F&G announces closure of Willow-Oxarango Access Yes! parcels in Unit 32

Fish and Game announced this week that several Access Yes! parcels in Unit 32 will be closed to public access immediately in the wake of the Paddock Fire.

The Willow-Oxarango Access Yes! parcels, located on the west slopes of Squaw Butte, were engulfed in the Paddock fire and currently have almost no vegetative ground cover to provide wildlife habitat or help with soil stabilization and erosion control.

These Willow-Oxarango Access Yes! parcels are typically open to public access from Aug. 30 through June 15. Because of the fire and to mitigate the potential for physical damage caused by human entry, Fish and Game made the decision to temporarily unenroll these parcels from the Access Yes! through June 30, 2025. These parcels are in the process of being signed as closed, and Fish and Game staff have removed them from the Access Yes! property database on the Fish and Game website. It is anticipated that these parcels will reopen for public use on Aug. 30, 2025.

Access Yes! is a program designed to improve access to private land or through private land to public land by compensating willing landowners who provide access.

"We're in a situation after the Paddock Fire where the lack of any vegetation on these parcels makes them particularly prone to soil erosion, and we're also concerned about potential road damage," said Peter Ott, Landowner Sportsman Coordinator in the Southwest Region. "For the sake of the private landowners who have their properties enrolled in this program, and for the hunters who benefit from these longstanding partnerships, we felt the risk of potential damage to these parcels was too high to leave them enrolled in the program this year."