal court dismissed the case in 2025 for lack of standing.

Cramer expressed frustration with the FWS’ decision to keep the current protection in place, arguing it impedes landowner and private property rights.

“Frankly, I am stunned,” Cramer said in a statement obtained by the DCNF. “The blind defense of a Biden rule favored by environmental extremists at the expense of farmers confounds me, particularly at a time when our ag producers are hurting so badly. Rising fuel and fertilizer costs resulting from limited traffic in the Strait of Hormuz along with lost international markets have put farmers on their heels. Now they can’t even count on the administration to defend them against radical environmental activists who are advocating for the feds to take more of their land.”

Some Republican and Democrat lawmakers celebrated the administration’s move, including Republican Arkansas Rep. Steve Womack.

“Thank you to Secretary Burgum for listening to our concerns—and those of countless Arkansans who value conservation,” Womack said on X.

Cramer’s hold could delay the White House’s effort to install Project 2025 author Dennis Kirk as the next inspector general at the Interior Department and others nominated to serve at the Health and Human Services Department and the National Science Foundation, according to E&E News.

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