To safeguard farmers, ranchers and landowners from bureaucratic overreach, U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) recently proposed legislation that would reform programs at the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).
The NRCS Wetland Compliance and Appeals Reform Act, S. 1078, which has two original cosponsors, including U.S. Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND), also aims to empower producers to continue protecting their land as they see fit, according to a bill summary provided by Sen. Rounds’ staff.
“South Dakota’s farmers, ranchers and landowners know their land better than anyone else,” Sen. Rounds said on April 3. “They are conservationists by nature and want their land to be productive for future generations. They don’t need the heavy hand of government interfering with their ability to manage the land they live and work on.”
If enacted, S. 1078 would prohibit the NRCS from entering into permanent easement agreements, only allowing termed easements, and would make certain compliance penalties for newly determined wetlands to only be prospective, the summary says.
Additionally, the measure would place the burden of proof on the NRCS to prove a violation, rather than placing the burden on the farmer/landowner to prove innocence, and would prohibit the NRCS from changing rationales for wetland determinations.
“For years, we have worked with South Dakotans who are facing arbitrary, punitive penalties by the NRCS,” said Sen. Rounds said. “In South Dakota, we know that the NRCS has made unfounded wetland determinations and levied large and unfair monetary fines where the landowner has little or no recourse.
“The reforms I have introduced modify some of the NRCS’ compliance rules in a manner that works for landowners, gives farmers and ranchers more control over their land and removes unnecessary, and often unfair, barriers and penalties,” he added.
Additionally, S. 1078 would require the NRCS to go through a notice and comment rulemaking for conservation compliance; require the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to develop an appeals process for redetermination requests that are not accepted by state NRCS offices; and require the USDA to establish state oversight committees for each state to oversee the appeals of wetland determinations within each state, according to the summary.
“The NRCS was created to work with farmers and ranchers to help them improve, protect and conserve their land and natural resources,” Sen. Daines said. “Over time, it has veered far from that core mission, morphing into an overreaching, overbearing agency that makes heavy-handed decisions about South Dakota producers’ land using questionable methods and rationale.”
Landowners in his home state and across the country, he said, increasingly battle the NRCS on wetland determinations. “Farmers and ranchers already have to battle the wind, rain, snow and sun; they shouldn’t have to battle the government, too,” said the senator.
S. 1078, which also would update the NRCS’ appeals process, is supported by the American Farm Bureau Federation and the South Dakota Farmers Union.