Access to public lands slipping away

There was a time when the once-wild West seemed vast and endless -- but no longer. The throngs of people who once passed through on their way to and from the West Coast have now decided to stay.

As the population in the western United States has steadily grown, access to public lands has become more restricted. Ironically, many of the formal restrictions have come during a time when federal land-managing agencies were supposed to be working on improving public access for hunters, anglers and recreational shooters.

In September 2006, the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and 40 nongovernmental organizations signed the Federal Lands Hunting, Fishing and Shooting Sports Roundtable Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). This document created a partnership whose members agreed to work together for the purpose of "planning and implementing mutually beneficial projects and activities related to hunting, fishing and shooting sports conducted on federal lands."

The MOU identified one of the organizations' mutual interests as "providing public access to federal lands and enhancing opportunities ... to fish, hunt and (engage) in shooting sports in a safe and environmentally sound manner."

Nearly a year later, on Aug. 16, 2007, President Bush issued an executive order titled Facilitation of Hunting Heritage and Wildlife Conservation. The order's purpose was "to direct federal agencies that have programs and activities that have a measurable effect on public land management, outdoor recreation and wildlife management, including the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture, to facilitate the expansion and enhancement of hunting opportunities and the management of game species and their habitat."

The phrase "facilitate the expansion and enhancement of hunting opportunities" seems straightforward enough, but the president's order also provided agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management with a list of seven activities that would help them meet that directive. He introduced the list with the words "Federal agencies shall ..." That doesn't mean perhaps or maybe.

Among the activities on the list were such things as evaluating the effect of agency actions on trends in hunting participation and taking actions to address declines by enhancing public hunting opportunities and using hunting in wildlife management planning. The federal agencies also were directed to work in a collaborative effort with state wildlife agencies and to consider the economic and recreational values of hunting in agency actions. Both values, as I've written before, are significant.

Unfortunately, despite the signed MOU and Bush's executive order directing otherwise, each year hunters and anglers report they are finding an increasing amount of public land to be inaccessible, including in Nevada. In some cases this can be attributed to road closures, in others the creation of wilderness areas or even a simple change in private lands ownership. Whatever the cause, it doesn't have to remain that way.

In letters dated March 19 and 21, 2008, respectively, the hierarchies at the Forest Service and the BLM have invited their various supervisors to create an inventory of areas where public access can be improved. Each supervisor has been asked to provide a list of three places where they think the opportunities for improving recreational access are best. These lists will be compiled into one large list.

"This list," wrote Joel D. Holtrop, deputy chief of the U.S. Forest Service, "would put our partners in a better position to strategically address access issues on public lands."

But you don't have to work for a federal land-managing agency to get involved in the inventory process. In a news release, the National Wild Turkey Federation said, "Your help is needed to identify federal lands that you can't reach, which you would like to hunt, fish and enjoy. You, the local user of public land, are the best person to identify access problems in your area."

The deadline for public comments is May 10. More information and instructions for submitting proposals can be found online at www.nwtf.org/nwtf_newsroom/press_releases.php?id=12526.

Doug Nielsen is an award-winning freelance writer and a conservation educator for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. His column is published Thursday. He can be reached at doug@takinitoutside.com.