Fewer farmers and landowners are signing up for the Iowa Habitat & Access Program, which provides the hunting land. Here’s how Iowa is trying to turn that around.
Author: Shelby Kluver (WQAD)
Published: 6:59 PM CDT October 19, 2026
Updated: 6:59 PM CDT October 19, 2026
Iowa loses 10,000 acres of public hunting access ahead of pheasant season | wqad.com
IOWA, USA — Iowa’s pheasant hunting season opens Oct. 31, but hunters will have fewer places to hunt this year after approximately 10,000 acres were removed from a state program that provides public access to privately owned land.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says roughly one-third of the land previously enrolled in the Iowa Habitat and Access Program, or IHAP, is no longer available for public hunting.
The program, established in 2011, provides financial incentives and technical assistance to farmers and landowners who agree to open their property for public hunting. In exchange, landowners receive assistance with improving wildlife habitats on their property.
However, declining participation in a separate federal conservation program is contributing to the loss of public hunting access across Iowa.
Kelsey Fleming, private lands program coordinator for the Iowa DNR, says many properties enrolled in IHAP are also part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Reserve Program, or CRP.
The federal program pays landowners to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and establish conservation habitats.
According to Fleming, lower rental payments are making the program less attractive to participating landowners.
“When those landers signed up 10 or 15 years ago for that program, they were offered a higher rental rate, and those rates just aren’t the same,” Fleming said.
As a result, some landowners are choosing not to renew their CRP contracts. Without the wildlife habitat supported by those contracts, the properties may also become ineligible or unsuitable for IHAP.
Fleming said approximately 10,000 acres exited IHAP as of May 31, 2026.
The issue is also tied to the federal Farm Bill, which establishes funding and policies for agricultural conservation programs.
The 2018 Farm Bill placed a cap on annual CRP rental payments. Although that legislation was originally scheduled to be replaced in 2023, Congress has continued operating under extensions.
Fleming said changes to the rental payment structure could encourage more landowners to participate.
“With the lower rental rate, if they remove that cap or make the rental rate payment structure look a little bit differently, it’s more enticing for landowners to want to enroll into that,” Fleming said.
The loss of conservation land has implications beyond public hunting access.
Fleming estimates Iowa is also losing approximately 86,000 acres of CRP land statewide, reducing the amount of habitat available to wildlife.
“So, you know, that is going to be significant, and that’s less habitat for wildlife to use,” Fleming said.
Despite those challenges, the DNR is working to expand public hunting opportunities.
The agency recently received $3 million in federal funding to enroll additional properties in IHAP over the next three years.
Fleming said Iowa still has more than 1.6 million acres enrolled in CRP, providing opportunities to recruit additional landowners into the public hunting access program.
DNR staff plan to target existing CRP properties while also expanding the program to include more wetlands and timberland.
The agency hopes to increase IHAP enrollment to 36,000 acres by 2028 or 2029.
Meanwhile, Iowa hunters can expect another strong pheasant season despite the reduction in public hunting land.
According to the Iowa DNR, an estimated 68,000 hunters harvested more than 500,000 roosters during the 2025 season.
The state’s annual August roadside survey averaged 23 pheasants per route in 2026, marking the second-highest count since 2015.
However, the DNR reported lower pheasant counts in the eastern third of Iowa, where wetter conditions contributed to delayed nesting and later hatches.
“We had the second highest August roadside counts since 2015, but did see our counts drop in the eastern third of the state,” said Todd Bogenschutz, the DNR’s upland wildlife biologist.
Bogenschutz said hunting conditions should be similar to last year in areas west of Interstate 35, particularly in west-central, north-central and northwestern Iowa.
Since sending News 8 these details, Bogenschutz has retired after 30 years with the DNR. You can read about the national award he achieved right before retirement here.
The DNR also says September’s near-record rainfall has delayed crop harvesting across much of the state. That could benefit hunters as crops are harvested after the season opens, concentrating pheasants in grasslands and other upland habitats.
Hunters are encouraged to check the latest IHAP property listings on the Iowa DNR’s official website before heading out, as some previously accessible properties are no longer open to the public.