Wildlife on Private Land

With more than 60 percent of the United States in private hands, a great deal of the nation’s wildlife lives on privately owned land. A major challenge of wildlife law has been to prescribe the legal relationship between the private owner of land and publicly owned wildlife. We have already seen some of the legal principles that apply to private land. Other pieces, though, are required to complete the legal picture. What rights do landowners themselves have in such wildlife? What legal protections do landowners enjoy when engaged in wildlife-related activities? What can they do when wildlife causes harm? Finally, what legal issues arise when landowners allow outsiders to hunt on their lands? These issues are taken up here, leaving to chapter 8 a consideration of issues that arise most vividly in the context of private game reserves and captive breeding operations.