Public land access app

[Geneeus]

Hi,
This is a shortcut to a New York Times article concerning loss of access to public lands, a lawsuit, and an app which can help find not only public lands, but access points to keep us out of trouble.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/26/business/hunting-wyoming-elk-mountain-access.html?searchResultPosition=1

I have no affiliation with the New York Times, or the developers of the app.

Geneeus

 

[Carla618]

Wish I had not reached my limit at NYT. Sounds interesting.

 

[wayne49]

US Public Lands app.

Official web sites for BLM and USFS:

https://www.blm.gov/

https://www.fs.usda.gov/

There are a number of previous threads about online dispersed camping information.

 

[jacqueg]

Wish I had not reached my limit at NYT. Sounds interesting.

A hint - just google the article's title whenever you run up against a limit like this. Many news sources will pick up an article published by the NYT. As well as the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, etc.

 

[Carla618]

A hint - just google the article's title whenever you run up against a limit like this. Many news sources will pick up an article published by the NYT. As well as the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, etc.

Thanks. I try that sometimes. Forgot to do it today. I did sign in to the NYT on a really old account, but without paying it was still blocked.

Someone on Reddit posted a link to a copy of the article (hope there is no violation involved, lol):

It’s Public Land. But the Public Can’t Reach It. - The New York Times

archived 26 Nov 2022 23:14:56 UTC

archive.ph

 

[Carla618]

The article says, "Until a few years ago, the existence of landlocked lands in the United States was largely unknown, except to neighboring owners, some of whom “saw them as part of their ranch,” said Joel Webster, vice president of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. OnX helped expose this, he said, a change he called “profound.” "

^^^ Anyone looking to buy cheap land would know about landlocked acreages.

I was pleased to learn about Sweden's Freedom to Roam customs and laws. Never understood why waterfronts are allowed to be privately owned, without a Freedom to Roam law in place.

Freedom to roam - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[hugemoth]

I have a friend, a hunter, who was pissed that he couldn't access the public land he wanted to hunt. He bought an ultralight aircraft and flew in to hunt.

 

[Geneeus]

US Public Lands app.

Official web sites for BLM and USFS:

https://www.blm.gov/

https://www.fs.usda.gov/

There are a number of previous threads about online dispersed camping information.

The purpose of the post was not to list public lands in the United States. Instead, it had a two-fold focus:
1. To bring up the issue of access denial by private land owners
2. To introduce an app which can help van-lifers access publicly-owned land without running into difficulties with landowners and/or the law.

 

[USNvet]

Interesting article; the type that really gets under your skin! I think the FAA might have something to say about the airspace above Mr. Eshelman's ranch. Otherwise, at $7 million per trespass, I think a lot of airline traffic over my property is now past due with their payments. Since he blocks all access to the open public land he surrounds, I wonder if Eshelman wouldn't mind helicopter traffic over his house at the legal altitude (I've read 500 feet is minimum), ferrying people to and from their public property?

I'd say this problem would best be cured by the "eminent domain" acquisition of road access to such large, landlocked public properties. If the government (city, state, federal) can take property from private owners for whatever use it deems beneficial, then end up using the acquired land to the benefit of a private business such as they did for the L.A. Dodgers (see wiki), we can certainly justify opening up the use of our own public lands with a road wide easement!

Battle of Chavez Ravine - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[BelgianPup]

I like the helicopter idea. I'm not a hunter, but who came up with the idea of public land without access to the public? Rich man + Politician + Cash under the table?

An 8-foot gate installed in each of those corners would be a simple fix. And could probably be paid for by local donations.

 

[nomadjoe]

I retired from the forest service. They do a lot of land swaps with private owners who are either locked in by federal land or the other way around. Just FYI. Also Free Roam app you can add layers of federal land on the map. It’s helped me quite a bit and it’s free.

 

[jacqueg]

The feds tend to not do eminent domain just for access. The political fallout is WAAAAAY out of proportion to the benefits. Besides, all they have to do is wait. Sooner or later, the ownership changes, and they can deal with a new owner. And if the new owner is also recalcitrant, well, they can still wait. There are plenty of other deals they can cut.

 

[BlueMarkOhio]

The Freedom to roam exists in many European states besides Sweden: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_to_roam

In the US the government has the power to mandate access corridors to public land via easements or eminent domain - and will do so when the rights of average people are found to be equal to the elite.

There may be an alternative to corner cutting - navigable waters are state land even when they cut through private parcels. Generally speaking if you can float a canoe on it at least part of the year, it is state property and the public can travel on it as long as they stay below the mean high water mark. It is probably legally defensible to hike on stream beds between public parcels.