Today is the final day to lend your voice in opposition to what is a quiet but high-stakes federal review that could very well reshape the future of North America’s most important duck-producing landscape.
In what’s known officially as the Prairie Pothole Region, the “Duck Factory” produces more than half of our continent’s wild ducks in its shallow glacial potholes scattered across the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, Montana, and into Canada. Serving as the engine behind those fall flights that fill North America’s flyways, this area has long been protected by hunters and conservationists through permanent wetland easements paid for primarily through Duck Stamp dollars.
As was announced in late July, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service is now taking a fresh look at the rules that keep those very wetlands from being drained by nearby agricultural drain tile. The current rules require science-based, site-specific setbacks so the tile doesn’t drop the water table enough to kill the wetland. Now it looks as though the agency is moving toward rewriting or withdrawing the 2024 rule that codified the “no-impact” standard.
PPR boundaries | Prairie Pothole Joint Venture
Ducks Unlimited along with a number of other conservation groups warn that loosening those standards could allow deeper or closer tile that drops the water table enough to eliminate shallow potholes (some of which are less than a foot deep), which, of course, is habitat that hunters already paid to conserve.
Since the announcement, DU and many others have been vocal in urging the Service to keep the current “no impact” standard in place, arguing that the 2024 rule already gives landowners a clear process and safe-harbor protections while honoring the permanent conservation agreements the public funded. Weakening it, they say, risks undoing decades of investment at a time when waterfowl face other pressures.
In what sounds like yet another blatant attempt to pretend that the trade-off is complicated, let’s not be fooled. These areas were damn near entirely funded by hunters with permanent conservation in mind. And when the government accepted the money, they entered an agreement to keep them wet, and doing anything other than that represents a breach of trust.
This is not abstract policy. Fewer functional wetlands in the PPR mean fewer ducks migrating south, which inevitably affects seasons, bag limits, and the long-term health of the resource across every flyway.
The ball is (for now) in our court. The public comment window closes tonight at 11:59 p.m. Eastern.
How to Comment (Today Only)
1. Submit an official public comment to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
This is the most important step. Personalized comments carry more weight than form letters.
Direct comment portal (search docket FWS-HQ-NWRS-2026-2641 if needed): https://www.regulations.gov/document/FWS-HQ-NWRS-2026-2641-0001
Comments must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern on August 7, 2026.
2. Sign the Ducks Unlimited petition
Quick and straightforward: https://www.ducks.org/save-the-duck-factory
(Direct petition link: https://ducks.quorum.us/campaign/duckfactory/)
When you comment, be specific. Mention that these are permanent easements hunters already paid for, that the Prairie Pothole Region remains the primary production ground for North American ducks, and that the current science-based setbacks should be retained to prevent drainage of protected wetlands.
