Adam Behnke: Walk-in area program now paying higher bonus for undisturbed habitat

The South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks offer several programs to provide hunting access to the public. One of those programs, which I am going to elaborate on, is the Walk-in Area Program.

The Walk-in Area Program works to maintain South Dakota’s rich hunting heritage by providing public hunting access to privately owned lands that contain valuable wildlife habitat. The landowner opens the land to public hunting, (foot-traffic only) in exchange for a small payment and immunity from non-negligent liability. Landowners with land enrolled in permanent habitat conservation programs like CRP can receive an additional up-front bonus payment by opening it to public hunting for multiple years.

There have been a couple of exciting changes to the Walk-in Area Program this past year. The first of those changes are GFP will now be paying $1/acre base access payment, plus $9/acre bonus payment for permanent habitat left undisturbed during the contract year. The big change here is that in the past we paid $1/acre base access payment, and $5/acre bonus payment for undisturbed habitat.

Habitat and access are a huge priority for the department, so the hopes are by increasing these payments, more landowners will be enticed to participate in the program, thus providing quality habitat and more access for sportsmen. The primary focus is securing permanent habitats like CRP, wetlands with standing emergent vegetation, abandoned farm sites or any other permanent non-woody habitat left undisturbed during the contract year.

The second exciting change to the program is an increase in the fixed rate for our conservation program signing bonus. In an effort to gain access to more high-quality habitat, an additional signing bonus will be offered to landowners who sign a walk-in area contract on undisturbed habitat land enrolled in a USDA conservation program (i.e. CRP, WRP, CSP, EQIP). Landowners choosing to participate in the conservation program signing bonus will receive either a $5 or $10/acre rate for each hunting season of the WIA contract depending on its location in the state.

In the past, this rate was either $2.50 or $5/acre, so essentially, the payments are now doubled. The $5/acre rate is in a portion of southwestern South Dakota, while most of the remainder of the state qualifies for the $10/acre fixed rate. This will be a one-time, upfront payment in the 1st year of the WIA contract. Landowners are required to sign a WIA contract for the length of their CRP contract to receive the signing bonus.

As a basic example, if you had 160 acres of CRP enrolled in the program, you would earn $160 for the base access payment ($1/acre base times 160 acres) and you would earn $1,440 for undisturbed permanent habitat ($9/acre times 160 acres) for a total payment of $1,600 in a typical year.

Under this same example, if you had 10 years remaining on the life of your CRP contract and you chose to participate in the signing bonus, you would receive a one-time payment of $8,000 or $16,000 depending on your location throughout the state (number of acres (160) X fixed rate (5 or 10) X number of years left on CRP contract, which is 10).

For more than 25 years, GFP has worked cooperatively with landowners to provide hunting access on privately owned lands.

To enroll land into the Walk-in Area Program, the landowner must:

• Agree to allow free, unlimited access by the public without having to obtain prior permission.

• Offer land with sufficient permanent habitat (primarily CRP or other permanent vegetation) to provide reasonable opportunity to harvest game animals.

• Enroll a contiguous tract of at least 80 acres in size. Smaller tracts may also qualify depending on the hunting opportunity.

• Offer land where they hold exclusive hunting rights.

• Agree to reasonably protect the offered land from degradation. If the wildlife habitat on the contracted land is degraded, the Walk-In Area payment will be reduced in equal proportion to the amount of habitat removed.

If you have additional questions regarding the Walk-in Area Program, contact your local South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks regional office or your local conservation officer.

Adam Behnke is wildlife conservation officer for the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department.

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Walk-in area program now paying higher bonus for undisturbed habitat