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Commentary: Solutions to unlocking millions of acres of ‘landlocked’ public lands
- Laura Orvidas
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- https://www.outdoornews.com/2024/11/01/commentary-solutions-to-unlocking-millions-of-acres-of-landlocked-public-lands/
Across 20 U.S. states, there are 16.4 million acres of public land that are effectively off-limits to the public. In Minnesota and Wisconsin alone, there are over 300,000 inaccessible public acres, meaning there isn’t a legal way for Americans to reach these places – to hike, hunt, camp, forage, or fish – without trespassing on private property.
We call these places “landlocked.” Some are islands of public land, completely surrounded by private land with no public roads or trails to access them.
Other parcels are “corner-locked,” bordered by private land, but touching other public lands at one or more corners, like squares of a checkerboard. Because of the legal gray area surrounding the practice of walking from one corner of public land to the other, these acres are considered off limits.
About half of all landlocked land is corner-locked, and this type of inaccessible public land is in the national spotlight right now, as a Wyoming case currently awaits a ruling in the 10th Circuit Court. It’s likely that the ruling will be appealed to the Supreme Court. Yet, litigation around inaccessible corner-locked lands isn’t new. Decades of court cases have yet to affect any change. And a court decision could take years.
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While the legality of corner crossing remains in limbo, we can take a different approach to improving access to public land. Through our work at onX, I’ve seen first-hand how successful we can be when we forge public-private solutions that recognize the common values held by both recreationists and private landowners alike.
This work is often led by a nonprofit or conservation organization. Yet, the strategies they employ need renewed support and attention from our federal government. These strategies include creating access easements, making outright acquisitions, and participation in seasonal landowner incentive programs.
The first two solutions – greater easements and land acquisitions – are stymied by an outdated appraisal process. Access easements – or deeded rights of way – allow the public to legally cross private land to reach inaccessible public land. Landowners interested in negotiating an easement expect to be fairly compensated for this privilege. They are, after all, allowing the public to cross their land for an amount of time, which could range from a few years into perpetuity.
But the groups paying for the easement – commonly state or federal agencies or nonprofit groups – can only make an offer at or below the appraised value. That value is based on the same calculations used for a power line or fiber optic cable, not access to a finite recreational resource.
According to a nonprofit that works closely with landowners in these negotiations, these appraisals often come in thousands of dollars below landowner expectations. When public access values are factored into an appraisal, however, landowners are more likely to say “yes.”
Private land acquisitions face similar challenges. When a piece of privately-owned land that has exclusive access to inaccessible public acres comes up for sale, a land management agency, a conservation nonprofit, or a land trust may look to acquire that chunk of land with the goal of improving public access.
To do so, they also must acquire the property at or below the appraised value, via a strict federal appraisal process. But there isn’t an established dollar amount an appraiser can put on that connected recreational access like they can for extractive uses like mining, grazing, and subdivision.
As a result, the appraised value can be far below market value. Once again, the private owner might hold out for a higher offer from a private buyer. To solve this, the federal government must establish a valuation system for recreational access to our public lands. It would give a land management agency or a conservation nonprofit the ability to make a compelling offer to landowners to establish access, so landowners aren’t forced to choose between goodwill and financial practicality.
The third solution is to expand federal funding for programs that already compensate landowners for allowing access to their property for specific purposes such as seasonal hunting and angling. In many states, these are called walk-in programs.
RELATED STORY FROM OUTDOOR NEWS: Report from onX shines light on important but fragile private-lands access programs
Many state programs receive funding in part from a provision of the Farm Bill, which is currently in congressional limbo. By improving the incentives offered to landowners who engage in these programs, we can ensure their enrollment, and the additional access they provide, for years to come.
Americans have the ability to enjoy a vast reserve of public lands. But with millions of acres beyond the reach of Americans, can they really be considered public?
Documents show 100 cats and dogs caught by wildlife traps in B.C.
They’re trapping the cats. They’re trapping the dogs. They’re trapping the pets in B.C., says group.
Stefan Labbé
about 23 hours ago
- https://www.burnabynow.com/animal-stories/documents-show-100-cats-and-dogs-caught-by-wildlife-traps-in-bc-9764129
At least 100 cats and dogs have been caught in animal traps across B.C. since 2015, provincial records show.
The data, which comes from documents obtained through a freedom of information request made by the animal charity group The Fur-Bearers and seen by Glacier Media, show wildlife traps caught between eight and 15 pets a year between 2015 and 2023.
“The actual number is probably much higher. People aren’t reporting it to conservation officers,” said Aaron Hofman, the group’s director of policy and advocacy.
Documents show incidents in 2023 alone span a number of communities in B.C.’s north and central regions, from Dawson Creek to Smithers.
Further south, dogs were found trapped in a number of communities — in Fernie near the Alberta border, in Vernon in the Okanagan and in Abbotsford on the south coast.
Incidents of cats getting caught in wildlife traps, meanwhile, were reported in the South Okanagan region of Grand Forks, and the coastal communities of Delta, Nanaimo and Gabriola Island.
Traps leave trail of dead, injured pets
One incident report from the BC Conservation Officer Service in Pemberton describes a caller scared of an individual who caught dogs in baited wolf traps and erected fencing to trap domestic and wild animals.
“He also has pit traps in his backyard,” reads the heavily redacted report. “He has already trapped [redacted] … cat.”
In one incident report that involved a number of cats getting trapped, “the caller suspects the same person is continuing to set snares to harm domestic animals.”
Elsewhere, one caller reported their dog was killed by a 10- to 12-inch trap placed on Crown land.
“Caller would like information on what can be done to warn people about this,” the incident report states.
And in another case, a dog and “fairly old cougar” were both caught in snares dead a few feet from each other.
Nine of the incidents resulted in investigations while five dogs were killed by the traps over the past two years.
‘Trauma pretty real’
Hofman said that while the overall number of pets trapped and killed is relatively small, the numbers appear to be going up in recent years.
“They’re not big numbers but they have weight for the families impacted by it,” he said.
“Anyone that’s out with their dog and they hear something and they find their dog in a trap — that trauma is pretty real. For those families… it’s losing a family member.”
The heavily redacted documents show incidents across Crown and municipal land, as well as off trails on neighbours’ properties. Of the 26 incidents in the past two years, only two charges appear in the documents.
Hofman said a lot of the incidents are preventable and could be avoided by regulatory changes. He pointed to increasing a mandatory setback from dwellings beyond the current 200 metres, and introducing new measures so trappers have to keep their distance from trails and roads.
“The most important is mandatory warning signs,” Hofman said. “We’ve been trying to get this change through the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship because they’re in charge of wildlife.”
A spokesperson for that ministry said she was unable to respond until a new cabinet is sworn in.
B.C.’s incumbent NDP government recently won an electoral majority by a razor-thin margin. That prompted three judicial recounts and an associated delay in forming the next government.
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