Wyoming
Gardner announces Wyoming County clerk candidacy
Wyoming
Gov. Gordon champions Wyoming tourism at gala
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Gov. Mark Gordon emphasized the vital role of tourism in Wyoming’s economy during his keynote address at the Governor’s Hospitality & Tourism Conference “Salute to the Industry Gala” on Jan. 28 in Cheyenne.
“Tourism is a vital component of the Cowboy State economy,” Gordon said. “Our tourism industry showcases to the world what Wyoming has to offer, and the economic impacts are felt in Wyoming communities and on our main streets.”
Preliminary figures suggest travel-related spending in Wyoming reached $4.9 billion in 2024. The Leisure and Hospitality sector stands as the state’s largest private-sector employer, supporting over 33,000 jobs. As the second-largest revenue generator in Wyoming, the visitor economy is a crucial contributor to the state’s overall financial health.
Addressing the ongoing challenge of workforce shortages, Gordon acknowledged the difficulties faced by business owners. He pointed to initiatives like the Wyoming Innovation Partnership, which provides seed funding for the Wyoming Outdoor Recreation, Tourism and Hospitality Institute at the University of Wyoming, as key strategies for workforce development.
The outdoor recreation industry’s substantial contribution of $2.2 billion, or 4.1%, to Wyoming’s GDP in 2023 underscores its importance. The sector has also experienced notable growth, with a 4.5% annual increase since 2012.
“The steps we take to keep Wyoming a destination state have and will continue to pay us back,” Gordon said. “We cannot afford to neglect or vandalize this fundamental and historic leg of our economic security.”
During the gala, Gordon presented the BIG WYO Award to Diane Shober, executive director of the Wyoming Office of Tourism since 2003. The annual award recognizes individuals who have made exceptional contributions to promoting hospitality and tourism in Wyoming.
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Wyoming
Senate panel wants all federal lands in Wyoming except Yellowstone – WyoFile
A Wyoming Senate panel is demanding that Congress give the state all federal lands and mineral rights in the Equality State, except Yellowstone National Park.
The Agriculture, State and Public Lands and Water Resources committee voted 4-1 for a resolution that demands Congress confirm by Oct. 1 its intent to turn over the property. Senate Joint Resolution 2, “Resolution demanding equal footing,” covers some 30 million acres “that derive from former federal territory.”
That amounts to about 47% of the state’s land area, the resolution’s lead sponsor Sen. Bob Ide, R-Casper, told the committee. The property in question includes Grand Teton National Park, Devils Tower National Monument, the Bridger-Teton, Shoshone, Targhee, Black Hills, Bighorn and Medicine Bow-Routt national forests, plus the Thunder Basin National Grassland and Bureau of Land Management acreage.
In addition to seeking property belonging to all Americans, the resolution demands federal mineral rights in Wyoming, which amount to 69% of the rights in the state.
Citing the Constitution, Ide said “Congress shall have the power to dispose,” of the land. He interpreted what that means.
“It’s a mandate to dispose,” he said. “They don’t have the authority not to dispose.
“You can’t do the opposite of something that’s specifically directed in the U.S. Constitution,” Ide said.
He agreed with Scott Brown, who told the committee during public testimony that, “by virtue of your oath [to uphold the Constitution] you are required to vote in favor of this resolution.”
Sens. Tim French, R-Powell; Troy McKeown, R-Gillette and Laura Pearson, R-Kemmerer, backed the resolution. Sen. Barry Crago, R-Buffalo, voted against it.
Misreading
The resolution claims two violations of the U.S. Constitution, including that federal ownership puts Wyoming on an unequal footing compared to other states and that federal control of land in Wyoming violates the Bill of Rights.
Those arguments have been part of the foundation of a revived Sagebrush Rebellion that most recently culminated in the U.S. Supreme Court’s rejection of a petition by the state of Utah. The Beehive State sought 18.5 million acres of Bureau of Land Management property.
But Utah’s arguments are based on “wrong-headed assumptions,” made by an advocate who misreads and misinterprets the Constitution and cherry picks definitions, according to a widely cited article by John D. Leshy, a professor at UC Law in San Francisco.
Alec Underwood, program director for the Wyoming Outdoor Council, agreed. The Supreme Court’s rejection “is based on over 100 years of case laws showing that this is impossible legally,” he said.
Ide saw the Supreme Court rejection differently. “They sent it back to district court and told them to kind of work their way up the ladder,” he said of the court’s 12-word order that reads only: “The motion for leave to file a bill of complaint is denied.”
If Congress acquiesces to the resolution’s demands, Wyoming would be willing to negotiate turning some property back to the federal government, Ide said. The resolution states that Wyoming would create a new designation — state public lands — that’s different from school trust lands where camping, fires and other activities are restricted.
Aside from constitutional questions, the Senate committee heard worries about the fate of mineral rights, the cost of managing the lands, the prospect of Wyoming selling the acreage, the cost of grazing, potential loss of access, response to wildfires, the loss of $30 million in annual federal payments in lieu of taxes and more.
100 years of lawsuits
Ide couldn’t say whether mineral rights would belong to Wyoming or overlying landowners should the panel get its wishes. “How do we figure out where that goes without creating 100 years’ worth of litigation,” Crago asked him.
Ide, who said he was formerly “a mineral title land man,” agreed the proposal “could get very messy on the mineral estate.
“I’ve had a 40-acre parcel,” he said, “that had 200 different mineral owners on it, and you try to track them all down and you can spend a month of work … and still not find half of the mineral owners.”
Crago also warned that grazing costs could increase if the state comes to own federal lands. Outdoor council representative Underwood said grazing leases on state land cost $5.52 an animal-unit month versus $1.35 on federal property.
Crago said Wyoming is restricted by its own constitution on how little it can charge for grazing, and “we’re probably at the bottom of that number right now.”
Noting that outdoor recreation accounts for $2.2 billion and 15,000 jobs annually in Wyoming, Underwood posed an overarching question.
“How would the state of Wyoming take on management of millions of additional acres of lands,” he asked, and “have a robust enough budget to do so, absorb the major financial shortfalls from loss [of] federal funding streams and ensure that grazing permittees somehow have continuity … while also ensuring that the public has access to public lands and that the habitat for wildlife be maintained?”
Other conservation representatives said the resolution is essentially half baked.
“I feel like you should probably do a little bit more research on this before voting to support it,” said Josh Metten of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. Greater Yellowstone Coalition representative Richard Garrett agreed and said a fulfilled resolution would lead to “an urge by the state to sell off these lands.”
Carp of the day
The meeting provided panelists an opportunity to carp about federal actions, tout their proposal and offer their perspectives.
Sen. French said Wyoming stands to gain “billions upon billions of dollars … if those lands come back to the state.” Wyoming has never owned the property in question.
He repeated common Wyoming gripes about federal managers closing two-track roads to protect resources. “It happens all over the place,” he said.
Sen. Pearson sided with him. “Thinking that [on] federal lands you have access, you really don’t,” she said.
McKeown targeted federal firefighting. “Do you have any comments on why BLM let a lot of [land] just burn?” he asked one conservationist. “There are many cases where the state was ready to put out fires and not only did … the federal government come late to the aid, they wouldn’t let [Wyoming firefighters] on there to do it.”
French also discounted the prospect of Wyoming selling land it might acquire. “I do not believe the people of this state, the Legislature, the whoever, are going to sell off the Shoshone National Forest to the highest bidder,” he said.
Wyoming
100 years ago, Wyoming swore in nation’s first elected female governor. This is her story.
How Nellie Tayloe Ross went from the first lady of Wyoming to the first woman governor
In the span of three months in 1924, Nellie Tayloe Ross became a widow, single mother and the first woman elected governor in the United States.
Erin Udell, erinudell@coloradoan.com
A century ago, on Jan. 5, 1925, Wyoming made history when Nellie Tayloe Ross was sworn in as its governor — making her the first woman ever elected to the office in the U.S.
Nellie Tayloe Ross had come to Wyoming with her husband, William Bradford Ross, a promising attorney and aspiring democratic politician who rose from Laramie County’s prosecuting attorney to the governor’s office when he won Wyoming’s 1922 gubernatorial race, according to the National Governors Association.
After nearly two years in office, William Bradford Ross died Oct. 2, 1924, from complications following an appendectomy. His wife ultimately took up the helm, winning a special election for the governor’s seat in the fall of 1924.
In the matter of months, Nellie Tayloe Ross went from a wife to a widow and single mom and from a politician’s wife to a politician herself.
Nellie Tayloe Ross served out the rest of her husband’s term, then was defeated for reelection in 1926. She went on to carve out a career as a public speaker and serve as the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed her as the first female director of the U.S. Mint. She remained in the role for 20 years.
Catch up on all 36 of the Coloradoan’s binge-worthy history podcast episodes and subscribe to The Way it Was for more. The podcast is available on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts and other podcast apps.
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