Initiative has expanded public access on private lands across key portions of the upland range
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are proud to announce the Public Access to Habitat (PATH) program has surpassed 100,000 enrolled acres in just two short years of operation. Piloted in South Dakota, PATH has now created 69,950 acres of public access on private lands in the Pheasant Capital. The program moved to Nebraska last year, where an additional 51,956 acres have been enrolled — bringing PATH’s overall total to 121,906 acres.
“PATH has been such a tremendous success since its launch in 2023, and we’re so incredibly proud to have hit 100,000 acres,” said John Laux, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever’s Permanent Habitat Protection Programs Manager. “We hope to carry that momentum into the next several years, where we’ll continue to expand both public access and quality habitat on private lands across America’s uplands.”
In South Dakota and Nebraska, The PATH program provides a financial incentive for ranchers, farmers and landowners to voluntarily enroll high-quality CRP, rangeland, shelterbelts, wetlands and other habitat types into a multiyear (variable per state), walk-in hunting agreement. Landowners are compensated with a sign-up incentive directly from Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever. At its core, the program supports a very simple equation: More Habitat & Access = More Hunters = More Dollars for Local Economies. The PATH program can also be tailored in various ways to address specific access barriers - willing landowners, funding, or staff capacity - in states throughout the pheasant and quail ranges.
PATH will now expand to North Dakota, which has a goal of enrolling an additional 15,000 acres in the next three years.
The program would not have been possible without support from local chapters and volunteers, as well as Pheasants Forever’s tremendous partners — including onX Hunt, South Dakota Tourism, the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks, The Nebraska Environmental Trust and Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.
To learn more about South Dakota’s PATH program: click here
To learn more about Nebraska’s PATH (NCAP) program: click here
For opportunities to partner with Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever on the expansion of its Public Access to Habitat Program across pheasant and quail country, please contact John Laux at JLaux@PheasantsForever.Org.