Access is one of the primary factors affecting where a recreationist, especially hunters and anglers, are found across the West.

Merriam-Webster defines this term as: “permission, liberty, or ability to enter, approach, or pass to and from a place.” Whether access requires permission or is a liberty is strongly related to the land being publicly or privately owned.

In the West, much of the land has been retained by the federal government. In Utah 63% and in Idaho 62%, of the land is owned by citizens of the U.S. This compares to 1.9% of Texas and 0.3% of Iowa. Federal public lands that broadly allow access are overseen by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. This does not mean the public can enter all federal lands. For example, the Department of Defense strictly limits entry to these lands.

While most Forest Service and BLM lands are open to use, that doesn’t mean the public can get to all those lands. The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership found 16.4 million acres of public land were inaccessible because they’re surrounded by private land or they only meet at corners. State enforcement officers have ticketed people crossing at the corners of checkerboarded public lands with trespassing as part of their bodies travel over the airspace of private land.

In March the 10th Circuit Court found this interpretation violated federal law. The Supreme Court is reviewing an appeal of that ruling this month. If this court fails to take up this case or concurs with the 10th Circuit, it will give the public access to an additional 8.3 million acres of land.

Not all public land overseen by federal land management agencies provide unlimited access. The management goal of National Parks is to preserve cultural and natural resources. Therefore, parks such as Bryce Canyon and Zion limit human access due to concern that overcrowding will damage these resources.

This goal is also why the majority of National Parks do not allow hunting. How much access the public has to different National Wildlife Refuges is often defined in the federal law that designated the refuge. When the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge was set aside by law in 1928, it stated no more than 40% of these lands would be open to hunting or fishing.

By contrast, state law defines what a private land owner must do to keep people off their property. The rules and private land owner incentives to limit access have changed dramatically. When I hunted Utah and Idaho in the early 1970s, there were few private parcels that were sufficiently posted to keep hunters from entering uncultivated private lands. Now most private lands are posted and there is a greater burden of proof on hunters to know where they are. This reflects the increasing value of fish and wildlife. In the 1970s, I would’ve never guessed people would be willing to pay more than $10,000 to harvest a nice bull elk. Today I can‘t say that.

This year Utah added the requirement to buy a hunting or fishing license to access several state wildlife management areas along the Wasatch Front. One problem with this rule is it only applies to a few management areas so it is easy for the broader public to overlook this requirement.

A better approach may be the one implemented in Oregon. That state requires people that don’t possess a hunting or fishing license to buy a $10 parking permit to access state land purchased primarily with funds provided by hunters and anglers.

Access to rivers is different than land. That is because all states are required to manage navigable rivers for the public. States, however, differ in how they address this trust. Some assume rivers are navigable unless proved otherwise in court. Others require navigability to be proved.

While the Supreme Court has consistently found the public can float rivers, they have generally left it to the states to determine where you can wade. As a result, Idaho and Montana allow you to wade as long as you stay below the ordinary-high-water-mark, but in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado it is difficult to find rivers where you can touch the stream bed. Future changes in these restrictions will occur only after a lengthy time in the courts.

Rules guiding hunter and angler access to public and private land is growing in complexity. The use of the internet and applications such as on X can help address some of the questions about where you can go without trespassing. It is clear an increasingly important aspect of hunter and angler success, is the ability to understand where a person can go and how those lands can be legally accessed.