Photo by Aaron Black-Schmidt
Arizona Game and Fish Department estimates about six million acres of public land are land-locked and not accessible to the public
By Al Eiden
In Arizona private landowners own 13 percent of the state, which is not a lot compared to the 50 percent public federal landowners and the additional 12 percent in state trust land that is open to hunters with a valid Arizona hunting license. The other 25 percent of Arizona is reservation land owned and managed by the 27 tribes that call Arizona home.
With a relatively small amount of private land, you may think that access to all that public land would not be a problem. However, the Arizona Game and Fish Department estimates about six million acres of public land are land-locked and not accessible to the public for camping, hiking, and hunting.
This happens due to where private land occurs, and the associated land ownership pattern of Arizona. Arizona is the youngest of the lower 48 states, and as such, the history of who owns what, and how the Homestead Act impacted where private land occurs in Arizona, has shaped the public access dilemma we have here in Arizona.
To sum all that history up as succinctly as possible; private landowners claimed the most productive land with the most reliable water, and the road system that followed connected these private landowners together. Surrounding that private land is the BLM and U.S. Forest Service Lands that could only be accessed by using roads going through private lands. The catch: These roads never were designated as public roads, giving private landowners the right to allow or deny access as they chose.
Fast forward to today where recreational pressure from the state with the fastest-growing population in the country has created a situation where landowners can be overwhelmed with people wanting to enjoy our public lands.
Creative solutions are always evolving, and QF and our biologists in Arizona are leading that charge as they implement access programs through Arizona Game and Fish, VPA-HIP (Farm Bill), working with USFS and BLM on Land and Water Conservation Fund grant opportunities, and most importantly working with landowners.
One example of our biologists’ work is an access project near Patagonia, Arizona working with Borderland Wildlife Preserve to open 919 acres to walk-in access for bird watchers and other wildlife viewing opportunities.
You may ask; how does that help hunting? Well remember those land ownership patterns in Arizona I mentioned, so surrounding this preserve is tens of thousands of acres of U.S. Forest Service land that is prime Mearns’ quail habitat.
In this case, the agreement for the preserve acreage does not allow hunting on the 919 acres but does allow hunters to walk through the preserve to access all those Forest Service lands that hunters, hikers, and anyone can go enjoy. The project is one example of the creative solutions our biologists, our chapters, and our conservation partners are using to get people on our public lands.
Al Eiden is the West Region Director of Field Operations with Quail Forever.
This story originally appeared in the spring issue of Quail Forever Journal. If you enjoyed it and would like to read more great upland content, become a member today!