It shall be unlawful to camp on any state or county public highway, roadside area, park, or other property acquired for highway or roadside park purposes except at such places as are designated campsites by the Department of Transportation or the county or other legal entity of government owning or controlling such places. This provision shall not apply to lands originally acquired for highway purposes which have been transferred or leased to the Game and Parks Commission or a natural resources district or to other lands owned or controlled by the Game and Parks Commission where camping shall be controlled by the provisions of section 37-305 or by a natural resources district where camping shall be controlled by the provisions of section 2-3292.

Attorney's Note

Under the Nebraska Statutes, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
Class V misdemeanorup to $100
For details, see

Terms Used In Nebraska Statutes 39-312

  • Highway: means the entire width between the boundary limits of any street, road, avenue, boulevard, or way which is publicly maintained when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. See Nebraska Statutes 39-101
  • Person: shall include bodies politic and corporate, societies, communities, the public generally, individuals, partnerships, limited liability companies, joint-stock companies, and associations. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
  • State: when applied to different states of the United States shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories organized by Congress. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
  • Vehicle: means every device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, except devices moved solely by human power, devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks, electric personal assistive mobility devices as defined in section 60-618. See Nebraska Statutes 39-101

For purposes of this section, camping means temporary lodging out of doors and presupposes the occupancy of a shelter designed or used for such purposes, such as a sleeping bag, tent, trailer, station wagon, pickup camper, camper-bus, or other vehicle, and the use of camping equipment and camper means an occupant of any such shelter.

Any person who camps on any state or county public highway, roadside area, park, or other property acquired for highway or roadside park purposes, which has not been properly designated as a campsite, or any person who violates any lawfully promulgated rules or regulations properly posted to regulate camping at designated campsites shall be guilty of a Class V misdemeanor and shall be ordered to pay any amount as determined by the court which may be necessary to reimburse the department or the county for the expense of repairing any damage to such campsite resulting from such violation.

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