New Study Shows 9.52 Million Acres of Western Public Lands Are Landlocked

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New Study Shows 9.52 Million Acres of Western Public Lands Are Landlocked

Results of the most sophisticated analysis of inaccessible public lands reveals a staggering challenge that the Land and Water Conservation Fund could help solve

BOZEMAN, Mont. — This week, onX and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership revealed the stunning results of a collaboration to quantify how many acres of America’s public lands are entirely surrounded by private land and, therefore, sit inaccessible to hunters, anglers, and other outdoor recreationists.

The Findings

More than 9.5 million acres across thirteen states in the American West were identified as landlocked by private lands in a study using today’s leading mapping technologies. The findings are now available in a new report, “Off Limits, But Within Reach: Unlocking the West’s Inaccessible Public Lands,” which unpacks the issue in unprecedented detail.

“At 9.52 million acres, the massive scale of the landlocked problem represents a major impediment to public access and the growth of the $887-billion outdoor recreation economy,” says Joel Webster, Western lands director with the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “These are lands that all Americans own, and yet public access is not readily available or guaranteed.”

Up until now, little has been done to make a comprehensive and detailed assessment of this frequently discussed issue. This new report breaks down the 9.52 million acres landlocked across the West into totals for each of the thirteen states, highlighting the largest landlocked parcel within each state and how many landlocked acres each federal land management agency oversees.

More than 93.2 percent of landlocked public lands in the West are managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Wyoming holds the most inaccessible public lands with 3.05 million acres—or almost a third of the total landlocked acreage across the region.

“onX was founded on helping people access the outdoors and public lands, and our partnership in this project is an extension of that,” says onX founder Eric Siegfried. “In additions to creating technology that enables people to make memories in the field or on the water, we strongly support efforts that either improve current access points or open up new opportunities for our customers. Why not start with the public lands that we rightfully own?”

A Solution in Jeopardy

The report also highlights the most powerful tool for opening landlocked lands to the public—the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which, among other things, pays for voluntary easement and acquisition agreements with private landowners. This joint effort between onX and TRCP arrives at a critical time for the fund, which is set to expire on September 30, 2018, unless Congress acts to reauthorize the LWCF.

“Our report offers a clear and accurate picture of a major access obstacle facing public land users, and the Land and Water Conservation Fund is the single most important mechanism for addressing this challenge,” says TRCP’s Webster. “Many lawmakers talk about their commitment to public access, and the clearest way for them to demonstrate their support would be to reauthorize this critical program by September 30.”

“Many public land parcels without guaranteed public access range from five to 30 square miles in size—we aren’t just talking about postage stamp sections,” adds Siegfried. “Understanding this, lawmakers have a very real opportunity to make a positive difference by expanding public access for the American people, and we hope they do.”

Landlocked Acres by State
• Arizona: 243,000 acres
• California: 492,000 acres
• Colorado: 269,000 acres
• Idaho: 208,000 acres
• Montana: 1,523,000 acres
• Nevada: 2,054,000 acres
• New Mexico: 554,000 acres
• North Dakota: 107,000 acres
• Oregon: 443,000 acres
• South Dakota: 196,000 acres
• Utah: 264,000 acres
• Washington: 121,000 acres
• Wyoming: 3,046,000 acres
Learn more and download the full report at unlockingpubliclands.org.
 
Well done OnX and TRCP. MT for a bronze. Let's reauthorize LWCF and resolve these issues.
 
Awesome work, especially considering the current environment regarding LWCF and public lands.
 
Wow that is some amazing work. At least we can use some maps for playing checkers... Thanks for posting this.
 
Beautiful analysis of an unfortunate thing. Really tells the story of why we need LWCF. There are so many potential problems it could help resolve in a meaningful way that would last forever.
 
Excellent information. Shows us how much work is ahead of us. Without LWCF, that work is far more difficult.
 
It really is an interesting thing to look at, especially when you open up a book on it and start reading back to the 1800's when the owners of massive ranches and railroad barons controlled a vast amount of the lobbying that went to influence state and territorial lawmakers. Seems like there are a lot of archaic laws still safeguarded by the same types of people in position to influence political power.
 
If you are having trouble visualizing how much 9.5 million acres is, it's about the size of Vermont and Connecticut combined.

It is also about .4% of the total land mass in the United States including Alaska.
 
Very much value TRCP and use of OnX support for the pressure to keep LWCF rolling with the necessary funding. LWCF has to be one of the, if not the best asset for our lands and waters.
A critical issue our Reps from each state listed, (and others) need to hear our voice.
 
If you are having trouble visualizing how much 9.5 million acres is, it's about the size of Vermont and Connecticut combined.

It is also about .4% of the total land mass in the United States including Alaska.

I'm home with a sick kid, so I will geek out a bit on this. Since I'm in MT I'll use MT as a reference.

Here is 1.5 Million acres, which is the amount of inaccessible land in Montana. That's a circle roughly 55 miles across centered over Bozeman, MT.

1.5_Million Acres.jpg

Here's 9.5 Million Acres, also centered over Bozeman. That's a circle nearly 138 miles across, with an east-west breadth stretching from Butte, MT to Reed Point, MT.

9.5Million_acres.jpg

Those are enormous chunks of ground to be inaccessible.
 
As I was e-scouting for this Fall I was getting fired up looking at all of the inaccessible public in Montana. It almost seemed as if private owners had intentionally enclosed portions of public increasing their return on investment, buy 4 sections and get 1 free..

The first step to solving a problem is to quantify it.. Great work, looking forward to what comes next!
 
Very interesting. Those top 3 states (Wyoming, Nevada and Montana) account for 6,623,000 acres of landlocked public land. That's nearly 70% of the total.

Nevada doesn't surprise me that much because it has such a high % of federal land, but Montana really doesn't.

If you go based on % of Federal land that is landlocked, Wyoming is still the winner with 10.1% of all Federal land being landlocked. That is really amazing.

South Dakota and North Dakota are next on % with 7.4% and 6.2% but they really don't have that much to begin with.

Montana comes in next with 5.2% of their Federal land being landlocked and Nevada with 3.4% of theirs.

The winners with less than 1% of their Federal lands being landlocked are Idaho (.6%), Utah (.8%) and Arizona (.9%).

You would think that California would be one with a bunch landlocked but they actually have almost twice as much Federal land as Montana and have less than 1/3rd as many landlocked acres for 1.1% landlocked.

New Mexico has 2.1% of theirs landlocked and all the other states are 1.5% or less.

Wyoming and Montana are the clear leaders on having landlocked Federal land.
 
One of my biggest frustrations with our state legislature. If a private landowner owns land surrounded by public land, he has a "right" to gain access to it. However, when the roles are reversed, that's not the case. That.....is just stupid. The role of government at its core, is to provide a level playing field for all parties in a particular situation. Not to favor one side over another. In this situation, our state/federal government has failed miserably. If the public owns it, the public should be able to access it. No matter what.
 
Keep in mind that this study evaluated acreages for lands that are entirely landlocked. A large block of public land with a road on one side, but not the other would technically be accessible under this criteria. While the landlocked number is staggering in and of itself, I'm sure there are millions more acres of lands with "poor" access, and where access can be improved. Especially with island ranges.
 
I'd be curious to see how the acreage changes if state/endowment lands were added. I've been running across a lot of state pieces here in Idaho lately without access
 
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