Nebraska is more than 97 percent privately owned, and obtaining access to private lands is one of the major challenges facing today’s hunters, trappers, and anglers.
In 2009, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission initiated the Open Fields and Waters (OFW) program to increase public access opportunities on private lands. OFW is a voluntary program that offers financial incentives to landowners willing to allow public walk-in access for hunting, trapping, and/or fishing. Landowners who enroll in OFW are afforded protection from liability through the Nebraska Recreation Liability Act. Learn how you can join the 850-plus landowners in Nebraska who provide public access opportunities through the OFW program.
- Contact a Game and Parks Biologist or call the nearest Game and Parks Office any time of the year.
- Your property will be evaluated in the spring, and approved tracts are contracted by early June.
- Once your contract is approved, Game and Parks staff will post OFW boundary signs around
your property.
- Your annual payment will be issued in spring (March or April) following closure of the primary
hunting seasons.
- http://outdoornebraska.gov/ofw/ for more information
