BOISE – An updated map showing detailed access to state endowment trust lands shows that 96 percent of the lands are accessible for recreation.
Maps showing the location of endowment lands have been available online for years, but the updated map focuses on which endowment lands are accessible for recreation.
The map titled “Endowment Lands Accessible for Recreation” is available here.
The IDL also is working with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) to add the new layer to the IDFG online interactive hunt planner map.
The new map shows more than 2.3 million acres of the approximately 2.4 million acres of endowment lands in Idaho can be accessed by foot or by water, and some of the lands have motorized access as well. Approximately 103,000 acres are not accessible because they are surrounded by private landowners or because activities occurring on the lands make them unsafe for the public, such as within a military training area.
During the 2017 legislative session, failed House Concurrent Resolution 20 in part would have required IDL to make information available about the legal accessibility of endowment lands. After the resolution was voted down, IDL Director Tom Schultz initiated the effort to make the information available on the IDL web site and through the IDFG online interactive hunt planner map.
“There have been reports that state land management does not provide assured access for sportsmen and the public. The updated map reveals a more accurate picture,” IDL Director Tom Schultz said. “In addition to providing steady management activities that financially support Idaho’s public school system and Idaho’s rural economy, state endowment trust lands offer Idaho’s sportsmen and the public nearly limitless recreational access.”
Additional information about recreation on endowment lands is available on the IDL web site here.