Before Elk Mountain: The forgotten corner-crossing case that set the stage for public land access across the West

Before Elk Mountain: The forgotten corner-crossing case that set the stage for public land access across the West

by Angus M. Thuermer Jr., WyoFile Many public land advocates credit four Missouri hunters — who spent five years fighting corner-crossing trespassing charges and a civil lawsuit — with opening millions of acres of public land in the West to public access. The “Missouri Four” contested criminal charges and the civil suit to establish that the public could corner cross to reach public land in six Western states. Aided by the Wyoming chapter of Bac…

Crossing Corners Across a Public Lands Checkerboard

The American West has long been associated with wild landscapes, many of which are publicly owned as national parks, forests, and grasslands. But until recently, the public’s ability to access some of this land remained uncertain because it is surrounded by private land. An appellate court’s decision last year approved access to 3.5 million acres of “corner-locked” public lands that connect only at the discrete points where the parcel corners to…