Every year is a conflict-prone year for the scores of cattle and grizzly bears that mix annually on Union Pass, but Coke Landers was especially glad to put 2024 behind him. 

The run-ins started shortly after the historic Green River Drift delivered many thousands of cattle to the national forest to fatten up over the summer. By the time ranchers herded the domestic bovids off the vast 267-square-mile Upper Green River grazing allotment on the Bridger-Teton National Forest in the fall, some 94 head of cattle were confirmed to have been killed by large carnivores, he said.

“Ninety-one of them were bears and three were wolves,” said Landers, who took the reins of the Upper Green River Cattlemen’s Association from former president Albert Sommers a few years ago.

“That was the highest ever,” Landers said. “It was a record.” 

That’s especially notable considering that the Upper Green has been the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem’s epicenter of grizzly-cattle conflict over the last couple of decades. It’s also been the site of a not-yet completely resolved legal battle about that conflict, stemming from a federal assessment that OK’d killing up to 72 Endangered Species Act-protected grizzlies due to cattle grazing on public land. 

Across grizzly range in the Equality State, it was a tough year for not only bruins killing cattle but for conflict generally. Grizzlies, in turn, were killed at record rates.

The phenomenon was partially explained by the dry year, which 2024 certainly was: More than 800,000 acres in Wyoming burned. The result is desiccated vegetation and sparse berry crops that send the adaptable omnivores looking for alternative food sources. Oftentimes, they end up finding trouble instead. 

Wyoming Game and Fish Department officials ran through the numbers and nature of the conflicts during their commission meeting last week in Cody. 

“They’re occurring on private lands, the majority of these conflicts,” said Brian Debolt, the large carnivore conflict coordinator for Game and Fish. 

Grizzly bears have stopped expanding their range in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, federal biologists say. Nevertheless, much of where they occur today is outside of what Wyoming officials believe to be “suitable habitat.” 

“The amount of private land occupied by grizzly bears in the Yellowstone ecosystem — outside of suitable habitat — is bigger than the area of New Jersey,” Debolt said. “Frankly, I get frustrated.”

A graph Debolt presented showed that upwards of 60% of all verified grizzly conflicts in 2024 occurred on private property. 

Another graph broke down the cause of the conflict. Cattle dominated with 188 of 242 — a whopping 78% — of all confirmed Wyoming grizzly bear conflicts attributed to domestic bovids in 2024. In order, the next largest conflict sources were pet food, livestock feed and birdseed (13 conflicts) and property damage (11 conflicts).

Grizzlies also killed a record number of Wyoming cattle, Game and Fish Large Carnivore Supervisor Dan Thompson told WyoFile. 

“It’s definitely our highest level of conflict,” Thompson said. “There’s this notion that nobody’s doing anything about it. That’s not true. Those producers are doing as much as they can to reduce that conflict potential — as are we.” 

About half of Wyoming’s grizzly depredations in 2024 occurred in the Upper Green. Four grizzlies there were captured and killed in response, Thompson said. 

There’s been mixed results from efforts to stem the grizzly bear-cattle bloodshed on the massive Bridger-Teton National Forest allotment. Nearly a decade ago, range riders attempted an experimental herding technique to keep cattle bunched up and less vulnerable. 

“The herding actually made the kills worse,” Landers said. 

More recently, the Upper Green River Cattlemen’s Association tested out motion-triggered LED lights known as “flasher tags” that were fastened to calves’ ears. 

“I put 250 in, and I didn’t have any calves killed with a flasher tag that year,” Landers said. “But when I pulled the flasher tags in the fall, of the 250, there were only 10 of them that were still working.” 

Wyoming secured, but then lost, a federal grant that was going to allow Upper Green cattlemen to scale up the effort with more durable flasher tags, according to Thompson. He didn’t specify exactly what happened to the grant, which went away during a period of extreme turmoil for the federal workforce and grants provided by the federal government under the Trump administration.

“There’s a lot of unknowns right now, let’s put it that way,” Thompson said. “But we still figured out a way to do a pilot component to look at some of these things. We’re still moving forward.” 

A new prototype of the tags, Landers said, went out on 14 calves during the 2024 grazing season. 

“One of my calves with a flasher tag got killed,” Landers said, “but all of those flasher tags were working when they came home.” 

In 2025, they’re going to try another design again, just not in big numbers, he said. 

A few months out from the Bridger-Teton grazing season, Landers is encouraged by the relatively big snow year in the region. Snowpack readings in the Upper Green River drainage were sitting at 110% of the long-term median as of Tuesday, but a SNOTEL site up in the allotment was at 127%. 

“We should have plenty of moisture and hopefully not as dry of a summer,” Landers said. “A better berry crop does make a difference.” 

If an easy conflict year doesn’t come to fruition, the status quo will have to do. Although there’s plenty of carnage, the system is one that the Upper Green River Cattlemen’s Association president says is working. 

“The way our cattle association has been living with the bears and the wolves — and with our state’s compensation program — is a pretty good success story,” Landers said. “Honestly, we’re living together. We’re not always getting along, but we’re living together and we’re getting it done.”

Grizzlies in Wyoming and throughout the Lower 48 continue to be managed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. A Biden-era proposal to extend that classification, which precludes grizzly bear hunting, is open to public comments through May 16.

One of the final bills signed by Gov. Mark Gordon following the end of the 68th Wyoming Legislature’s general session voids all future non-compete agreements in the state. SF 107’s passage marks the beginning of the legislative off-season known as the interim.

Non-compete agreements prohibited

Non-compete clauses prevent employees from working for their employer’s competitors or from starting a competing business within a certain amount of time after leaving. They can include geographic stipulations as well, barring employees from working for a competitor if that business is located within a certain number of miles from their previous job.

Wyoming’s new law will make those kinds of clauses null and void, joining states like California, Minnesota and North Dakota.

The bill’s sponsor, Majority Floor Leader Sen. Tara Nethercott (R-Cheyenne), said she believes the elimination of non-competes will benefit free market growth in Wyoming, especially for those in the state’s healthcare industry.

“What we’ve seen in Wyoming is an increasing trend of employers to use non-competes in all forms of businesses and affecting all types of employees,” said Nethercott. “So there’s been increasing litigation making its way to the Wyoming Supreme Court in recent years at unprecedented levels.”

For healthcare workers, Nethercott says non-competes were stifling the development of an industry that’s desperately needed in the state. In particular, Wyoming suffers from a shortage of OB-GYNs and maternal health providers.

“I think it encourages physicians to stay in the communities of their choice,” Nethercott said in an interview. “What these non-competes do is oftentimes force physicians out. As it relates to physicians, it has a huge impact. So physicians are unable to continue to practice within their own communities, really impacting continuity of care for patients.”

The law goes into effect on July 1 and only voids non-compete clauses made after that date. It does not void clauses made before July 1.

Enter the interim

In between legislative sessions, Wyoming’s citizen Legislature disperses across the state to their home communities, rendering the Capitol building’s House and Senate chambers quiet once again.

In her own downtime, Nethercott works as an attorney specializing in employment law at the Cheyenne law firm Crowley Fleck.

During the interim, lawmakers like her are assigned to joint committees that study topics, hear constituent feedback across the state and sometimes come up with draft legislation.

Those kinds of bills are generally expected to do better than measures sponsored by individuals, because they’re more thoroughly vetted and have used taxpayer funding in the research process. But that wasn’t the case this year.

After the general session ended, the Legislative Service Office (LSO) reported that only 47% of all bills sponsored by interim committees passed both chambers. That’s compared to 61% in the last general session in 2023.

“Do the committee assignments in the interim need to be re-evaluated? I think that’s true,” said Nethercott.

Some lawmakers expressed dismay at the number of committee bills that died in the session and wondered about the point of the interim going forward.

Nethercott said she believes that while interim committee work shouldn’t stop, more education on the process is needed for rookie lawmakers, including the 23 representatives who were brand new to the House this year.

“There’s just a lack of knowledge about how the Legislature functions, or how committees function,” she said. “Some of that naivety, I think, has resulted in the committee bills failing.”

Committee chairs need to be the ones to educate their respective bodies on procedure, according to Nethercott.

But Wyoming Freedom Caucus member Rep. John Bear (R-Gillette) says he’s looking at the interim season much differently. Bear chairs the House Appropriations Committee and was present during numerous House leadership press conferences held in the speaker’s office during the session.

“I think you’ll see a different type of interim process,” said Bear in an interview with Wyoming Public Radio. “You’ll see bills that are being studied and subjects that are being studied that are near and dear to the hearts of the people of Wyoming. They’re not just things that basically the bureaucracy has asked for.”

He drew a comparison to the 67th Wyoming Legislature, which did not feature a Freedom Caucus majority.

“The 67th and prior, and probably for decades prior, there was much more focus on supporting the government,” Bear said. “Whereas this Legislature, it’s much more about supporting the people that have sent us to the Legislature to represent them.”

Beyond the caucus’ majority in the House, Bear said he believes the Senate “isn’t nearly as conservative as the House.” He penned an op-ed during the session that accused his fellow legislators of being lobbyists.

WPR asked Nethercott about Bear’s comments on the interim.

“It would be really refreshing if the media could stop going to him for every quote on every topic, where he criticizes everything,” she said. “The perpetual criticism by some members of the Legislature concerning previous and current legislators … is unproductive. I think when we really step back and look, good work is being accomplished and will continue to be accomplished, and the Senate will make sure that that occurs. That work will continue, regardless of some of the commentary that is constantly provided by those that always give a quote.”

Interim committee topics will be formalized and released on April 8.

This reporting was made possible by a grant from the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, supporting state government coverage in the state. Wyoming Public Media and Jackson Hole Community Radio are partnering to cover state issues both on air and online.

Food Bank of Wyoming recently learned it will not receive $535,000 that was promised in a 2023 grant — one of the many casualties of President Donald Trump’s elimination and freeze of congressionally approved, Biden-era federal programs.

The elimination of the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement — a grant aimed at feeding the most vulnerable while connecting Wyoming ag producers with local eaters — comes at a time when “the food insecurity need in Wyoming is at its highest level in 10 years,” Food Bank of Wyoming Executive Director Jill Stillwagon told Oil City News.

Funding for Wyoming’s Home Energy Savings program, which the Wyoming Energy Authority recently established after navigating months of red tape and collecting input from Wyoming residents, is considered “frozen.” Administrators have received no indication of whether it will ultimately be axed or allowed to continue, according to state officials. That puts $69 million in hard-fought-for federal funds in limbo when skyrocketing electric bills are an increasing threat to low-income households.

The administration’s on-again, off-again whiplash of threats and exceptions to federal programs — further complicated by ongoing court battles and the Elon Musk-led purge of federal employees — throws into question perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars that could go to Wyoming communities and households.

Federal officials have mostly declined to answer questions or provide even basic information, making it hard, if not impossible to know how much money is at stake.

State officials say it’s extremely difficult to account for the status of hundreds of grant applications and awards because they are being managed by various state agencies, individual communities and other groups. When WyoFile asked Dru Palmer — manager of Wyoming’s State Grants Integration office, which was created to help reel in Biden-era federal dollars — for an accounting or estimate, the inquiry was forwarded to Gov. Mark Gordon’s office.

“Right now, a lot is still up in the air in this space,” Gordon’s Communications Director Michael Pearlman told WyoFile via email. “Our office is getting information program by program, if we receive any updates at all. Each federal agency is issuing its own guidance in terms of what programs can move forward, and which ones are still paused.”

‘Tip of the iceberg’

The Lander-based Wyoming Outdoor Council has identified more than $100 million that the state, Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes and other entities have applied for under the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that is now either terminated or “frozen,” according to the council’s Energy and Climate Associate Jonathan Williams. In addition to the Home Energy Savings program, there’s a freeze on Solar for All grant money totaling some $30 million, which includes a potential $8 million dedicated to the Wind River Indian Reservation.

Wyoming’s Solar for All grant award also dedicated money for workforce training to install solar infrastructure, specifically in low-income and tribal communities.

Some Wyoming ag producers — who are desperate to survive rising electric costs — have invested tens of thousands of dollars in solar installations, Williams added, with expectations to receive rebates via the long-standing Rural Energy for America Program. But those rebates also appear to be in question.

“We think this is the tip of the iceberg,” Williams said.

There could be as much as $2 billion at stake in Wyoming, according to a Grist report. But Williams says it’s nearly impossible to know for certain.

The council recently hosted a public webinar highlighting its concerns regarding programs “gone dark” as well as the potential benefits if the flow of federal grant dollars is allowed to move forward.

“A lot of these programs would just help residents save money — help communities save money,” Williams told dozens of webinar attendees on Thursday, adding that the vast majority of grants are one-time investments. “There’s certainly some other co-benefits, as well, worth acknowledging. I’m thinking specifically of human health impacts, the ability of communities and tribes to respond to natural emergencies like wildfire and drought and, certainly, just quality of life.”

Though Wyoming’s congressional delegation opposed the Biden-era initiatives, they eventually joined state leaders in efforts to train local municipalities and others in grant writing seminars and provided other resources to help Wyoming communities take advantage of the opportunities.

“These aren’t abstract government initiatives,” the outdoor council’s Tribal Engagement Coordinator Big Wind Carpenter said. “They really are helping benefit our communities here on the ground in Wyoming … We’re talking about weatherization, energy efficiency upgrades — these are fundamental building blocks to allow residents to access services that they otherwise couldn’t afford.”

What municipalities are saying

City officials in Cheyenne — where technology and manufacturing have been booming for years, and where city staff is deft at pulling in grant dollars — say there’s unanswered questions regarding supposedly settled federal grants as well as those in the pipeline.

“What I’m hearing from our federal partners is, ‘Just proceed as you have been until you hear otherwise’ and ‘Don’t do anything that could be used as a reason or an excuse to cancel your grant,’” Cheyenne’s Economic Resource Administrator Renee Smith told WyoFile. 

In some cases, she said, particularly with grants administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, city and state officials sometimes hear of grant status updates before the regional office is informed. Staff at the U.S. Forest Service, according to Smith, have said they’re worried about the ability to process grants due to personnel cuts made by the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency.   

“We were going to go after a couple of Forest Service grants and, basically, everything just got shut down,” Smith said. One of the city’s in-the-pipe grants via the U.S. Department of Agriculture Urban and Community Forestry program was paused for a few weeks before federal officials resumed processing it, she said. 

The city is still pinning hopes on an EPA grant to conduct a greenhouse-gas inventory which, if one is completed, qualifies Cheyenne and Laramie County to “unlock” many more potential grants for community solar and other renewable energy projects, Smith said. But the Trump administration has indicated a massive budget cut for the agency.

“That’s going to have massive, massive repercussions in our state,” Smith said, adding that EPA-administered grants help fill a major funding need in Wyoming for municipal water infrastructure.

What worries Smith the most, however, is that federal agencies are not accepting new applications for grant programs.

“I honestly think that we will see the impacts, not this year, but next year,” Smith said. “There are no grants for me to apply for right now. There’s nothing. So if I’m not writing grants, we’re not getting grants next year to do infrastructure projects next year.

“I’m less worried about our existing programs because we have contracts in place,” she added. 

A contingent of Wyoming community advocates and town officials will sojourn to Washington D.C. this week, according to multiple sources who spoke to WyoFile, to plead for support of federal dollars already promised to Wyoming. Meantime, Gordon and Wyoming’s congressional delegation, they say, have been making the case for exceptions under the sweeping cuts.

“They are listening,” Smith said.