Latest Public access News
Ghana orders vaccinations for restaurant, stadium access
ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — Ghana’s government is ordering access to beaches, restaurants, night clubs and stadiums be limited to people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19, as part of its efforts to fight the spread of the virus. While the omicron variant of...
Southern Arizona ranches find new life as conservation areas
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A pair of ranches and a ghost town in southern Arizona will be conserved for wildlife and recreation under separate deals brokered recently by nonprofit land trusts. Just over 7.8 square miles (20.2 square kilometers) of once-private land were...
Financier's Northern California ranch to become public park
COVELO, Calif. (AP) — A ranch in remote Northern California once owned by the late financier Dean Witter has been sold to a nature conservancy that plans to convert into a park, providing public access to a wild and scenic stretch of the Eel River for the first time. ...
Federal court considering dispute over Lake Michigan access
CHICAGO (AP) — A federal appeals court appeared unlikely to disturb a 2018 Indiana Supreme Court ruling that held that the shoreline of Lake Michigan is, and always has been, owned by the state for the public's use. Judges on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago...
Maine land preservation program reactivated after 4 years
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — A land preservation program in Maine will be used to provide money for conservation for the first time since 2017. The administration of Democratic Gov. Janet Mills said it is asking for proposals for conservation and recreation projects via the...
Iconic SC pier closed by Hurricane Matthew fixed, reopened
HUNTING ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — A 950-foot-long fishing pier at one of South Carolina’s most popular state parks, partially destroyed by Hurricane Matthew and closed for five years, has reopened, restoring an important public access to the Atlantic Ocean. The pier at...
More public sand for Jersey Shore town with access issues
DEAL, N.J. (AP) — A Jersey Shore town with a long history of trying to discourage outsiders from using its beaches is about to get millions of dollars worth of new sand, paid for by federal and New Jersey taxpayers. U.S. Rep Frank Pallone Jr., a Democrat, said Monday...
Grand Ronde tribe reclaims Willamette Falls in Oregon
After a private blessing and a prayer, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde invited gathered media to watch as an excavator tore into a wall of the old, abandoned paper mill that the tribe says has stood on its ancestral grounds for too long. The tribe held a symbolic...
Liability concerns lead to shutdown of some Colorado 14ers
DENVER (AP) — The ramifications of a lawsuit that ended with the U.S. government paying an injured mountain biker several million dollars after a crash on a washed-out trail continue to challenge Colorado fourteener hikers. And more recreational pursuits could be...
DNR lands east of Cascades to reopen Thursday
SEATTLE (AP) — Washington Department of Natural Resources lands east of the Cascades will reopen to public access on Thursday. The department closed those lands on July 23 because of extreme heat, drought and wildfire danger and large fires burning across the West that...
