About 60 square miles of previously inaccessible public land are now reachable in our region. That's thanks to a new initiative called "Access Granted" from Wyoming-based company Infinite Outdoors.
It's partnering with private landowners to let people cross through their properties — for free — to access these public acres.
"These are areas where you might be 25 miles away from the next closest access point if there is one," said Sam Seeton, CEO and co-founder of Infinite Outdoors.
According to the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, nearly 16 million acres of state and federal land across the West are inaccessible, often surrounded by private property with no public roads or maintained trails to reach them.
Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and OnX
The Access Granted initiative is trying to chip away at this problem. The company and outdoor brands Hush and Primos are paying the private landowners to provide these access points, which recreationists can sign up to use at no cost on an app.
Infinite Outdoor's business model still largely relies on its paid subscribers. Since 2020, it has helped hunters and anglers access purely private land. Referred to as the "Airbnb for outdoorsmen," you make a reservation and pay to use that property.
"But through that we noticed there were some landowners that had access to a bunch of public land that was either very, very hard to access or completely landlocked," said Seeton. "We didn't really like the idea of charging more and monetizing what should be public land."
Seeton described the initiative as a win-win: it supports landowners to help them safeguard their properties from development, while providing free access to public land.
This company can also get data on how people are using this land and share it with local game and fish departments to help conserve species.
So far, landowners are providing entry points in Colorado and Wyoming to about 40,000 acres of state and federal land suitable for hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, climbing, or kayaking. Seeton said there's plans to expand regionwide in the next year.
This comes after a Denver circuit court protected another way to reach previously inaccessible public land in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
Referred to as "corner crossing," the method involves crossing from one section of public land to another, often over a corner shared with private property.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
