Private Property rights

The judges said the ranch could not deny access to federal public lands for lawful purposes and affirmed that corner crossing is not trespassing, as long as private land is not physically touched.

“The Hunters could corner-cross as long as they did not physically touch Iron Bar’s land,” the three-member court wrote in a unanimous decision.

As of Feb. 24, the governor endorsed 42 bills and allowed another three to become law without his signature.

A three-judge panel for the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals will wade through conflicting legal precedent dating back to 1885 to make their ruling. That ruling is expected soon, though judges did not indicate when.

The suit has implications for access to roughly eight million acres of public land in the West, which are otherwise “corner locked.”

On Tuesday, county officials in Cody approved a document that will guide future land use decisions. But, some residents are still unhappy that some wildlife data in an earlier draft of the plan was left out.

Several recent conflicts over public lands access have made headlines in our region. One of those cases involves a practice called corner crossing, and it could determine whether recreationists can access millions of acres.