Opening Private Land to the Public
Land is one commodity that there isn’t any more being made to meet everyone’s need. With the growing population and rate of urban sprawl, it is being used up at an ever increasing rate. Acre after acre of land once available for the enjoyment and use of hunters, fishermen, and other outdoor enthusiasts is vanishing at an alarming rate.
Now that it has become an issue of potential lost revenue, numerous states are sitting up and taking notice of this very real issue at long last. It’s sad it took the almighty dollar for them to do so, but at least the issue is being looked into with solutions being sought out on how to combat it. There are some ideas, but how good are they for everyone involved?
The big thing right now is the discussion of getting private land owners to make their land available to the public for outdoor recreational use. As incentives for doing so, there is talk of tax breaks and limited liability to the landowner who allows the public access. On the surface, these seem like reasonable proposals, but are they?
Take West Virginia for instance, one of many states to recently look into this idea. Natural Resources Director Frank Jezioro cited financial numbers to help plead his case for offering landowners incentives to open their land to public recreational use. He stated that, “the state has an $800 million industry in hunting and fishing, and with more land available, that figure could balloon to $1 billion.?
Ok, with the dollar amounts mentioned, how does a tax break of 2-3 percent to private landowners really compare to the money the state will be bringing in? It doesn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I think there is merit to this idea, but I think the approach being made to accomplish it may be a bit off.
Unless landowners get more than what amounts to a hill of beans out of this ‘windfall of tourist dollars’, then what I think should happen is the states need to concentrate on two things. Number one; hold onto the already available land they have for outdoor recreational use. Number two; obtain new land that will be preserved for outdoor recreational use.
Why should landowners sacrifice the benefits of having their own private land for recreational use for a few measly tax breaks when the state is going to be making millions off of them doing so? This is a question I think lawmakers in any state are going to have to address before anything real can become of this latest idea.
hunting, land, private property, outdoor recreation, public access, legislation
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