Funding limits Washington’s private lands hunting access program

It’s always about the money.

Cash is the limiting factor for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s private lands hunting access program, which gives hunters varying levels of public access to 1.5 million acres of private property across the state.

The program is funded by a hodgepodge of sources, including state and federal grants. Joey McCanna, WDFW’s private lands section manager, has worked in the program for more than 30 years, said that dictates how much habitat work they do and whether they’re able to pay landowners anything for joining the program.

Paying landowners is part of the reason similar access programs in other states have been so successful. The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ Block Management program, for example, pays landowners $1,000 for enrolling and up to $17 per hunter day. The payments are capped at $50,000.

Idaho’s Access Yes! program also pays landowners. Last year, the state spent just over $500,000 on the program, according to Idaho Department of Fish and Game spokesman Roger Phillips.

Meanwhile, in Washington, only some landowners enrolled in the program are getting paid. When they do, it’s usually an annual payment of $1 per acre – not nothing, but not exactly significant for landowners who provide access to a few hundred acres.

McCanna said the state has spent about $319,000 annually the past five years paying landowners for enrolling in the program.

Money for those payments came from the Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program. Known as VPA-HIP, the grants were created under the 2008 Farm Bill and they provided money to states and tribes to boost hunting access on private lands.

The future of VPA-HIP is uncertain. It expired with the Farm Bill in 2023, but was extended until this past May. It hasn’t been renewed for next year. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, introduced in February a bill to reauthorize the program for five years, but the bill hasn’t advanced.

McCanna said WDFW is relying on general fund money and species specific license money to make payments for the next fiscal year, and that the agency will apply for another VPA-HIP grant when it’s available.

They’re also looking for grant money to update their reservation system and possibly do away with the first-come, first-served paradigm that has turned getting access to some properties into a digital footrace.

Properties available only by reservation become reservable at 8 a.m. two weeks ahead of the date they’re available to hunt. By 8:15 a.m., it’s a safe bet that the reservation has been scooped up.

McCanna said the agency has studied switching to a lottery-style reservation program to make the slots more attainable for all hunters.

They know what system they’d switch to, and what it would cost. Now McCanna said they’re just looking for the money.

“We have all our stuff ready, we’re just waiting for a grant opportunity to come out,” he said.