Trump’s new order reopens Wyoming’s fight over landlocked public lands

Wyoming’s locked acres face a new test

Wyoming may gain routes to public land that people often cannot reach. President Donald Trump’s Sept. 17 order gives federal agencies 180 days to propose changes to access.

Wyoming has about 2.4 million corner-locked public acres, making the stakes unusually large. Yet the order begins a policy process; it does not open gates or roads today.

The order favors negotiated access

The order tells four Cabinet departments to propose ways around access barriers. It lists voluntary easements, land exchanges, cooperative agreements with states and counties, and infrastructure work.

Private property rights must still be respected. National parks and most national monuments are excluded, while agencies are instructed to prioritize hunting access unless resource conditions warrant closure.

Railroad grants created the puzzle

Wyoming’s checkerboard began with the Pacific Railroad land grants. The 1862 law started the Union Pacific land grant, and an 1864 act later doubled it to 20 miles on each side of the route.

The result was an alternating pattern of public and private sections. Today, that checkerboard stretches roughly 300 miles along the Union Pacific corridor across southern Wyoming.

Millions of acres hinge on corners

onX estimates that Wyoming leads the nation in corner-locked public acres, with roughly 2.4 million. Across 11 Western states, the estimate reaches 8.3 million acres at 27,120 corners.

Those parcels may be publicly owned, yet no road or trail reaches them. Access can depend on a single point where two public squares and two private squares meet.

Little-known fact: Federal officials must support state venison-donation programs, including efforts that send processed wild game to schools and food banks.

Corner crossing is a precise move

Corner crossing means stepping from one public parcel to another where their corners touch. The person passes through airspace above private land without placing a foot there.

That distinction matters. Using a private road, opening a private gate, damaging property, or missing the surveyed corner creates legal risks and may still require the landowner’s permission.

Four hunters forced the legal test

Four Missouri hunters used a ladder-like device to corner-cross near Elk Mountain in 2021. They moved between federal parcels without touching ranch land.

Carbon County charged them with criminal trespass, turning the hunt into a national access case. A Wyoming jury acquitted them in April 2022, but the landowner later filed a civil lawsuit.

Little-known fact: The order directs Interior to encourage states to expand Sunday hunting opportunities on state and federal lands within one year.

An 1885 law shaped the ruling

The case turned on the Unlawful Inclosures Act of 1885, which bars landowners from blocking access to federal land. Iron Bar Holdings called airspace crossing trespass.

The Tenth Circuit rejected that argument in March 2025. It held that crossing without touching or damaging private property was lawful because airspace rights could not become a barrier around public parcels.

The victory stops at 6 states

The Supreme Court declined Iron Bar’s appeal on October 20, 2025, leaving the decision standing. The denial did not create a nationwide rule.

The precedent covers Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Courts elsewhere may find it persuasive, but residents in Montana, Idaho, and other Western states still face separate laws and litigation.

Private roads remain off limits

Trump’s order does not authorize trespassing across private roads. Its access tools are voluntary, and easements, exchanges, or cooperative agreements must respect private property rights.

Implementation depends on existing law and available money. Landowners can negotiate, decline, or seek terms, while agencies must decide which isolated parcels offer recreation or wildlife value to justify investment.

Access could replace some land sales

The order could change how agencies view isolated federal parcels. Instead of treating difficult tracts only as candidates for sale or exchange, managers may pursue easements that keep them public.

Across Western BLM planning areas, onX and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership mapped at least 6,086,900 acres identified for potential sale. Wyoming is among the states included in that broader public-land disposal debate.

Wyoming already pays for access

Wyoming already has a model for voluntary access. Its Access Yes program pays or partners with willing landowners to open private land and otherwise unreachable public property.

In 2025, the program provided hunting access within 2,547,138 acres statewide. That included 1,696,261 acres of enrolled private and state land plus 855,376 public acres inside participating areas.

Digital maps changed the debate

Smartphone maps turned ownership lines into visible boundaries. Hunters can see public squares, private parcels, roads, and corners from the field.

Federal mapping is improving, too. Interior began publishing digital easement and recreation-access data in 2026 under the MAPLand and MAPWaters laws, helping users learn which routes are open before entering the backcountry.

How are drought, rising costs, and beef imports squeezing Wyoming ranchers from every direction? Take a closer look at the pressures threatening family operations and the state’s cattle industry.

The real decisions arrive in 2027

The four departments must propose access changes within 180 days, putting the deadline in mid-March 2027. Their plans will determine whether the order produces easements, exchanges, roads, or mostly paperwork.

Key questions include funding, parcel selection, public comment, and landowner participation. Wyoming residents should watch whether agencies preserve the court’s access gains while avoiding conflicts.

What does Wyoming see in this emerging industry as competing states begin pulling back? Take a closer look at the state’s growing commitment, the economic stakes, and the risks behind its bet.

Should federal agencies expand access to Wyoming’s landlocked public lands while protecting private property rights? Share your view in the comments.

This slideshow was made with AI assistance and human editing.

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