Hathaway Building, 1st Floor

2300 Capitol Avenue, Ste 161D

Cheyenne, WY  82002

(307) 777-8024

WWNRT Board members met August 15-16, 2023 in Dubois with the Wyoming State Legislature Select Natural Resource Funding Committee.

 There was a tour of some projects in the Dubois area that the WWNRT has helped fund over the years. Everyone enjoyed seeing and learning about the impact these projects have had for wildlife and the natural resources in the area. Our partners shared information about future projects that will continue to build on the success of these completed projects.  

(L to R) Representative Karlee Provenza, Representative Andrew Byron, Committee Chairman Senator Barry Crago, Senator Ed Cooper, Co-Chairman Senator Bill Landen, Don Schramm (District 3), Esther Wagner (District 7), Representative Sandy Newsome, WWNRT Chairman Steve Meadows (District 9)

Kevin Monteith, Monteith Shop, University of Wyoming receiving the 2022 Partner of the Year Award from Chairman Kim Floyd. 

WYOMING WILDLIFE AND NATURAL RESOURCE TRUST NAMES KEVIN MONTEITH “PARTNER OF THE YEAR”

 

University of Wyoming professor Kevin Monteith was named the 2022 Partner of the Year by the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust on Tuesday in Thermopolis.  Monteith has worked with the WWNRT on numerous projects in Wyoming in the past decade, and was singled out for excellence in applied research that allows the board to more effectively improve habitats and conditions for wildlife.

Board Chair Kim Floyd, Cheyenne, presented the award, noting that Monteith’s work on mule deer, elk, bighorn sheep and moose provided a roadmap to effective habitat improvements throughout the state.

“Kevin has taught us a lot, and through his work and insight, we have been able to make some massive strides in management and improvement of conditions for multiple species,” Floyd said.

WWNRT Director Bob Budd added that Monteith’s work “has real world applications – through the understanding we can gain from his work on nutrition, disease, and all other aspects of animal behavior, we are able to more effectively leverage the assets of the state.”

Budd and Floyd cited work in the Wyoming Range, Sweetwater County, the Wind River and Absaroka Mountains, and most recently, the Bighorn Basin and central Wyoming as examples of excellence.

The Partner of the Year award was created in 2010 to recognize the outstanding achievements and contributions of others to the diverse conservation portfolio of the state of Wyoming.  The Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust has allocated more than $110 million in habitat and conservation projects since 2005, leveraging private, federal and other contributions for a direct impact of more than $800 million in local projects throughout the state, including wetland development, river restoration, aspen regeneration, wildlife migration corridors, water development, rangeland improvements, invasive species control, conservation easements and research.

Past recipients of the WWNRT Partner of the Year include Little Snake River Conservation District, Trout Unlimited, Wyoming Stock Growers Land Trust, Jennifer Doering (Wyoming Game and Fish Department), Richard Garrett (The Nature Conservancy), Ian Tator  (Wyoming Game and Fish Department), Jill Randall (Wyoming Game and Fish Department), Luke Lynch (The Conservation Fund), Amy Anderson (Wyoming Game and Fish Department), Leah Burgess (Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation), and David Kimble (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). 


Sublette County Cheatgrass Project Video

Sublette County Weed and Pest District has been working with partners to implement a landscape level project across all landownerships, with monitoring and evaluation of their efficacy and native vegetation response to cheatgrass treatments. Using the latest science and tools available to treat over 58,315 acres within Sublette County, these aerial and ground treatments of the annual invasive cheatgrass help protect the agricultural lands and natural landscape of Sublette County including Sage-grouse, mule deer and pronghorn antelope migration routes as well as the sagebrush rangeland.  WWNRT is proud to partner with Sublette County Weed and Pest District on this project. 

2022 Board of Directors

WWNRT Board members met in Buffalo in August 2021, with the Wyoming State Legislature Select Natural Resource Funding Committee .

(L to R)  Christi Haswell (District 4)      Vice Chairman Steve Meadows (District 9)       Mike Massie (District 2)       Pidge Fulton (District 5)      

Ken Banister (District 8)      Don Schramm (District 3)     Chairman Kim Floyd (District 1)

Front Row - Jacelyn Downey (District 6)      Esther Wagner (District 7)

Check out our WWNRT Informational Video!



Wyoming is a vast landscape, mysterious, and unique. From jagged peaks rising above verdant valleys, to steamy vapors shared between river and sky, no two places are the same. Wyoming is a place where grasslands give way to sagebrush oceans, where mountains continue to rise, and wildlife thrive. This land is home to some of the greatest herds of large animals - bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, mule deer - and one of the richest assemblages of species in North America. Wyoming is a landscape rich in human heritage, a place where hope rides the range as regularly as the cowboy.



To maintain this legacy, The Wyoming Legislature created the Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust in 2005. Funded by interest earned on a permanent account, donations and legislative appropriation, the purpose of the program is to enhance and conserve wildlife habitat and natural resource values throughout the state. Any project designed to improve wildlife habitat or natural resource values is eligible for funding.

 The Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust is an independent state agency governed by a nine-member citizen board appointed by the Governor. Legislative oversight is guided by a select committee of six members, three each from the House and Senate  The office located in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

The application form is under the "How to Apply" link or the "Project Application Form"link.

Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust

Hathaway Building, 1st Floor2300 Capitol Avenue, Ste 161DCheyenne, WY  82002307-777-8024

Beginning with the first allocation of project dollars in June 2006, the WWNRT has evaluated approximately 1,200 applications (nearly 90 per year) and funded more than 750 projects in all 23 counties of the state. Nearly $99 million has been allocated from WWNRT funds, with a total project value on the ground in excess of $637 million. Every dollar spent by the WWNRT is matched on average with $6.00 from other sources, and WWNRT projects maintain agricultural operations, conservation businesses, and other job-producing enterprises, including the tourism industry. More than 120 separate entities have received funding from the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust program. The greatest number of projects funded have been sponsored by conservation districts, programs that are guided by local people.

According to former Board Chairman Delaine Roberts, "What we do is pretty simple. We help people do the right things for their own communities. We build the future of Wyoming - one little town, one little creek at a time. We let people dream, and in Wyoming, big dreams make things happen."

Please click 2021 Annual Status Report to view the most recent version of the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust's annual report.