Hello, I have a person that wants the observations from all users to be automatically obscured within the boundaries of their natural area. They have limited public access but they are concerned about poaching Is there a way to accomplish this?
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Easy answer is no, but they can contact users and ask them to obscure some observations (I think obscuring everything is too much, not every species is a poaching aim and obscuring will hide date and time).
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In their case I would suggest they get all visitors to obscure all their observations. Even if poaching was not a concern they may not want people coming to their land thinking it was okay to do so without permission. I keep all observations of my property obscured because it borders a nature preserve with public access. I don’t want people thinking they are still within the preserve to come over trying to see my observation of a species that is not in the preserve.
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As a general rule, I obscure all my observations on private land unless I have the owner’s permission to post unobscured. (Exceptions for private areas that allow public access, such as privately-owned parks or preserves.) Perhaps this should be added to the general iNaturalist etiquette?
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But how can someone just come to a private property? Isn’t it always fenced?
No. Is a a fence required where you live? I don’t want a fence to keep wildlife from passing through. Also some parts are so thick with brush and greenbrier that I can’t even get there to possibly put a fence or even know exactly where the border is.
I could post signs but since there is a creek most people would not try to go past that even though there is a small piece of preserve on the other side. They would have to go back to the road. There is a small break in the trees along the road at the point where our property starts. The next break in the trees is in front of the house so it is obvious that is not part of the preserve. I guess I could make a sign to put at that first small break in the trees. I think i would still keep my observations obscured. I don’t want people to know where I live.
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By law here you can walk in everywhere where it’s not fenced, thus implying it’s a land of free usage, so pretty much everyone builds a fence.
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That makes sense. Here you are not allowed to do that.
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Laws about trespassing here in the U.S. vary by state, and enforcement varies more. You could probably get a person charged, legally, with trespassing on small lots in town, especially if the lot is fenced. In the country, it’s harder unless you put up no-trespassing signs. If the place is fenced but not signed, probably you can get trespassing laws enforced, but maybe not. In any case, fences in the country are more to keep livestock in than people out. In the country, police are more concerned about trespassing around buildings than out in the woods. If the landowner finds you on his property and tells you to leave, you must! And you just might get shot, though probably not. And getting permission from somebody else ten years ago is not protection against being arrested for trespassing now (as a hunter on our property finally learned).
And then there’s the issue that in large areas of the west most of the land belongs to the U.S. government though much of that is used as grazing allotments used/rented by individual ranchers. This is public land so we can go on to it, but some ranchers view it as their private land that we are trespassing on. A situation where being polite and seeming harmless are very helpful.
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I presume they’re Libertarians. 
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Enclosing public land, or blocking off rights of way, goes back a long way in history across the world. Each time a national park or reserve / preserve is designated. Or a large dam drowns a valley. I recently read that a village was cleared to make Central Park in New York.
What may survive as a memorial is the old name
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Since moving to rural Texas i worry about those “shoot first ask questions later” type of people. In Louisiana I relied on the law that allows passage through private property on navigable waterways for going canoeing. I haven’t looked into it here. Most of the waterways nearby are part of the Big Thicket National Preserve system. I also have a lake behind my house. It’s privately owned but the owner has given blanket permission to anyone who wants to use it for boating or fishing (no hunting allowed). It is bordered by several other properties (including ours) and a public road.
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