State Incentive Programs

Farming and ranching are cyclic, sometimes unstable, always volatile enterprises. When beef prices take a downturn, so do a rancher’s earnings. A hard winter hits a farmer’s pocket book too. Wildlife need forage and habitat to exist, and as development occurs often the only place wildlife can find these necessities is on private land. Without careful management, wildlife may only increase the burden on farmers and ranchers by eating crops and/or competing with domestic animals for forage.

Hunting is an important management tool for controlling big game populations and the damage they can do. When offered the opportunity to hunt on private land, many hunters will often pay for the privilege. Revenues from fee hunting can help even-out a landowner's financial instability associated with hunting and ranching.

Some western states have established "landowner incentive programs" to help the rancher and farmer manage wildlife, while at the same time benefiting wildlife species and providing hunting opportunities. These programs vary by state, both in what they are called and how they operate. It appears, however, that all western states have either established some type of incentive program or are in the process.

 Information about various state incentive programs follows: Arizona; Nevada; California; Washington; Colorado; New Mexico; Utah; and Oregon.

Arizona

Contact: Tice Supplee 602-789-3350

Arizona Game and Fish Department

The Arizona Game and Fish Department’s Stewardship Program includes partnerships with private landowners to enhance project funding through cooperation and cost sharing. Committees in each of nine Arizona communities meet to design projects that will enhance habitat on private or leased land and accommodate conflicts between wildlife and ranching or farming. Examples of agreements under the Stewardship Program have included:

• The Department has bought fertilizer and seed for the landowner to apply to increase forage for cattle and wildlife;
• The Department has also shared the cost and installation of water systems for the benefit of both livestock and wildlife; and
• Department-purchased fencing has been installed by landowners to keep cattle out of riparian areas where necessary.

When public land is involved, the Arizona Game and Fish Department brings the federal agency into the cooperative agreement. For example, a water distribution project worth approximately a quarter of a million dollars was completed on Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest land, to which Arizona Game and Fish contributed $130,000, the USDA-Forest Service contributed time and funds, and funding from a state watershed conservation fund was contributed. The lessee provided the equipment and manpower for the installation of the system.

Under the Access Stewardship Program, the State provides materials such as cattle guards, which the rancher then installs and through which public access is provided. The stipulation of both the Access and Private Lands programs is that the benefit to the State in terms of numbers of animals and/or hunting or viewing days must be greater than the cost of the project (hunting/viewing days values are based on numbers from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agency’s Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation).

Contact: Maureen Hullinger, 702-688-1500

Nevada Division of Wildlife

Nevada has distinct circumstances -- over 80 percent of the state is publicly-owned. The Division of Wildlife has created a program to fit these circumstances. The impetus of the program was wildlife depredation on private lands. If landowners have a problem with depredation they can request hunting tags from the state specific to the species causing the damage. The landowners can then use their tags or sell them. This system releases the Division from depredation calls, and can be economically rewarding for the landowner who can get around $3,500 for a tag.

Contact: Ken Mayer, 916-653-1777

California Department of Fish and Game

The California legislature instituted a Private Lands Wildlife Management Area Program in 1984 after a three-year pilot program. To designate the land, the landowner must complete and implement a wildlife habitat enhancement and management plan that actively encourages the propagation, conservation and wise use of the fish and wildlife populations on the land. The preparation of the plan is solely the responsibility of the applicant. Incentives are provided through biologically-sound, yet flexible, seasons and bag limits for resident game species. Management plans that are reviewed by the Department of Fish and Game, and approved by the Fish and Game Commission, are required for each area and renewed annually.

High quality hunting opportunities result, which are marketed by the landowner in the form of fee hunting and other forms of recreation.

Contact: Rolf Johnson, 360-902-2519

Washington Department of Wildlife

The goal of Washington’s "Partners for the 90s: Public Resources, Private Lands" plan is to develop programs which will preserve, protect, improve and perpetuate wildlife habitat on private lands and increase recreational access for all wildlife users. Programs encompassed by this effort include:

• Landowner recognition – awards voluntary, no fee efforts.
• Technical assistance – provides information on habitat enhancement to landowners.
• Private Land Wildlife Management Areas (PLWMA) – a pilot program intended to:

1. encourage landowners to enhance and protect wildlife habitat,
2. encourage landowners to permit public access for hunting and non-hunting wildlife recreation,
3. increase habitats for all wildlife species in Washington, and
4. create an economic incentive for landowners to increase wildlife populations and offer an alternative to traditional agriculture.

The PLWMA program is designed for contiguous landholdings of over 5,000 acres. However, landowners may combine adjacent properties to meet the requirement. The program requires the landowners to develop a habitat plan for their land, including management strategies and a proposed hunting season. The plan is reviewed and approved by the Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Wildlife Commission. If approved, the landowner gets a specified number of tags to be used on his land, and can "sell" them by requiring access fees to his land. The general public can participate in a raffle for special hunts on private lands. Only three landowners are currently involved in Washington’s program.

Contact: John Seidel, 970-963-1976

Colorado Division of Wildlife

The Colorado Division of Wildlife’s "Ranching for Wildlife" program is designed to:

• Give certain private property owners more incentive to develop and maintain wildlife habitat and populations on their properties;
• Provide public hunting access and harvest on private land;
• Reduce game damage costs paid to landowners;
• Improve relations between sportsmen and women, landowners, and the Division; and
• Help achieve big game population and management objectives.

Prospective ranches must have a minimum of 12,000 acres in one contiguous unit. The total number of licenses, the ratio of private to public licenses, and hunting seasons are determined annually by the rancher and a Division wildlife biologist based on the objectives of the ranch’s wildlife management plan. Up to 90 percent of the licenses for males of each species can be sold by the ranchers. The remaining male licenses and up to 100 percent of the female licenses are offered to the public through the Division’s regular system and prices.

According to John Seidel, statewide coordinator, Colorado currently has 25 ranches enrolled (the maximum allowed enrollment is 30), and two or three more ranches are interested in enrolling next year. Seidel says the program is popular with both hunters and ranchers, and the Division likes it too because it does not require a significant investment of time or money to coordinate. One reason it has been successful with landowners is because neighboring ranchers can group together to meet the acreage requirement. In fact, one group involves 22 landowners.

The habitat benefits have been significant, and ranchers are getting more and more involved in wildlife management as the program develops. A favorite quote is, "Those antelope aren’t pests anymore." The Division recently held a technical workshop that was attended by 60 percent of the enrolled ranches. Topics discussed ranged from how to run a bed and breakfast or lodge to how to raise trophy elk.

Contact: Jenni Jeffers, 505-827-7840

New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, Division of Wildlife

New Mexico does not currently have an incentive program, but the Department of Game and Fish is in the process of developing one. The program will be cooperative whereby the landowner will follow a state-created management plan for his land, in exchange for more elk and/or pronghorn tags for that land.

The Division has a program in place now in which they provide consulting for over 100 landowners a year on how to create wildlife habitat. This program is funded under the State’s general appropriations. The Division also helps the landowner find other sources of funding for habitat projects, including cost-sharing relationships with the Natural Resource Conservation Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Partners for Wildlife Program, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

Contact: Wes Shields, 801-538-4700

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources

Utah has Cooperative Wildlife Management Units (CWMUs) consisting of mostly private lands authorized for the specific purpose of managing big game animals. CWMUs were created to recognize the contribution made by private landowners in providing habitat on private range lands. In return for this privilege, the landowner must allow some public access to hunt on these lands.

According to the 1998 report, Status of the CWMU Program, Interim Legislative Committee Report, CWMU’s in the state total 1,069,652 acres, with public land comprising about five percent of the total acres. These lands are open to the public for those who obtain CWMU permits.

In 1998, Utah CWMUs offered a total of 2,384 buck deer, bull elk, buck pronghorn, and bull moose permits, of which 298 were available to the public through a CWMU drawing. The remaining permits were allocated through vouchers to CWMUs to be transferred or sold to private clientele.

Some public land is included in the CMWUs either because they are isolated tracts of land or because including them allows for better management. When public lands are included, the public is compensated with additional hunting opportunities in proportion to the public land included.

Oregon

Contact: Tom Keegan, 503-872-5260

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

Oregon has a number of different landowner assistance programs including their "Green Forage" program. In this program, the state provides resources, such as seed or watering systems, with the goal of luring wildlife away from private or permitted land. This is a cooperative program where the landowners, and sometimes the federal agencies, invest time and effort. The budget for this program is limited.

Under a state statute, hunting licenses are subject to a two-dollar surcharge. These funds support the Access Habitat program. This cooperative program provides improved wildlife habitat and/or access. Though some projects are geared toward wildlife damage management, this program has a broader focus than the "Green Forage" program. The primary focus is on private landowners’ contributions toward wildlife habitat, and the improvement of relationships between hunters and landowners.

In the eastern part of the State, where rural communities and small timber lots are plentiful, projects under the Access Habitat program have included developing water sources, planting of additional forage crops to draw wildlife away from more valuable crops, and installation of cattle guards. Ninety-two percent of the projects have included some level of access development. The western part of the State, and the Willamette Valley in particular, is home to major timber companies. Under this program, funding has gone to fund law enforcement on timber company land in return for continued public access on those lands.

The hunters contributing the funding and the Access and Habitat Board monitor the Access Habitat program’s benefits. The Oregon Hunter’s Association, a non-profit group, has rallied behind the program and is a cooperator in many of the projects. Other organizations have also cooperated in the projects, including the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Mule Deer Foundation, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Finally, Oregon has a Landowner Preference program for controlled hunt tags. Based on the amount of acreage, landowners can acquire a certain number of big game tags. Distribution of tags was previously limited to blood relatives of the landowner. Now, however, the landowner can market the tags by selling hunting opportunities or trespass rights. A landowner can get $5,000 for the opportunity to hunt a bull elk.