An aerial view of a wetland easement in the Sand Lake Wetland Management District in north-central South Dakota, taken in 2010. Unlike other wetland easements, the USFWS considers the easements in question “minimally restrictive” to landowners. Devney says it’s essential to remember that USFWS wetland easements in the PPR were largely acquired with funds from duck stamp dollars. More than two-thirds of USFWS wetland easements in the PPR are on small (less than one acre) parcels, which can still be farmed when dry. USFWS purchased what would become the first WPA in South Dakota in 1959, and began to purchase wetland easements shortly after.