North Dakota Game and Fish director highlights five goals, focal points related to state’s outdoors

Jeb Williams, North Dakota Game and Fish Department director, has highlighted a recent list of goals and explains some of the background, steps, challenges and opportunities the department and state are focused on.

Reaching 1 million PLOTS acres by 2028

North Dakota saw an additional 40,000 Private Land Open To Sportsmen acres added to the program, bringing the total to 880,000 – the highest in nearly 15 years.

Among these were 5,000 acres of newly planted grass. The goal is to reach 1 million acres by 2028, with an emphasis on new grass plantings that provide high-quality habitat and long-term sustainability for wildlife and hunting access.

Governor’s Legacy Soil Health and Habitat Program

North Dakota’s hunting peak in the early 2000s coincided with millions of acres enrolled in the federal Conservation Reserve Program, which created extensive grassland habitat.

However, CRP acreage has since dropped from over 3 million to around 1 million acres, with more contracts set to expire. While effective, CRP is federally controlled and often difficult for landowners to access due to restrictions and competition.

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To address this, the Department partnered with the North Dakota Association of Soil Conservation Districts to apply for Outdoor Heritage Fund support for the Governor’s Legacy Soil Health and Habitat Program. This new, state-level initiative aims to improve wildlife habitat on marginal cropland while promoting soil health, with strong backing from agricultural groups.

The long-term vision is to secure dedicated state funding and implement the program on a larger scale, providing flexible and locally driven habitat solutions.

Electronic posting platform enhancements

Following years of debate, North Dakota adopted an electronic posting system in 2021, allowing landowners to post property access digitally. Adoption continues to rise, reaching 14 million acres this year as both hunters and landowners have grown comfortable with the system.

An upcoming improvement will allow landowners to customize posting by date ranges rather than the full season. This change, effective for the 2026 posting cycle (Feb. 1-July 1), gives landowners flexibility to open land for specific periods while maintaining control. Hunters should note that physical posting will still take precedence; land can remain posted either physically or electronically.

If just 5% of e-posted acres were opened for part of the season, it could mean 700,000 additional acres of hunting access – a significant gain through digital innovation and collaboration.

HuntLink Application

The Department has long helped connect hunters with landowners facing depredation issues, especially for coyotes, antlerless deer, and occasionally geese or turkeys. Previously managed through informal calls and the old “Coyote Catalog,” this process is now streamlined with HuntLink, a new digital application launched this fall.

HuntLink allows landowners to list properties where hunting assistance is welcome, viewable on a species-specific map. Landowners can remove listings anytime once needs are met.

This system modernizes the connection between hunters and landowners and offers future potential to expand to other wildlife management needs.

Habitat and Access Stakeholder Group

To promote transparency and communication regarding private land habitat programs and access initiatives, the Department established the Habitat and Access Stakeholder Group. The group includes 24 members — three hunters and three landowners from each of four districts — nominated by the department.

Serving as an informational forum rather than a policy-making body, the group functions as a sounding board for ongoing and new initiatives, fostering collaboration and understanding between hunters, landowners and conservation leaders.

District meetings were held in October, with the first statewide meeting planned for early 2026.