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Tag: Land Rights

From Wyoming to Colorado: courts say corner crossing is legal
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Approved, National, The Fence Post

From Wyoming to Colorado: courts say corner crossing is legal

By Rachel Gabel | The Fence Post A ruling by a federal appeals court has concluded that a congressional act preempts a state’s power to impose and enforce its own trespass laws. Corner crossing, accessing public land from one piece to another where two parcels meet with two privately owned parcels without stepping foot on privately owned land, is now legal in the 10th Circuit’s six states: Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Oklahoma and Kansas. A Carbon County, Wyoming, ranch owner sued hunters in 2022 for doing just that, arguing that he owns the airspace above his land, which they passed through to access public land during an elk hunt. The checkerboard pattern dates back to the days of railroad construction in the 1800s, when railroads raced to lay track, thereby laying cla...
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Movement to ban Chinese farmland purchases near U.S. military bases gains steam in Senate
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Approved, Fox Business, National

Movement to ban Chinese farmland purchases near U.S. military bases gains steam in Senate

By Morgan Phillips  | Fox Business The movement to ban China from scooping up U.S. farmland conveniently located near military bases is gaining steam in the Senate.  The PASS Act, led by Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., has the backing of Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and would prevent any entity from a "covered country," which includes China, North Korea, Russia and Iran, from purchasing agricultural land near military bases or sensitive sites.  It would also give the Department of Agriculture the ability to submit cases to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. for review if it believes there is a national security concern and make the Agriculture secretary a voting member of the committee for purchases of agricultural land, biotechnology and any other transaction r...
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Walcher: The importance of Jim Evans in the battle for PILT
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Approved, Commentary, Greg Walcher

Walcher: The importance of Jim Evans in the battle for PILT

By Greg Walcher | Guest Columnist I did a double-take when I saw the headline: “Meeker County to call on Congress to pay up for  federal lands.” I thought it must be a typo, because Meeker is a town and not a county (it’s in Rio  Blanco County). The subtitle repeated it: “Analysis of public lands in Meeker County found that  federal revenues fall short of what property taxes would generate.”   I wondered what reporter made such an error, but then noticed it was from the West Central  Minnesota Tribune, an area where there is in fact a “Meeker County,” an entirely different place  named for an entirely different historical figure. But the headline certainly makes clear that the  two communities have something in common. South Central Minnesot...
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