Wyoming
Should Wyoming loan or give out wildfire recovery funds? Legislature and Gov. Gordon don't agree. – WyoFile
WHEATLAND—Standing in the Platte County Agriplex on Monday afternoon, Bob Budd likened the governor’s fire recovery plans to the easy exchange of cash for cattle between two ranchers.
“I want to buy your bull. You want to sell your bull,” Budd said. “We agree, and I drive off with the bull.”
Budd, executive director of the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust, used the example to describe a grant program developed by Gov. Mark Gordon to assist landowners dealing with the destruction caused by Wyoming’s historic 2024 wildfire season.
Of the 810,000 acres burned across the state, about 70% were privately owned or state lands. As such, Gordon asked the Wyoming Legislature for $130 million to help landowners restore grasses, replace fences and rebuild private structures, among other things.
Gordon, Budd and Jennifer Doering with the state’s Office of Land and Investments traveled Monday to Wheatland, Gillette and Sheridan for informational meetings about the program.
“It shouldn’t be a long, drawn-out process,” Budd said at the Wheatland meeting, adding that providing the funds through grants was the path of least resistance.
Back at the Capitol, a different plan was brewing that involved loans. Rather than providing grants to landowners to bolster their recovery efforts, lawmakers want to spend less money and they want to be paid back.
Conflicting approaches
The Joint Appropriations Committee reduced Gordon’s fire recovery funding recommendation last week to $100 million, and voted to make the money available through loans rather than grants.
“I have grave concerns about a loan program for fire restoration and recovery,” Gordon said in a Tuesday press release. “I understand the Legislature’s intent with the proposal, but there is a lack of understanding of the circumstances on the ground. We need a program that is flexible and responsive to your needs. A loan program does not do that.”
Meanwhile, supporters of the loan system say it ensures landowners have skin in the game.
Rep. Abby Angelos is a Freedom Caucus Republican from Gillette, near where some of the worst fires burned. She brought the motion to the Appropriations Committee to move the funding to a loan system.
“The loan is a way of recognizing that this is the people of Wyoming’s money, and we are accountable to them for it,” Angelos previously told WyoFile.
Senate President Bo Biteman, a Ranchester Republican, also told reporters last week that grants are “just giving money away.” Sheridan County, where Biteman lives, was also hit hard by the fires.
As outlined by the Appropriations Committee, the loan program would include a 2% interest rate with a maximum term of 20 years. It would be administered by both the Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust and the Office of State Lands and Investments. The State Loan and Investment Board would be tasked with giving final approval of any loan.
The committee also voted to have the program cover all catastrophic natural disasters, not just wildfires.
Public meetings
“I’m inherently a little distrustful of grants,” Platte County Commissioner Ian Jolovich said at the Wheatland meeting. “But then, on the other hand, a loan is an interesting idea, but I can guarantee ya I’m not interested in it.”
Jolovich was one of about 50 members of the public at the meeting. Jaron Frederick, a rancher whose operation northeast of Guernsey was impacted by the Haystack Fire, also spoke up.
“There aren’t any better stewards of the land than the ranchers, because we care about our property and we want to … be able to hand it down to a future generation,” he said. “So we want to do the right thing.”
Frederick’s operation was also hit by the Tracer Fire in 2006, the effects of which are still being felt today with cheatgrass and fallen timber, he said.
“I don’t know any rancher that’s looking for a handout, but it’s nice to have resources available to help us,” Frederick said.
In Sheridan, more than a hundred people showed up, including Johnson County Commissioner Bill Novotny.
“There are members of the Appropriations Committee from heavily impacted fire communities. I hope they’ll go home over the [President’s Day] break and talk to their producers, because my producers do not want loans,” Novotny told WyoFile on Wednesday.
The House Draw Fire charred about 175,000 acres in Johnson County — about the same size as the cities of Denver and Salt Lake combined. And the local government has been in the process of exhausting all of the available federal assistance, Novotny said.
As currently drafted, Wyoming’s recovery funds would only be available once landowners have exhausted federal assistance.
But that process in Johnson County was upended this week, Novotny said, when about $2 million in federal assistance was yanked out from under the county after the Trump administration paused disbursements appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Johnson County agricultural producers are simply not in a position to take out another loan, Novotny said.
“They cannot put themselves in second position with the state in first position,” he said. “These folks have already borrowed money for operating lines so that they can find additional pasture. They don’t have that ability right now.”
Both the Senate and the House will begin budget deliberations as soon as Friday, and Novotny is confident there will be an amendment to revert the program back to grants.
In the meantime, he said he’s grateful for his local lawmakers — Sen. Barry Crago and Rep. Marilyn Connolly, two Buffalo Republicans — who have both brought back-up bills to restore fire suppression funding as well as the governor’s original request.
CASPER, Wyo. — High school athletics in Wyoming could see some drastic changes in the coming years following legislative changes to the state’s education budget, the Wyoming High School Activities Association recently announced in a statement.
According to the WHSAA, Wyoming school districts are facing a projected $3.9 million shortfall in activities funding, forcing officials to consider significant cuts to high school sports and extracurricular programs.
The WHSAA shared details regarding a new “silo” funding model implemented by the Legislature, stating that the recalibrated block grant model reduced funding for student activities and extra-duty responsibilities from $46.3 million to $42.4 million, an approximately 8.4% decrease statewide.
WHSAA Commissioner Trevor Wilson said the restructuring also restricts district access to an additional $76.2 million in previously flexible funding.
“A significant portion of the [April 28 WHSAA Board of Directors] meeting was dedicated to discussing the projected funding shortfall,” Wilson wrote.
The WHSAA is weighing several strategies to address rising costs with fewer resources. Proposed changes include eliminating regional tournaments and reducing the number of teams qualifying for state events from eight to four; limiting wrestling to two classes and restricting track and field state participants to the top 16 marks; making cuts to soccer, indoor track and field, Nordic and Alpine skiing, swimming and diving, spring golf and tennis; and reducing in-person speech and debate events by half and centrally locating All-State Music events to minimize travel. The board also recommended increasing gate admission or implementing student participation fees to offset costs.
While the WHSAA release states that no plans have been finalized and the various changes are currently just possibilities, Natrona County School District 1 Board of Trustees member Mary Schmidt criticized the WHSAA’s handling of the news at Monday’s board meeting.
“I take some issues with this, [including] the sheer fact that we as Board of Trustees members have not talked about that at all,” Schmidt said. “It is not our intent and it has not been brought to us to cut our athletics or activities budget for the upcoming school year. … I take issue with them picking sports and getting the community upset and ginning them up to be upset that this is all going to be cut when that hasn’t been discussed.”
Later in the meeting, Superintendent Angela Hensley clarified that Natrona County School District 1’s athletics and activities budget saw a reduction of roughly $550,000 in the coming year’s budget, but said the local school district does not plan to cut any sports.
“Thank you, Trustee Schmidt, for saying this, because I think people are wondering — we are not planning to cut athletics and activities for next year,” Hensley said. “We do have to take a look at our entire budget as we have talked about, as we learn more about these new rules that come in.”
Related
Republished with permission from Wyoming News Now, a TV news outlet covering the Cheyenne and Casper areas.
Cheyenne City Council has introduced a temporary moratorium, or pause, on new data center construction.
“The end goal is to actually have regulations in place, to have really heavy public involvement with this with data centers,” said Councilman Mark Moody.
The proposed ordinance is not a permanent ban on data centers and would not affect data centers currently under construction.
Councilman Moody says this is a bipartisan issue.
“I just want to make this clear, I’m not against data centers. We do need them from a national security perspective,” he said.
He said there needs to be more public input and regulations regarding data centers in Cheyenne.
The ordinance would require city staff to study data center impacts such as electricity usage, electricity tariffs, closed-loop cooling systems, groundwater impacts, agricultural impacts, and land value.
Cheyenne LEADS, the economic development corporation for Cheyenne and Laramie County, reported in November 2025 that there are 12 operational data centers in Wyoming, five under construction and plans for 43 data centers announced across the state.
“There needs to be more public input with this, and also to see how many we can sustain here in this community, cause there are talks of 43, and then another day 70. How many can we sustain here?” said Councilman Moody.
The proposed moratorium will now go to the Public Services Committee on Monday, May 18 at noon in the Municipal Building.
Sheridan will play in the North Regional Tournament at Gillette, while the South Regional Tournament will be played at Rock Springs.
North Regional Tournament at Gillette:
Checking record vs. highest team in the quadrant not involved in the tie, Thunder Basin gets the #1 Northeast seed over Campbell County, because the Lady Bolts went 3-1 vs. Sheridan, whereas the Lady Camels went 2-2.
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 NE) Thunder Basin vs. (#4 NW) Jackson – 11am
(#2 NW) Natrona County vs. (#3 NE) Sheridan – 11am
(#2 NE) Campbell County vs. (#3 NW) Kelly Walsh – 1pm
(#1 NW) Cody vs. (#4 NE) Worland – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Thunder Basin/Jackson winner vs. Natrona County/Sheridan winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh winner vs. Cody/Worland winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Thunder Basin/Jackson loser vs. Natrona County/Sheridan loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh loser vs. Cody/Worland loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
South Regional Tournament at Rock Springs:
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 SW) Laramie vs. (#4 SE) Torrington – 11am
(#2 SE) Cheyenne East vs. (#3 SW) Green River – 11am
(#2 SW) Rock Springs vs. (#3 SE) Wheatland – 1pm
(#1 SE) Cheyenne Central vs. (#4 SW) Cheyenne South – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Laramie/Torrington winner vs. Cheyenne East/Green River winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Rock Springs/Wheatland winner vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Laramie/Torrington loser vs. Cheyenne East/Green River loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Rock Springs/Wheatland loser vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
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