A nice HOME surounded by Millions of Acres of National Park or National Forest.

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Sourdough

"Eleutheromaniac"
Neighbor
HCL Supporter
Joined
Mar 17, 2018
Messages
6,100
Location
In a cabin, on a mountain, in "Wilderness" Alaska.
I am continuously surprised that some people don't know that you can own land and live inside a National Forest or a National Park.

I am in a wee'bit of discussion on a different forum about this, but a kind'a different aspect of it. What is interesting is they at first are in denial that you can own private land in a blissful paradise, totally surrounded by National Park or National Forest. That anyone, even a fairly poor person can live in paradise, with over abundance of fish and game and harvestable plants for a subsistence lifestyle.

Now here is the fascinating part........at some point they actually get that it exists, and they could have that. But......strangely they choose to instantly urinate on that, fabricating wild what'if concepts that are not possible. So that rather then simply choosing blissful paradise for themselves, they vomit all over it so they can be righteously dissatisfied with and embrace the futility of what they feel they disserved.

And "YES" I know that everyone is different.

End of Rant.........
 
There are little known programs where the state or fed will GIVE you land. My wife and I watch this, it's very hard to track but it does exist. We missed out on a 25 acre parcel right in the middle of a state recreation area.

You apply for the parcel when you find it, the only requirement is that you continually "improve" the land by doing small things to the property. Once you have done this according to requirements they will deed the land over to you at zero cost.

We really wanted the parcel in question, it was in an area that we like, but we got beat out. It's usually first come first served and someone just barely edged us out of it. Had we got it we would have had 25 acres surrounded by state and federal land.................NO neighbors at all.
 
Where do you find those?

I'll see if the Wife has it on her computer, she found it on a homesteading site she is on. There aren't a whole lot of them that come up, but, they DO come up from time to time.

I think when we had applied for the one that we wanted there was like 6 parcels nationwide.
 
Following this thread with interest...I can't help but wonder if just anyone could plop a house, etc. in a National Forest, it would soon be littered with houses and no longer be anything resembling most National Forests we see... So I would imagine it would take some special doings?

I am blessed to be living on the edge of a huge National Forest with millions of acres of wilderness. My best neighbors are the plants (and some of the critters) that grow there... (I could do without the bears, cougars, skunks, and snakes though, lol.)
 
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Too old to do that again. A friend of mine has two remote cabins accessible only by float plane or skis in the winter. Mine I could get to by boat and got unwanted visitors. Pess has one that I believe is chopper access only. VJ has surely been there.
 
If the land is inaccessible you can file for an easement or right-of-way with the county and then put in a road. It's expensive but cheaper than renting a helicopter to go to town for groceries or doctor appointment.
 
If the land is inaccessible you can file for an easement or right-of-way with the county and then put in a road. It's expensive but cheaper than renting a helicopter to go to town for groceries or doctor appointment.

We looked at that option but there was no way. It was back in canyon country. It would have taken a road crew to carve a road into the mtn.
 
Our place up the mountain is in Nat. Forest. As far as the homestead option, if it is surrounded by private property, they can deny access so you're back to chopper. One thing to be cautious of is whether it's "just Nat. Fst." or a designated wilderness area (within Nat. Forest.) Wilderness areas allow NO motors of any kind. The other caution is state laws still govern the land so you can't "just go hunt or fish" whenever you want. You still have to apply for the same licenses and tags though depending upon acreage, can get land owners preference. I think that varies by state. We were right on the river- same fishing laws apply. If we were "caught" fishing on our own land, we still couldn't keep salmon, had to have license blah, blah, blah. So yes, of course you can live in Nat. Fst. but don't do so thinking it's all bounty and lawless.
 
Its just the same as anybody else on NF land, no privileges for owning the land. I'm not sure how other states operate if you can hunt and fish your own land with no tags etc. Would be curious to know.
I don't like HOAs either.
 
So yes, of course you can live in Nat. Fst. but don't do so thinking it's all bounty and lawless.

I guess it depends on where you are. Very-very different here.
 
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It varies from place to place, what you are growing and why and how many acres you have. As far as fishing in rivers it depends on the river and the fish, Some fish are protected and some rivers are spawning grounds that are monitored or protected. I used to fish the Cedar river near the mouth for salmon and then they put restrictions on how close to the mouth you could fish. Later they closed the river at times for spawning runs. Regulations change even in a single area.
 
I'll see if the Wife has it on her computer, she found it on a homesteading site she is on. There aren't a whole lot of them that come up, but, they DO come up from time to time.

I think when we had applied for the one that we wanted there was like 6 parcels nationwide.
Was wondering if you have any links or at least the name of the programs this falls under. What is their selection criteria? You mentioned barely loosing out, what was the issue or what was lacking?
 

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