“Public Access to Habitat” (PATH) represents Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s (PF & QF) primary strategy to increasing public access to private lands for hunting and other outdoor recreation.
Current PATH Initiatives in South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, North Dakota, and Michigan have been specifically tailored to help overcome state-specific access barriers. Our team of private lands biologists also helps promote and deliver a wide variety of existing access programs and initiatives across the organization's footprint.
Collectively, PF & QF helped secure public hunting access to over 240,000 acres of high-quality habitat on private lands throughout the country during the 2025-26 hunting season, including over 94,000 new acres enrolled via the 5 PATH Initiatives.
These publicly accessible lands provided an additional 28,500 "hunter-days" this past season and generated an estimated $2.5M in hunter expenditures (trips, equipment, etc.), providing a significant boost to rural economies.
Increasing Public Hunting Access to Private Lands
In South Dakota, PATH provides a one-time incentive payment ($10-25/acre) to private landowners who enroll new, high-quality upland habitat into SDGFP’s Walk-In Area (WIA) Program for 10 years.
Total Access Secured (FY24-26) = 79,190.3 acres
In Nebraska, NCAP funding is leveraged with a Nebraska Environmental Trust (NET) grant to provide a one-time incentive payment ($10-25/acre) to private landowners who enroll high-quality upland habitat into NGPC’s Open Fields and Waters (OFW) Program for 5 years.
Access Secured in FY26 = 13,645.4 acres
Total Access Secured (FY24-26) = 57,539.0 acres
In Oklahoma, PATH funding is leveraged with Pittman-Robertson Act funds (federal excise tax on guns/ammunition) to enroll new, high-quality upland habitat on private lands into ODWC’s Oklahoma Land Access Program (OLAP) for 2-3 years.
Total Access Secured (FY26) = 9,935.0 acres
In North Dakota, PATH funding is leveraged with a ND Outdoor Heritage Fund (OHF) grant to incentivize the establishment of new, high-quality grassland habitat that (along with other adjacent habitat types) is simultaneously enrolled in NDGF’s Private Land Open to Sportsmen (PLOTS) Program for 10 years.
Total Access Secured (FY26) = 10,980.0 acres
In Michigan, PATH provides an additional $10 per acre per year incentive to landowners who enroll new, high-quality upland habitat into the MI DNR’s Hunting Access Program (HAP) for 2-3 years.
Total Access Secured (FY26) = 27.0 acres
Through innovative partnerships, PATH funding is leveraged with other funding sources to help expand voluntary, public access programs and initiatives.
Thank you to all of our FY26 Public Access to Habitat (PATH) Supporters!
Jeremy Breedlove
Jim Jurries
Mason Brown
SITKA Gear
White Rock Oil & Gas
National Wild Turkey Federation
Interested in learning more about PATH and how you can help create more public access?
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