"corner crossing" to reach public lands

[futurafree]

It’s Public Land. But the Public Can’t Reach It.

A navigation app that illuminates public land within privately held property has supercharged the question of who gets to go where.

www.nytimes.com

I was reading this interesting article about access to public lands that are surrounded by huge private ranches. It mostly deals with the interspersed checkerboard squares of private and public lands that you may have seen on maps in places like Wyoming and the popular app OnX that is the best resource for exact private property lines. Hunters had "corner crossed" in a diagonal fashion from one public land square to the other public land square in order to not technically trespass on the private squares, and now the land owner is suing them for for millions for trespassing by waving their arms across the "private airspace" as they crossed. The landowner had placed signs at the exact GPS coordinates of the corner that made stepping from one public square to the next public square impossible, so the hunters brought a ladder that allowed them to climb over the signs while never setting foot on private property. A bunch of imaginary lines and technicalities enabled by GPS devices.
Anyone have experience with these types of situations? And does anyone use the OnX app?
The article claims that US public lands landlocked by private ranches are equal to the area of several New England states combined. But I'm wondering if that just refers to these checkerboard patterns that mix public and private land. Does anyone know of large swaths of public lands that aren't checkerboards, but are completely cut off by private lands? That would be very interesting.

 

[Bob]

I've used corner crossing hunting in Utah with no problems... But that was years ago... Don't use onx. I think those in the suit went a little extreme, even antagonistic. Not saying the property owner was t extreme either. I'd bet there is something underneath driving it.

 

[Absarokanaut]

I don't have any answers for your questions but will share my broader opinion on access.

Despite the inane proclamations from residents and congressional delegations in western states with large tracts of Federal Land each and every acre of our Federal Lands is owned by each and every American in equal measure and I believe with the only exceptions being issues of national security access cannot be so selfishly denied. "Local Control" is a deceitful euphemism for local exploitation. Each and every one of these states gave up the right to any future title to the these lands as a requirement for statehood in their state constitutions. Don't get me started on the sweet land transfers that have been allowed to go through with political favors. The assertion in the prominent case that someone did $7,000,000 in property damage with a portion of their body passing through the air space of a private landowners corner is simply an example of the self absorbed avarice and hubris that is stoking one side of this country's disastrous partisan divide.

Whether you live in Manhattan or on the Mogollon Rim don't ever indulge the posterior orifices that want to steal from you and disenfranchise us all.

 

[futurafree]

Whether you live in Manhattan or on the Mogollon Rim don't ever indulge the posterior orifices that want to steal from you and disenfranchise us all.

I'm with you 100%. I'm sure some landowners treat all the public squares within the checkerboard as their own personal property for hunting, grazing, and possibly even resource extraction since it's impossible for the BLM to frequently check on thousands of plots of land tucked away in remote areas without road access.

As for the surrounded public lands, I don't expect there will be many situations similar to the country of Lesotho that's completely enveloped by South Africa, but there could be other situations that lead to hidden public lands. For example, there could be a swath of public land blocked on 3 sides by private land, and then the 4th side is essentially "blocked" by natural features like steep ridges or lakes/ocean. That could result in a little Shangri-La valley on public land that's hidden from the world. Interesting to think about...

 

[Jackson]

OnX Hunt is really popular up here--such a large portion of the population hunts. I used the free trial to see what it's like. Pretty solid resource if you're in a place with a lot of private/public land boundaries you're trying to respect.

Most of the tricky access land up here is checkerboarded. A good example is the Crazy Mountains, where there are only a few trailheads for access, and even some of the high alpine areas are privately owned. Makes it challenging getting to certain parts of the range without crossing into private land. There's also a few canyons around Bozeman that have private land right at the mouth blocking access up the canyons. And then a lot of the BLM land in SW Montana is surrounded by private land and sometimes tricky to access. I mostly just avoid any areas like that because I don't want to have to bother with private and public land boundaries when I'm out hiking. I guess that's what these land owners want though.

Here's a good resource for seeing what's public and private in Montana. http://svc.mt.gov/msl/mtcadastral#

 

[futurafree]

Most of the tricky access land up here is checkerboarded.

I just looked at the map and near the Crazy Mountains is a town literally called Checkerboard!
What was the thinking behind selling land in that pattern? At first, I thought maybe all the squares were available for purchase or homesteading from the government. Most people would buy one square and then the next person would choose to buy a square that wouldn't have borders with another private landowner. Then eventually the government decided to stop selling and it resulted in the checkerboard. But the pattern is too perfect for that to be the reason. Seems like a terrible idea in retrospect.

 

[mike_offerman]

The checkerboard pattern was a result of the government giving land to railroads. I am not sure if this is the best article to explain it, but it showed up with a quick search.

Yellowstone Checkerboard Land Patterns

 

[futurafree]

The checkerboard pattern was a result of the government giving land to railroads.

Ah, the OG robber barons. Just Monday morning quarterbacking here, but it seems that giving them 10% of the entire nation's land for railroad tracks that are less than 20 feet wide might not have been the best idea.

 

[Jackson]

My understanding has always been that it's railroad related. Learned a little bit about it in my natural resources law course. This gives a little background information on checker boarding. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkerboarding_(land)

Edit: whoops. Should have refreshed the page to see @mike_offerman's comment.

 

[fossana]

WY and MT are notorious for landlocked public lands. Here's some non-paywalled info on the history and current situation from a hunting-oriented conservation org.

 

[Reef&Ruins]

Another somewhat related example of this is anniversary narrows (lovell wash narrows) near Las Vegas.

Hiking Around Las Vegas, Lake Mead NRA, Anniversary Narrows

The author is clearly partisan, but the point of no access to a cool spot still stands.

 

[futurafree]

I think it's clear I find all of this infuriating.
On the flipside, this story of the Forest Service reneging on a contract sounds frustrating. It's a puff piece by a somewhat conservative rag, but if presented accurately then it's a shame for the private land owner who only has 9 acres. It's reached the Supreme Court. I wonder if the Court would hear checkerboarding cases and 3-foot wide hiking easements that are important to us, though? Probably wouldn't end well for our side, given the current state of things.

A Montana ‘mountain man’ goes to court to protect his property rights

Wil Wilkins of Ravalli County, Mont., acknowledges he’s a bit of a throwback. Growing up in West Virginia, he says his mother used to tell him, “You was born a hundred years too late, boy.” I…

thehill.com

 

[SteveR]

We have had a few similar situations in Alberta, mostly involving well-off landowners in the foothills who want to further add to their large expanses of privately held ranchlands by trying to deny access to adjacent public lands. Usually on grazing leases where they pay a pittance for summer cattle grazing, only. Thus creating private fishing and hunting preserves even though substantial portions are supposedly public. This usually seems to come about when the original ranching family sells out.

 

[futurafree]

This vegan will be donating to the hunter's rights group Fossana linked to or especially the hunting app OnX that has a map showing their completed projects for land purchases and easement agreements. The wilderness makes a man do strange things.
They seem to be the most organized resistance and likely force for change, but please post here if you know of similar groups for donations.