Hunting season is in full swing here in Idaho, so we decided to was time to revisit our “fact or fiction” section with one of the most common questions we field this time of year.
A conservation easement automatically grants public access to the property.
FICTION.
As anyone who’s spent any time in our valley can confirm, our local ranches are home to prime wildlife habitat, so it’s totally understandable that people who are looking to fill their hunting tags are looking to gain access to these private lands to hunt. It’s also fairly common that people will stumble across our website, notice the list of ranches we hold conservation easements on & contact us looking to gain access. First, none of our conservation easements include public access clauses. The land is still privately owned & managed & as such, access can be granted or denied at the discretion of the landowner. In fact, LRLT is not even granted blanket access to the property & contacts the landowners to make arrangements each & every time we need access to a property whether for annual monitoring, to complete a restoration project or for an outreach event.
There’s also an even more common second part to this question:
Lemhi Regional Land Trust can give me permission to access a property they hold a conservation easement on.
FICTION.
As mentioned above, all of the land we hold conservation easements on remains privately owned and managed. LRLT cannot and will not give permission to anyone to access these privately owned lands. So what should you do if you’d like access to these lands for hunting & fishing? Just what you would do if you were looking to hunt on any other piece of private land: contact the landowner. Be respectful of their decision to grant or deny access. If they grant you access, take care of the property–leave gates as you found them, be mindful of any restrictions the landowner asks you to follow & always say thank you!
Fall in the Upper Salmon