The Associate Chief of the NRCS participated in Wednesday’s public forum on wetland issues in Aberdeen . Tom Christensen says he heard many useful suggestions for changes in wetland rules and determinations that will help his staff address the backlogs in South Dakota and throughout the Prairie Pothole Region.

He says the other concern he heard from farmers was the inaccuracies of the science used to make the determination , especially since northeast South Dakota has dealt with excessive water for the last 20 years.

Christensen says as a result of the meeting he will also look at extending the comment period on appeals from current 30 days, to 60 or 90 days.