Access Yes! Application Period Open

Interested landowners may apply to participate in an incentive program that compensates participating landowners who provide hunters and anglers access to or through their land. The application period to participate in Access Yes! in 2007 is open now. The deadline is February 15. Enrollment and bid applications are available on the Idaho Department of Fish and Game Website. The forms must be downloaded and mailed to Idaho Fish and Game. The Access Yes! program is designed to improve hunter and angler access to private land or across private land to public land beyond by compensating willing landowners. The goal is to provide access to hunters and anglers to 1 million or more acres of private land and access across private land to thousands acres of public land. In 2006, participating landowners opened 102 properties, totaling 620,215 acres of private and access to an additional 689,030 acres of public land, to hunters and anglers. The program lets landowners specify conditions of access to meet their needs, provides access to wildlife that may cause depredation problems and helps improve hunter ethics and the relationships between hunters and anglers and landowners. The program is a cooperative effort among the Idaho departments of Fish and Game and Agriculture and the Idaho Fish and Game Advisory Committee. The state's recreational liability statute shields participating landowners who allow recreational activities on their property without charge or who have entered a cooperative lease agreement with the state. For information or for signup forms go to: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/ifwis/huntplanner/accessyesguide.aspx; or contact local Fish and Game offices. Additional money may be available for landowners who agree to provide permanent or long-term access across their property. The National Shooting Sports Foundation has added $100,000 to the Access Yes! incentive program for landowners who provide access across their property to public land beyond. For more information about this one-time opportunity, contact the Access Yes! coordinator at 208-334-2920.