This may not necessarily be an issue of whether the DNR easement is a public easement or not. It could also be that the road that has been in use for decades by the public is a county road.
The problem is, landowners end up gating these and nobody does anything about it. It may require someone to take the landowner to court to establish the public's right to use that road.
Agreed..
My understanding is that if it is a county road, then the DNR can look it up in their computer to see if it is listed as "abandon" or not. If the county chooses to "abandon" their interest in maintain the road then the only way to access the public land, is through permission of the adjacent land owner (s). In my case it was Deadman Creek Outfitters, who would not grant access. They have a gate with signs on it "No Hunting or Trespassing- Property of Deadman Creek Outfitters".
I think another big problem is...
Many of these areas are great for public hunting and that's about it. The county or DNR is not going to go through the hassle of obtaining an easement through the court, to get to land that they aren't going to do anything with. I believe they are suppose to maintain it, but my understanding is they can typically work with the adjacent land owners to access the land every so often to maintain the property, regardless of whether or not an easement is established. Or in some cases the adjacent land owners will maintain it for them, which means they do nothing with it. It basically just sits there. This is what the DNR told me.
I have been on small parcels of public property, which the adjacent land owners took it upon himself to plant wheat and farm it. Not sure if this is legal or if they get special permission to do this. I could careless if they do it, but I found it odd.
