Private
Lands Access Review and Update
George Tsukamoto, Wildlife Biologist
The Washington
Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has completed a program
review of current private lands access programs. The focus
of this review is on the Feel Free to Hunt (FFTH), Register
to Hunt (RTH) and Hunt Only by Written Permission (HOBWP)
programs.
FFTH program
private lands are those that are posted with signs allowing
hunters who find these areas to freely access them. There
is no need to contact the landowner and the lands are not
advertised other than by posting. Hunters generally find these
areas by scouting before the season or during the season.
RTH program
private lands are those that are posted with signs and all
who use these sites are required to self-register and possess
a permission slip. A completed registration requires the following
information; date, name, address, and car license plate number.
Some locations require parking in designated areas, which
may limit the number of participants at any given time.
HOBWP program private lands are posted with signs designating
the area as hunt by written permission only. The name of the
landowner and contact phone number are printed on the signs.
It is the hunters responsibility to locate these private lands
by scouting before or during the season The landowner provides
written permission slips specifying dates, species hunted,
areas off limits, etc.
To aid
in the program review a landowner and hunter opinion survey
was conducted by Responsive Management of Harrisonburg, Virginia
under contract with WDFW. The landowners surveyed were those
enrolled in the WDFW posted hunt private lands access programs
described above. The hunters surveyed were those that actually
used or attempted to use the sites during the 2003-hunting
season. To review the results of the survey go to the hunting
page of WDFW’s website at http://wdfw.wa.gov/.
WDFW has
decided to retain all three of these programs, with some modification.
The most significant change that hunters will see is the availability
of maps that indicate the location of lands on the program.
These maps will be available beginning in September and will
be computer based to accommodate annual changes. Access to
the maps will be from WDFW’s website at http://wdfw.wa.gov/.
hunters will be able to customize the map for the area they
hunt and either print it on their own printer or save it to
a CD and take it to a local print shop such as KINKO’s,
where it can be printed in larger formats. |
