A Win for Wyoming! Wyoming invests $75 million in Wyoming Wildlife & Natural Resources Trust
One of the many wonders of travelling through the state of Wyoming is the opportunity to view the remarkable and abundant wildlife, sweeping vistas of verdant valleys and jagged peaks, and cold, free-flowing rivers and streams. Herds of elk, mule deer, and pronghorn dot the vast landscape; pairs of moose snack along the river’s edge; and bighorn sheep scale the region’s vast hillsides. Public and private lands across the state provide critical habitat for these animals, which are treasured by residents and visitors alike.
Mule deer herd moves across the landscape in Wyoming’s Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. (Photo Flickr Creative Commons/Mark Thonhoff/BLM)
With all of its amazing natural resources, the state of Wyoming has been supporting and implementing conservation projects for decades. Earlier this year, they made an incredible next step, investing $75 million in the Wyoming Wildlife & Natural Resource Trust Fund (WWNRT). Governor Mark Gordon signed Wyoming’s new budget into law March 10, 2022, solidifying millions for the trust, and nearly tripling its capacity to maintain open space and habitat, water development, eradication of invasive species, ranching and farming operations, and so much more. With the new budget, the WWNRT can now implement about $10 million per year in projects across the state.
The Wyoming Wildlife & Natural Resource Trust Fund was created by the Wyoming Legislature to enhance and conserve wildlife habitat and natural resource values throughout the state. Since its inception in 2005, the fund has supported $733 million in on-the-ground work within each of Wyoming’s 23 counties, investing nearly $110 million while leveraging more than five times that with matching funds. Projects like wildlife highway crossings, stream restoration, conservation easements, land acquisition, improving fish passage, invasive species removal, and many others are all eligible to receive WWNRT funding. Investing an additional $75 million in the trust reinforces Wyoming’s leadership and commitment to showing how human needs and wildlife conservation can happen together.
For GYC, we see this as a win for wildlife and Greater Yellowstone. As animals move through the landscape, they often encounter roadways, fences, and private lands during daily movements for food or seasonal migrations for habitat needs. This can lead to issues such as wildlife-vehicle collisions, fences limiting or preventing wildlife movement, and wildlife-livestock conflicts. To mitigate these conflicts, projects like wildlife crossings, fence modifications, and coexistence programs are integral, yet these projects often require extensive funding.
Elk crossing the road in Wyoming’s Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. (Photo Mark Gocke)
GYC has been working with the state of Wyoming, federal and state agencies, landowners, county officials, non-profits, concerned citizens, and other partners to leverage Wyoming Wildlife & Natural Resource Trust dollars to support wildlife crossings work in Wyoming. As an example, in 2019, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition along with our non-profit partners helped move the Dry Piney Wildlife Crossing project forward by investing $400,000 through grants from The Volgenau Foundation, Knobloch Family Foundation, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Our investment was matched by the WWNRT through its matching funds program, allowing the project to attain enough money to move it forward. The Dry Piney Wildlife Crossing project includes eight wildlife underpass crossing locations along Highway 189, a key wildlife movement area for mule deer.
GYC has also been working with our non-profit partners to help raise awareness about the value of the WWNRT and the dozens of conservation projects it has made possible. From massive infrastructure projects to conflict reduction projects, the WWNRT has supported a vast array of needs across the state, benefiting both humans and wildlife.
“GYC has been a leader in communication, outreach, and putting money on the ground to achieve conservation throughout the State of Wyoming. We truly value the partnerships we have been able to create in the interest of working landscapes and long-term solutions that will maintain the Wyoming we all know and love,” said Bob Budd, Executive Director of the Wyoming Wildlife & Natural Resource Trust.
—Siva Sundaresan, Director of Conservation
The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is the land of 49+ Indigenous Tribes who maintain current and ancestral connections to the lands, waters, wildlife, plants, and more.
