The "Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program" (VPA-HIP) is a "competitive grant program that is only available for state and tribal governments" according to the USDA press release. Secretary Vilsack stated that the VPA-HIP "will not only help achieve conservation goals, but also increase opportunities for hunting and fishing and other outdoor recreation by providing greater access to privately held lands for wildlife-dependent recreation." Up to 50 million dollars is available for the program and this funding will be used to provide rental payments "and other incentives such as technical or conservation services" to participating landowners.
Currently, 26 states have public access programs for hunting, fishing, and other recreation uses. Secretary Vilsack stated that there are also economic incentives for outdoor recreation, as reported by Brownfield Ag News. The industry in the United States is worth about 730 billion dollars per year and hunting and fishing alone are worth about 200 billion dollars per year.
Private landowners may have concerns about liability protection when opening their land to the public for recreational purposes. All 50 states, however, have enacted some degree of liability protection for these landowners through statutes know as "recreational use statutes."
For a guide to the States' Recreational Use Statutes provided by the National Agricultural Law Center, click here.
To read the USDA press release, click here.
To read the Brownfield Ag News story, click here.
Posted: 07/09/2010
