Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight
Pheasants Forever has enrolled a new landowner in its Public Access to Habitat (PATH) program that will open nearly 30,000 new acres of private land to public hunting and recreation in northwestern South Dakota.
Pheasants Forever is a nonprofit conservation group that works to improve habitat and expand public access to hunters and other outdoor enthusiasts. The group’s Ziebach County project is the largest single enrollment of the PATH initiative, which launched in South Dakota and Nebraska in 2023.
With this addition, the program has opened 62,581 acres of privately owned land to public access across South Dakota through 59 contracts in 31 counties.
The program complements the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Walk-In Area program, which pays landowners $1.50 to $2 per acre to open land for public access.
Public Access To Habitat offers landowners up to an additional $25 per acre to further incentivize high-quality habitat to be enrolled in the state’s Walk-In Area program. Landowners must enroll eligible acres in PATH for 10 years.
Habitats — including shelterbelts, wetlands, conservation easements and grasslands — enrolled in the program must remain untouched, except for necessary management tasks (such as emergency grazing for livestock). Biologists work with landowners to ensure enrolled acres are productive for wildlife.
South Dakota Tourism and onX Hunt, a hunting GPS service, funded the initiative’s first year in the state with a $250,000 grant. South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks and onX continue to support the project.
The newly enrolled 29,725 acres of rolling plains support pheasants, grouse, deer and pronghorn, according to Pheasants Forever.
“Since we launched PATH in South Dakota, the program has proven we can have a profound impact on the quality of both access and habitat across the entire state,” said Casey Sill, a spokesman for Pheasants Forever.
Acres enrolled in South Dakota’s Walk-In Area program can be found on Game, Fish and Parks’ Public Hunting Atlas.