N.D. landowners with flowage easements to receive letters on property use requirements

OMAHA, NE - Many landowners with properties that are adjacent to Lake Sakakawea and along the Missouri and Little Muddy Rivers are being sent letters notifying them that their property falls under a flowage easement with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District. The Corps has acquired numerous flowage easements in this area. If a property falls under a flowage easement, the land owner must obtain consent from the Corps prior to excavation, fill or construction on those lands.

Flowage easements allow the Government to flood and saturate the land, surface and subsurface of these properties. Although the landowners retained some rights to continued use of the property, these rights are limited. The easements prohibit the construction of structures for human habitation; provide that any other structures require written approval by the Corps; and provide that no mineral exploration, excavation or placement of fill material may occur on the easement area without the prior approval of the Corps.

Flowage easements have been acquired along the Missouri River beginning near the confluence of the Yellowstone River, in the Buford-Trenton bottoms area and continuing to the Highway 85 Bridge.  Along the Little Muddy River, scattered flowage easements have been obtained from the mouth of the Little Muddy River to 1.5 Miles North of Highway 6 (57^th St NW). While much of the land surrounding Lake Sakakawea is owned by the federal government and managed by the Corps, there are flowage easements in this area, too. 

Because of the increased property development in and surrounding the Williston area, the Corps has increasing concerns for public safety related to development within flowage easements. The impacts of development may include, placing occupants of habitable structures at risk of flooding as the easement is for the purpose of accommodating interior drainage to the river; damaging or compromising the levee system which reduces flooding risks for the area; and impeding the flow of runoff from snowmelt or rainfall into the Missouri River system.

Landowners adjacent to Lake Sakakawea or along the Missouri and Little Muddy Rivers are encouraged to contact Tim Kolke, in the Omaha District, Real Estate Division at 701-654-7752 to determine if there is a flowage easement that applies to their land. Questions can also be answered concerning the acceptable use of their property, the use’s potential impacts to a flowage easement, or to request approval prior to excavation, fill or construction of any structures.