Water Ways
Trying to make the land productive for everything.
by Bill Mitzel
A
Agriculture and wildlife depend on each other. Well, perhaps wildlife depends on agriculture a little more.
At stake for wildlife is habitat, of course.
When the Conservation Reserve Program( CRP) was implemented in 1985, a new era of soil and wildlife conservation began. The success of the program was unique in that farmers were paid to idle sensitive land that would otherwise be susceptible to erosion. Early on, land was being enrolled in the program at a high rate, to the point some 3.5 million acres in each of the Dakotas were left unplowed. While farmers enjoyed the new-found habitat, so did hunters and conservationists.
Subsequently, everyone benefited. Especially wildlife. While CRP acreage has been cut by almost two-thirds since 1985, wetlands remain a point of controversy as always, but vitally necessary to hundreds of species of wildlife. Water can’ t be plowed. That’ s ok with some landowners, not ok with others. Wildlife is caught in
Wetlands... the lifeline of all wildlife the middle. As CRP acreage continues to dwindle, some officials predict the program will be reduced to about a half million acres in each of the Dakotas soon.
Working to Save Wetlands
Delta Waterfowl scientist, Dr. Chris Nicolai, wrestles with these issues daily, working to preserve vital wetlands in prairie land North Dakota that produces a
Spraying chemicals onto outlying areas of wetlands effects more than ducks. Rick Bohn photo.
Page 60, Dakota Country, September 2025 www. dakotacountrymagazine. com