A bill filed in the Wyoming Legislature would clarify that corner crossing is not trespassing, an explanation that would resolve long-simmering access questions to 2.4 million acres of public land in Wyoming. House Bill 99, “Access to public lands-corner crossing,” would amend statutes relating to criminal trespass and hunting without permission. If passed, the measure would protect people’s right to access public land, even if they pass through the air above private property to do so. That right remains clouded despite two court cases favoring access. At issue is whether one trespasses when passing through the airspace above private property without touching the underlying private land. There’s no law that clarifies the situation, experts say, and landowners have blocked others from public land by claiming airspace trespass. “It’s important we codify that the people of Wyoming have the right to access their public lands,” said Rep. Karlee Provenza (D-Laramie), the principal sponsor of the one-page measure. Corner crossing is the act of stepping from one piece of public land to another at the common corner with two pieces of private property — all arranged in a checkboard pattern. The issue came to a head in 2021 at Elk Mountain in Carbon County when four hunters used the method to hunt on public property, reaching the public domain without setting foot on private land. “The Wyoming Constitution guarantees the right to hunt, fish and trap. Inherent is the public’s right to [access] public land.” Rep. Karlee Provenza At such checkerboard locations, private landowners could block public access to 2.4 million acres in Wyoming and 8.3 million acres nationwide if corner crossing is deemed a trespass, according to an analysis by the digital mapping company onX. House Bill 99 states that a corner-crosser “does not commit trespass” if they incidentally pass through airspace above private land. The measure would protect a corner-crosser even if that person “incidentally … touches the land or premises of another person.” In the 2021 case, a Carbon County jury found the four Missouri hunters not guilty of trespass at the Elk Mountain Ranch owned by North Carolina pharma millionaire Fred Eshelman. Chief U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl also ruled in the hunters’ favor in a civil suit Eshelman brought against the men. A complex notion Although the hunters escaped criminal conviction in their Carbon County trial, that doesn’t set a precedent, their lawyer, Ryan Semerad, said. But the decision in the federal civil court — that corner crossing in the checkerboard landscape in Wyoming is not trespassing — carries considerable weight, he said. Eshelman has appealed Skavdahl’s decision to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, where a ruling is pending. Given the appeal and the different criminal and civil fields of law, confusion remains among law enforcement officers and prosecutors, Semerad said. After Skavdahl’s ruling, which is still in effect, a lot of local law enforcement have said ‘we don’t really know what the status of corner crossing is,’” Semerad said. “Skavdahl said it certainly is not a civil trespass,” Semerad said. “If it’s not civil trespass, in my opinion it absolutely cannot be a criminal trespass.” Rep. Karlee Provenza (D-Laramie) talks on the House floor in 2024. (Ashton J. Hacke/WyoFile) The Provenza bill “would just answer the [law enforcement] question,” he said. If the bill becomes law “there are no more questions to think about, there is not a crime you can cite someone for.” Because the federal civil verdict is under appeal and could end up in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, there are some loose ends that need to be resolved. If appeals overturn Skavdahl’s civil ruling in favor of the hunters, a Wyoming law clarifying that corner crossing is not a criminal trespass would still stand, Semerad said. A hypothetical Supreme Court order against public access may have some significance in civil law, Semerad said. A federal prosecutor “could bring some kind of trespassy charge” he said. But that wouldn’t bear on Wyoming criminal law should legislators pass HB 99, Semerad said. If the bill becomes law, “there’s not a law enforcement person in the four corners of Wyoming who could cite a person because there’s no state law making it a crime.” Making it simple For Provenza, HB 99 would enshrine an implicit constitutional right. “The Wyoming Constitution guarantees the right to hunt, fish and trap,” she said. “Inherent is the public’s right to [access] public land.” Law enforcement appreciates statutes that are straightforward, Provenza said. The bill would “make our laws clear and easy to follow — simple, direct to the point,” she said. “It’s hard to cite somebody if you don’t have a law to do so.” Related Corner-crossing case likely headed to Supreme Court, hunters’ attorney says Federal appeals judges test theory that corner-crossing is not trespassing A bipartisan handful of legislators signed on as co-sponsors of the bill, a version of which had been floated unsuccessfully in 2023. All but one represent constituents and districts along the Union Pacific Railroad line where federal grants in the 1800s created the checkerboard pattern of private and public land. Reps. Ocean Andrew (R-Laramie), Elissa Campbell (R-Casper), J.T. Larson (R-Rock Springs), Bob Wharff (R-Evanston) and Sens. Stacy Jones (R-Rock Springs), Chris Rothfuss (D-Laramie) and Wendy Schuler (R-Evanston) are co-sponsors. The bill would make clear that billionaires cannot buy private property in Wyoming that enmeshes adjacent checkerboard public land and turn that public land into “their private playground,” Provenza said. She called such de-facto privatization “wrong and dishonest.” Provenza doesn’t want to tarry while robed deciders wring their hands or otherwise mull the issue. “I’m not one to sit by and hope the Supreme Court makes the right decision when we know people’s rights are on the line,” she said. The post Bill would make corner crossing legal in Wyoming, settling long-running debate appeared first on WyoFile .