History has shaped how public lands are now organized and, in some cases, completely isolated by private land

After years of analyzing and identifying landlocked public lands across the country, the TRCP and onX have now tallied up 16.43 million acres of lost hunting and fishing opportunities in 22 states.

This is no doubt frustrating, because they’re your public lands and you can’t get to them. But there’s no single policy or decision-maker to blame. As we’ve seen in the West, the Midwest, and the Mid-Atlantic, public lands have become landlocked in many ways. The diverse history of the Southeast has similarly had significant implications for the way this region’s public lands are organized—and in some cases isolated—today.

States such as North Carolina, which had been among the original 13, and Tennessee, part of which had been a territorial claim of North Carolina until it was ceded to the federal government, used an older survey system known as “metes and bounds” to create property lines following geographic features and other landmarks.

Other states were acquired through treaties with foreign powers, such as the Louisiana Purchase, and so their public lands were organized according to the survey system used across the West and Midwest to divide the federal government’s acquisitions into a grid-like pattern of ranges, townships, and sections. These states—Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi—are known as the South’s “public land states.”

But over time, as in other parts of the country, many public lands in the South were sold off. Particularly in the areas between the Appalachian Mountains and Mississippi River, where demand for cotton, the region’s primary cash crop, produced a westward land rush. During the first half of the 19th century, large speculative purchases resulted in the massive transfer of public lands into private hands.

Following the Civil War, Congress enacted the Southern Homestead Act to reduce speculation and encourage land ownership among formerly enslaved people, but the law was repealed in 1876 as the Reconstruction Era came to an end. As a result, the remaining federal estate in the South was subject to massive land sales in which timber and mineral interests accumulated huge swaths of forests.

In the early 20th century, however, the region’s public-land legacy was reborn, beginning with the passage of the Weeks Act in 1911. The law empowered the federal government to acquire lands for national forests in the eastern United States. The intention of the law was to restore cut-over and eroded lands, thereby conserving timber resources and important watersheds.

The 1930s saw the establishment of state forests and parks, in part with the help of Civilian Conservation Corps workers, who built facilities and infrastructure. States also began to acquire Wildlife Management Areas to conserve important habitat for game species, as well as to provide hunting and fishing opportunities for the public.

The result of all of this is today’s unique system of county, state, and federal land holdings and, unfortunately, a remnant patchwork of landlocked public lands.

Learn more at unlockingpubliclands.org.

These state and federal programs can help to open landlocked public lands across the region

Through TRCP’s unique partnership with onX, we now know that more than 174,000 acres of public land in Florida, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Tennessee are landlocked—completely isolated by private lands with no permanent, legal means of access.

Compared to millions of inaccessible acres in the major public land states out West, this might not seem like much. But the availability of even a few dozen acres of public land close to home can boost our ability to recruit, retain, and reactivate license-buying sportsmen and women.

Fortunately, there are solutions—nationally and specifically in the Southeast. Landlocked public lands are best made accessible through cooperative agreements with private landowners that result in land exchanges, acquisitions, and easements, but this critical work cannot be undertaken without funding. When it comes to opening inaccessible public lands, even small projects can offer big benefits.

Here are five key programs that support these efforts.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund  

The LWCF remains the most powerful tool available for establishing and expanding access to public lands and waters. And it just got more powerful with the recent passage of the Great American Outdoors Act, which fully funds the program at $900 million annually for wildlife conservation and outdoor recreation, including $27 million that is dedicated to public access. Importantly, the LWCF is not just limited to federal projects—at least 40 percent of the program must be used for state-driven projects. State Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plans are developed by each state to set priorities for state-side LWCF-funded projects and represent a key opportunity to unlock public lands.

Florida Forever

This major conservation and recreational lands acquisition program has been used by the state to open 818,000 acres to the public with $3.1 billion in funding since 2001. The list of crucial habitats and recreation opportunities protected through the Florida Forever program is immense, with funding being spread across 10 different agencies. With a goal of increasing public recreation opportunities, Florida Forever is a powerful tool that can be used to open existing landlocked public lands.

Tennessee’s State Wetland Fund

In 1987, Tennessee created the fund to acquire and protect wetlands, primarily on the Mississippi River Alluvial Plain. The program has since been expanded to protect uplands and other habitats across the state, and public access is a priority with all new land acquisitions. Funded at between $12 million and $19 million each year, the Wetland Fund is an effective tool that could be applied to unlock inaccessible public lands that offer important habitats and hunting and fishing opportunities.

The Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council

This decision-making body was established by the Arkansas Legislature in 1987 to oversee grants and a trust fund for the acquisition, management, and stewardship of state-owned properties. These grants are funded through the state’s real estate transfer tax to protect and maintain natural areas, historic sites, and outdoor recreation access points. Funded at more than $20 million annually in recent years, a portion of ANCRC funds can be used for state land acquisition—including natural areas, state parks, and state forests —and these dollars are frequently leveraged with federal matching grants, including those from the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

The North Carolina Land and Water Fund

Formerly known as the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, this program was established in 1996 to protect the state’s drinking water sources. Since that time, its purpose has expanded to include other conservation and recreation needs such as boosting public access, and the fund has conserved more than half a million acres and protected or restored 3,000 miles of streams and rivers. The Land and Water Fund is an important tool for opening new recreation opportunities, and $11 million was appropriated for land acquisition in 2020.

To learn more about the landlocked public lands problem and other solutions, visit unlockingpubliclands.org.