**2024 Sign up Opens on March 4th through April 19th, Please reach out if you are interested in signing up or wanting to re-enroll**

The State of MN has received federal funding to compensate landowners to open their habitat acres to public hunting. This is a cooperative effort by the MN Board of Water & Soil Resources, Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Pheasants Forever (PF) and Soil and Water Conservation Districts.  Here are some of the highlights of this VOLUNTARY program:

• Targeted at lands already enrolled in federal or state conservation programs like CRP, CREP,
• RIM, WRP
• Minimum size of 40 acres
• Landowners afforded state protection from liability, unlike private leases
• Access during all open hunting seasons (including spring turkey season)
• DNR Conservation Officers responsible for any enforcement action
• Landowner payments are at a flat rate of $18/acre 
• Signage to mark property boundaries is provided by the program

The Walk-In Access (WIA) program is limited to a 46-county area in southwestern Minnesota.  The Walk in Access (WIA) program began in 2011 and has grown from 10,000 acres to 24,000 acres in 2015. There are approximently1,200 acres in the Walk in Access (WIA) program in Kandiyohi County. 

Learn more: Walk-In Access (WIA) Program | Minnesota DNR (state.mn.us)
Click here for the 2024 WIA Fact Sheet

For more information on this voluntary program, please call the Kandiyohi SWCD.