A gray area
Stepping up to protect public lands access via 'corner crossings'

Last summer, hunters and anglers stepped up in a huge way to help defeat a proposal by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, to sell off millions of acres of public land. 

In the end, public land defenders won. Confronted by an outpouring of opposition, Lee removed his amendment to the Trump administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill.” But the struggle demonstrated that we needed to act sooner. 

Four elk hunters in Wyoming showed us what stepping up can look like. Instead of sitting back and looking sadly at a huge chunk of prime elk country blocked by a billionaire’s ranch, they built a special ladder. By climbing over the billionaire’s land, they crossed from one corner of public land to another, setting in motion a legal process that freed up millions of acres of public land in six states.

The hunters’ creativity in the field has become an inspiration. That’s why the two of us – state legislators in Wyoming and Montana – are teaming up to fight for public land access, just as the hunters in Wyoming’s Elk Mountain did. 

Across the West, millions of acres of public land are still legally open but practically inaccessible. At checkerboard corners where public and private land meet, a person can stand on public ground, look directly at more public ground an inch away, and still be told they cannot step from one to the other. 

In Wyoming, the question of corner crossing dragged through the courts for years. Last October, the Supreme Court refused to hear a case challenging a lower court decision allowing corner crossing. The ruling establishes that crossing between public land corners without touching private property does not constitute trespass. 

That means corner crossing remains legal in the 10th Circuit states of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Oklahoma, Kansas and New Mexico. 

In other states, a legal gray area remains. In Montana, Gov. Greg Gianforte and the director of Fish, Wildlife and Parks say that corner crossing remains unlawful under state law. That declaration puts political clout behind the status quo, where public land remains accessible to those who can buy control of key parcels and hire fancy attorneys.

The consequences are not abstract. For working families, access to public land is a necessity, not a luxury. It is how people put meat in the freezer as grocery prices rise. It is how parents take their kids outdoors without paying fees. It is how rural communities hold on to traditions that are increasingly out of reach. 

We, as elected leaders, need to act. We can’t let confusing court decisions or laws that don’t serve the people be the last word on any issue dealing with public land.

That’s why the two of us support state legislation that will clarify the law and protect public access. The stakes are high and rising. Land prices have become astronomically out of reach for most people, outside wealth continues to pour into our states, and politicians in Congress and our state legislatures increasingly side with wealthy landowners.

Unless we act to clarify corner crossing in law, access will continue to shrink. The result will be a two-tiered system: a West for people who can afford exclusive access, another West that’s diminished for everyone else.

Corner crossing may be ingenious, but it is not radical. It is a straightforward affirmation that public land needs to be available to the public. We don’t think this is a partisan issue. Hunters, anglers, hikers, conservationists, landowners and working families span every political stripe in our states. Fair access to public land for future generations is a shared value.

The choice ahead is simple. We can defend public land as a public right for our children and grandchildren, or we can allow the West to slide toward a situation where those with wealth continue to block vast swaths of public land.

As legislators from Montana and Wyoming, we know which side we are on.

The writers are contributors to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conservation about the West. Karlee Provenza is a Democrat serving House District 45, Laramie, in the Wyoming House of Representatives. Democrat Joshua A. Seckinger serves House District 62, Bozeman, in the Montana House of Representatives. For information about the bills they propose, contact: Karlee.Provenza@wyoleg.gov or Joshua.seckinger@legmt.gov.