Fall means a spike in interest from hunters, and it could add revenue for landowners in the High Plains region.
Jared Wiklund, director of communications for Pheasants Forever Inc. and Quail Forever, St. Paul, Minnesota, said Walk-In Hunting programs are available in 27 states, and about 30 million acres of hunting lands are accessible on private land and leased public land.
“If you asked hunters across the country about their states’ program for offering public access to private lands, you would likely get a wide range of answers,” Wiklund said. (The photo above is courtesy of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever.)
They might be familiar with Kansas’ Walk-In Hunting Access, North Dakota’s Private Land Open To Sportsmen, Missouri’s Outdoor Recreational Access Program or another similarly named program, he said. “Behind many of these hugely successful and effective programs is yet another acronym, one you may not see on roadside signs: the Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program.”
Private land enrolled in public access programs includes Montana, 6.9 million acres; Wyoming, 3.1 million acres; South Dakota, 1.4 million acres; Kansas, 1.1 million acres; Texas, 1 million acres; Nebraska, 380,000 acres; Colorado, 249,000 acres; Oklahoma, 94,000 acres; New Mexico, 47,000 acres; Iowa, 32,000 acres; Minnesota, 27,000 acres; Missouri, 13,000 acres; and Arkansas, 6,000 acres.
Authorized and funded through the federal farm bill and administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, VPA-HIP may not be as known as other hunter-friendly programs like the Conservation Reserve Program, but VPA-HIP has made an impact on increasing private lands open to hunting and fishing nationwide, Wiklund said.
It does this by offering competitive grants to state and tribal agencies, which in turn support and incentivize landowners to voluntarily open their farms and ranches for public hunting, fishing and trapping, while upholding private property rights, he said. In many states, VPA-HIP builds on the success of CRP and other farm bill programs by targeting lands already enrolled in habitat programs and incentivizing landowners to allow walk-in hunting.
“Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are huge proponents of the Voluntary Public Access-Habitat Incentive Program due to its positive impact on hunting access, rural economics and wildlife habitat throughout the nation,” Wiklund said.
In 2022, Americans spent $394 billion participating in hunting, fishing and wildlife-dependent recreation, and VPA-HIP funding helps supports small businesses and rural communities across America, including in regions dominated by private lands.
A recent study commissioned by the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies showed that in 2021 alone, VPA-HIP generated more than $8 for every $1 of federal funding invested.
Taking access one step further, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have developed the Public Access to Habitat program to help further incentivize landowners to enroll private property in public access. The organization has South Dakota PATH, as well as the Nebraska Community Access Partnership, which have implemented an additional 65,000 acres of access across two states.
Using South Dakota PATH, a 160-acre CRP/WIA could net a landowner $36,000 for public access over 10 years, and he can continue to receive his annual CRP payments. In another example, 2,000 acres in the Working Lands with Habitat program, can generate a landowner $22,000 for granting public access.
In the Nebraska example, for allowing access on 100 acres of CRP in Keith County, the landowner receives $1,000 a year, up to $7,500 over the life of the OFW contract. In a rangeland example, if a landowner offers 2,000 acres in Arthur County, he could receive a total of $40,000 over the five years of the contract.
The farm bill is the single largest source of conservation funding for private lands in the United States, providing billions of dollars impacting hundreds of millions of acres. Farm bill conservation programs create and enhance habitat—and even provide public hunting access—on private lands. These accomplishments are possible through voluntary, incentive-based programs that help farmers, ranchers and landowners conserve and improve their land.
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever volunteers, members, staff and partners work hand-in-hand with America’s farmers, ranchers and forest landowners to implement conservation and wildlife habitat projects as part of their agricultural operations.
Successful programs
CRP is one of the nation’s longest standing and most successful private lands conservation programs, Wiklund said. CRP offers farmers, ranchers and landowners an annual rental payment, cost-share and other incentives to establish conservation cover on marginal and highly erodible cropland and other environmentally sensitive lands.
In 2007, peak CRP enrollment levels in South Dakota coincided with recent highs in pheasant abundance, with an estimated population of 11.9 million birds. The Environmental Quality Incentives Program is the largest “working lands” program in the farm bill and provides financial and technical assistance to producers to install and implement conservation practices on active cropland, rangeland and forestland.
The Agricultural Conservation Easement Program helps to restore and protect grasslands, wetlands and working farms and ranches through voluntary conservation easements held by either USDA or other entities. These conservation easements are an important tool for keeping sagebrush rangeland intact, as well as for restoring and enhancing wetlands and associated upland habitats.
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever farm bill biologists are specialized consultants in conservation programs and habitat planning, Wiklund said. The biologists assist landowners in designing, developing and funding habitat improvements on private lands.
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever biologists possess the knowledge of federal, state and local programs to assist landowners in finding the right program to meet their personal habitat and land use goals, he added. Through a unique partnership, farm bill biologists are located in local USDA service centers in priority habitat areas throughout the pheasant and quail range. For more information, visit https://pheasantsforever.org/Habitat/findBiologist.aspx.
Protections in place
Every state has enacted a law giving liability protection to landowners who allow the public to enter their land for recreational purposes. They vary in size and scope, Wiklund said. A few examples include:
- Minnesota’s Recreational Use Statute provides landowners with broad liability protection so the public can access and make recreational use of natural resources on private property.
- In Nebraska, Open Fields and Waters is a voluntary program that offers financial incentives to landowners willing to allow public walk-in access for hunting, trapping and/or fishing. Landowners who enroll in OFW are afforded protection from liability through the Nebraska Recreation Liability Act.
- In Kansas, state law provides that private individuals who lease their land to the state for recreational purposes are immune from damages or injuries that result from ordinary negligence.
Dave Bergmeier can be reached at 620-227-1822 or [email protected].
