• Agriculture is the leading revenue-producing industry in North Dakota.
• Trees benefit the environment. North Dakota soil conservation districts planted 1,650,000 acres of trees in 1986 - 938,000 acres in 1996.
• Canadian farmers are allowed to do “slough consolidation” to improve their farming efficiency. Swampbuster denies this to US farmers. We compete in a global market.
• Swampbuster regulations devalue land whether a landowner is in the farm program or not. This is because a farm that stayed out of the farm program after 1985 and made drainage improvements can not be brought back in without restoring the previous “nuisance” condition or avoiding the planting of an agricultural commodity on the converted wetland acreage.
• ND has over 63 federal wildlife refuges and is adding additional acreage on an annual basis.
• ND has more than twice as many acres in wildlife refuges than any other state in the central flyway.
• Since 1970 the US Fish & Wildlife Service has increased its holding in this country by 244% while the US Park Service increased theirs by 212%.
• The inclusion of unrecognizable, cropped, paper wetlands (Type I) in Swampbuster has actually been counter productive as more wetlands and habitat have been burned, plowed, disced or cut than was ever done before the 1985 Farm Bill. Fewer field windbreaks have been planted for the same reason - snowbanks create or enlarge wetlands and the farmer then has no recourse.
• Single use lands tend to waste renewable natural resources.
• It has been estimated by various wildlife officials that 90-95% of all wildlife produced in North Dakota is raised on privately owned land.
• The cost of building and repairing roads has increased because of environmental regulations.
• We urge you to take the necessary steps to help us retain rights and privileges that have existed in this state for over 100 years and this nation for over 200 years. Your membership dollars enable us to continue our grassroots efforts in support of the Fifth Amendment and Private Property Rights.

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