Landowners Can Bid for Access Yes!

Idaho landowners who want to take part in Fish and Game's Access Yes! program have until February 28 to bid for 2005. Funding is still quite limited for this new access program with allocations going nearly equally to the seven regions. Landowners deal with regional Fish and Game offices in this program. Local sportsman committees decide which lands will be enrolled. Access Yes! began operations in 2003 using funding from other Fish and Game programs. Access Yes! is intended to increase hunting and fishing access to private lands and to public lands that would otherwise not be accessible through private lands. It compensates willing landowners who provide access to private land or through their property to public land. In 2004, Access Yes! accounted for access to 222,000 acres of private land and access through private land to more than 250,000 acres of public land. Fish and Game spent $275,000 on the program in 2004 with $300,000 budgeted for the program in 2005. Expanding Access Yes! to provide more hunting and fishing access on private and public land will require additional funding. About $1.2 million is needed to provide Idaho hunters and anglers access comparable to access programs in other western states. The Idaho legislature in its coming session may consider a Fish and Game license fee increase including funds dedicated to expanding the access program. In 2004, a lottery system with premium big game tags as the prizes helped fund the program.