Feds Finally Release Funds for Open Fields Hunting Access Program

Note from Eric - I have hunted walk in areas that this legislation will help expand and enhance. Kansas has led the way, but there is great public access to quality habitat in MT, CO and South Dakota that I have hunted. States in the east should look into working with private landowners to open up more land to hunting.

From the New West Travel and Outdoors

Feds Finally Release Funds for Open Fields Hunting Access Program

Key hunting access program now has only two years to prove itself.

By Bill Schneider, 7-06-10

	The new Open Fields Program funds public access to private lands. Photos by Dusan Smetana.

Updated July 7, 1 am: Baucus Continues to Support Open Fields.
Nobody ever accused the federal government of moving rapidly, even with congressionally mandated programs. And the long-ago approved new hunting access program called Open Fields is excellent testimony to that axiom.
After an extensive lobbying campaign by the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Pheasants Forever, Ducks Unlimited and many other conservation groups, Congress included $50 million in the 2008 Farm Bill for Open Fields, a new, innovative program to help fund dwindling public access to private lands, perhaps the greatest threat to the sport of hunting in this country.
That happened way back in December 2008, 31 months ago. Now, finally, the Department of the Interior has finished writing regulations needed to administer Open Fields and will start releasing the funds to qualified state-based access programs, such as Montana’s Block Management program.
Today, NewWest.Net learned that on July 8, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will hold a teleconference to announce the release of the funding.
This long delay has concerned conservationists because they want Open Fields to have an admirable track record of success before the 2012 Farm Bill rolls around. And not a lot of time to spare, it seems, as Congress is already holding hearings on the 2012 bill. With so little time to prove the value of the program, conservationists will clearly be challenged to convince Congress to renew or increase funding for Open Fields in the 2012 Farm Bill.
UPDATE: Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) contacted NewWest.Net shortly after this article was posted. “The open fields program will be great for our state,” Baucus said. “In Montana we hunt and we fish--it’s in our blood. I worked hard to ensure this provision was included in the Farm Bill but we need to get the money on the ground. I will keep pushing the USDA to get this done. This is about ensuring our outdoor heritage is protected, so we can continue passing our traditions on to our children and grandchildren.”
Baucus is chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee and a senior member on the Senate Agriculture Committee, so he was in a position to make sure the Open Fields Program--and the $50 million--made it into the 2008 Farm Bill. Since the passage of the Farm Bill, Baucus has been pushing the Interior Department to move as fast as possible to make the funds available to voluntary state hunting access programs.
Related NewWest.Net articles: Open Fields Hunting Access Program Needs Push and Baucus Comes Through for Hunters on Open Fields.

From the TRCP web site:
Open Fields is a competitive grants program available to state and tribal governments. Funding applications may be made through the federal government's grants portal. Read frequently asked questions about Open Fields. 

Open Fields funding for hunter access

Correction - Open Fields Program Has $50 Million Budget Request The May Outdoor News Bulletin incorrectly reported that the Obama Administration had stripped funding for the Open Fields private lands access program. In fact, the Administration has requested $50 million for Open Fields in its 2010 Budget request. The program it chose not to fund in the request was an additional $3 per-acre incentive for landowners enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program who allow the public to access their property for hunting, fishing or other wildlife-related recreation. This program was announced last October during the White House Conference on North American Wildlife Policy and was proposed to enroll up to 7 million acres in the 21 states with existing public access programs. It was intended to be additive to Open Fields and other state public access programs, but this Administration determined that the Open Fields program was the effective private lands access program to pursue.

Note: Open Fields is designed to open access for hunting on private lands. I've hunted these walk in lands in Kansas, Colorado, South Dakota and in Montana (called Block Management there) Everyone benefits - hunters, landownders and the resources.
Published in the Wildlife Management Institute web site

Door May Be Shut on Open Fields

from the Wildlife Management Institute newsletter:

Door May Be Shut on Open Fields

Funding for the Open Fields program authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill is proposed to be terminated in the administration’s fiscal year 2010 budget, according to the Wildlife Management Institute. Language in last year’s Farm Bill authorized a $3 per acre additional payment on lands enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program if the lands were opened to public hunting. The Obama administration has reasoned that, because many states pay landowners to open their lands for hunting access, the additional federal payments would simply provide more funds to landowners already enrolled in state-sponsored programs. The Open Fields dollars, therefore, would not contribute to creating more public access. However, a number of states do not have adequate resources to implement an effective public hunting-access program on private lands. Many of these states worked hard to get the Open Fields language included in the Farm Bill and were counting on the program to boost recreational access opportunities. The full document of "Terminations, Reductions and Savings" can be found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2010/assets/trs.pdf. (pmr) <>

Vermont does not have any landowner incentives for keeping conservation reserve land open. Open fields funing would have enabled us to start a program. I hunted on these lands in CO, KS and South Dakota. It was great.
Seems like a good time to write the President and urge him to support hunters and landowners by letting this program go forward!