Communication between the US government and rural land owners hasn’t always been the most smooth. Even with recent events, such as the Oregon, Mlaheur National Wildlife Refuge standoff, there has always been animosity towards the government prying in the private affairs of rural farmers and ranchers.

When I was working with the Bismarck USFWS office, the Habitat and Population Evaluation Team (HaPET) was in charge of surveying waterfowl populations on the Partners of Fish and Wildlife (PFW) dam program. This partnership program allowed government subsidies and help building dams to trap water on the landowners property to provide irrigation and water for grazing animals. Since the USFWS was able to provide this service, an agreement was made that these dams be accessible at any time to the government staff to come out and access the condition of the structure. The HaPET office used this agreement to conduct waterfowl surveys to see if the PFW dams were providing duck nesting habitat.

Before we even started the survey work, members of the HaPET office called each and every landowner to get their permission for us to come out on their land during a set time frame. I was in charge of calling many of the landowners. I was the voice of the USFWS to these people, and they were sensitive to government involvement. We were able to get 90% of the landowners to agree to a visit, some with stipulations and some without. During our survey period, I would call each landowner the morning that we would be out there. Most were reachable, some where not.

A lot of the times, they wanted us to check in at their house, if the land was close. I was able to meet many people directly and left a very positive vibe about what we were doing. Many invited me in for coffee and we would talk about any waterfowl they might have seen in the area. I really enjoyed those talks, and occasionally I would get one to ride along with me while I was doing the survey work.

There were some times where it didn’t go so smoothly, but in those cases, admit you are wrong and do anything and everything possible to change their attitude. We only lost one landowner permission during the two years I did this work. I think we did a heck of a job in a potentially dangerous situation.