Private Lands Wildlife Management Program

PLWM Programs in Other States

Eight Western states have negotiated agreements for habitat management on private lands. They are California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah and Washington.

California's Private Lands Wildlife Habitat Enhancement and Management Area program, established in 1983, became the first official program in the United States. It gives landowners transferable hunting permits, extended seasons, and ranch-specific harvest limits. In return, landowners agree to specific steps to improve habitat and to carry out other wildlife and hunter management activities. In 1998, 60 properties encompassing 700,000 acres were participating in the program.

Colorado's Ranching for Wildlife program began in 1985.It provides incentives to large landowners to encourage them to manage their lands for wildlife benefits. It is limited to just 30 landowners and is further restricted to landowners whose property consists of at least 12,000 contiguous acres. The 27 landowners enrolled in the program in 2001 have holdings of more than a million acres. Landowners are eligible for transferable game tags, extended seasons, and flexible bag limits and in turn produce a wildlife management plan that includes proposed harvest levels and a schedule of habitat improvements.

Nevada gives transferable hunting permits to landowners experiencing damage from deer or antelope. The permits, or tags, are issued on the basis of one tag for every 50 animals causing damage, and landowners can receive up to 12, which can then be sold to hunters. In 1999, the state added the Elk Incentive Tag program, which issues transferable elk tags to landowners based largely on the number of elk on the property.

In New Mexico, the state designated several ranches in the early 1900s as Class A Parks in recognition of their owners' role in reintroducing elk. The ranchers were allowed to set their own bag limits, seasons and hunter numbers. The state instituted a Land Owner Sign-Up System in 1988 that set rules for allocating elk and antelope hunting license authorizations based on elk density and number of acres of elk habitat. Landowners do not have to develop a wildlife management plan. In 1997, 1,442 landowners with a total of more than 3.5 million acres were enrolled in the program.

Oklahoma has a Deer Management Assistance Program, instituted in 1992, that provides landowners with transferable hunting permits for antlerless deer. The number of permits is based on the number of deer on the property, its deer-carrying capacity, and the landowner's management objectives. Properties must be at least 1,000 contiguous acres. About 75 owners enrolled more than 250,000 acres in 1998.

Oregon has issued nontransferable elk and deer tags to landowners since 1982. In 1995, it began allowing landowners to transfer one-third of their antlered tags and all of their antlerless tags to nonfamily members. The number of permits is tied to acreage.

In Utah, a three-year pilot program approved in 1990 became law in 1994. The Cooperative Wildlife Management Units program does not require a schedule of habitat improvements but does allow landowners longer hunting seasons, transferable game tags, and flexible bag limits. Eligibility is limited to properties at least 10,000 acres in size. Seventy-one units were enrolled in the program in 1999.

Washington's Private Lands Wildlife Management Area program was initiated as a pilot program in 1992 and renewed for another five years in 1997. Landowners are allowed longer hunting seasons and transferable hunting permits in return for making habitat improvements and achieving specific wildlife management objectives. A landowner's property must be at least 5,000 acres and the management plan must be approved by the state Fish and Wildlife Commission.

Tribal Programs

Sources include:
• Hunting for Habitat: A Practical Guide to State-Landowner Partnerships, by Donald R. Leal and J. Bishop Grewell, Political Economy Research Center, Bozeman, Mont., 1999.
• California Private Lands Wildlife Management Web site.
• Coloradio Ranching for Wildlife Web site.