Program gives incentive to allow access

Access Yes! keeps thousands of acres in the Upper Snake River region open.

By POST REGISTER

Not everyone is shutting out the public. Dozens of landowners have signed on with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game's Access Yes! Program, which provides incentives to landowners who allow hunters and hikers onto their property.

More than 18,000 acres in the Upper Snake River region are administered through the program.

Kelly Bingham and his mother, Peggy Stolworthy, shut down their family's 2,500-acre parcel at the base of Wolverine Canyon in Bingham County in 1996 after they grew tired of strangers destroying their land.

"We had gates left open, people wouldn't stick to the roads, there are trails all over that were never there when I was a kid," Bingham said. "I could go on and on about the problems we had. ... We've got a beautiful place up here and I want to share it with people, but I don't want to share it with people who don't respect it."

A few years ago, someone with Fish and Game asked whether Bingham and Stolworthy would be interested in reopening their land to outdoor enthusiasts. They said OK, and today the land is again popular among hunters, horseback riders and bikers.

No ATVs are allowed, though.

Bingham and Stolworthy are reluctant to talk about the financial incentives for opening the land. But they said Fish and Game officials handle surveillance and erect signs informing the public of the rules.

"It has worked very well," Stolworthy said. "The public has been great. They've really accepted it."

Other landowners have taken matters into their own hands to keep their land open to everyone.

Michael Quinn, who owns Heise Expeditions and the Heise campground/swimming pool/RV park/pizza joint/golf course, threatened to lock climbers out of a popular rock located on his land because some were leaving their trash.

Instead, he asked visitors to check in before ascending the rock. The approach has worked.

"We're not having any trouble at all since we started having them sign in," Quinn said. "They were leaving their garbage, being vandals, but it was just a small minority that does it."