At a hearing last week before the Senate Agriculture Committee, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., questioned the head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service about the progress clearing the backlog of undetermined wetlands in South Dakota.
Thune also reminded Jason Weller, the NRCS chief, of USDA's responsibility to protect farmers from the potentially harmful Environmental Protection Agency proposed "waters of the U.S." rule.
"Eastern South Dakota is ground zero in the Prairie Pothole Region, and farmers in this area of the state, especially northeastern South Dakota, have been challenged by flooding off and on over the past several years," Thune said at the hearing. "Many of these farmers, in order to better manage their land and to ensure they meet conservation compliance provisions of the 2014 Farm Bill, have requested wetlands determinations from NRCS."
Thune also told Weller that the wetlands backlog is a lingering problem that has created great consternation among producers in the area.
