WASHINGTON—Making a case that he’s the right man to lead the federal agency that manages the nation’s wildlife, Brian Nesvik declared a childhood love for the furred, feathered and finned among us, and the wild habitats they depend upon. 

“It would shape my life’s work,” Nesvik told members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works of his love for wildlife.

Testifying Wednesday from Capitol Hill’s Dirksen Senate Building, the longtime Wyoming resident also advertised the on-the-ground skills he’s developed as a rank-and-file warden, then chief warden, then director of the state’s Game and Fish Department. 

“I know how to put tire chains on a 4-wheel-drive pickup in a snowstorm, and I’ve classified deer from a helicopter, and [I know] how to patrol some of America’s most remote and wild country from a horse,” Nesvik told West Virginia Republican Chairwoman Shelley Moore Capito and other senators on the panel. 

In February, Nesvik became the Trump administration’s nominee to direct the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a post that’s in charge of 8,000 employees and oversees a wildlife refuge system engulfing nearly 860 million acres. If confirmed, he’d follow in the footsteps of John Turner, a Fish and Wildlife Service director from a Teton County ranching family who led the agency in the early 1990s during the George H. W. Bush administration. 

Confirmation hearings in U.S. Senate committees are often used by those in the political minority to poke holes in an appointee’s credentials and career, shining light on missteps and controversy. There was little criticism, however, directed Nesvik’s way from congressional Democrats. The most fired-up line of questioning came from Alaska Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, who bashed the Biden administration for “70 executive orders” that he alleged were harming Alaskans.

“The radical, far-left environmental groups want to crush my state,” Sullivan said. “Nobody ever wrote about that. It’s amazing. They’re not going to write about this, either.” 

Eventually, the Alaska senator formulated a question: “Will you commit to work with me on implementing the president’s day one executive order — very long, very detailed — on unleashing Alaska’s extraordinary resource potential?”

Nesvik was direct. 

“Absolutely,” he said. “I also look forward to visiting your state and learning about a lot of issues that you’re very passionate about.” 

In his opening remarks, Nesvik said that President Donald Trump’s “America first” agenda provides “immediate and transformational opportunities.” 

“Simplifying regulations, accelerating permitting with technology, and relying more on education, voluntary compliance and verification, I share [Interior] Secretary [Doug] Burgum’s vision that innovation outperforms regulation,” Nesvik said. 

In a later exchange with chairwoman Moore Capito, the one-time game warden from Pinedale was asked about his past experiences working with Fish and Wildlife Service personnel who he’d be leading.

“Certainly, at times, there’s this natural tension and friction between state and federal agencies,” Nesvik testified. “Fish [and] Wildlife Service is guided and directed by congressional action and laws, as are state agencies. A lot of times those interests are conflicting.” 

A bedrock of U.S. environmental law, the Endangered Species Act, can fracture states and federal relations — it’s an issue that in 2023 brought Nesvik to Washington, D.C., to testify. Two years later, he was asked whether he’d “commit to expediting” the ESA consultation process. 

Nesvik said that he thought the consultation requirement was a “good component” of the ESA when it was enacted in 1975, but that there were “opportunities to be more prompt and timely.”

Nesvik was introduced by three of Wyoming’s highest political leaders, U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis and Gov. Mark Gordon. 

Lummis described him as “Wyoming’s real life Joe Pickett” — a nod to the C.J. Box book series about a game warden. Barrasso, a former Senate Environment and Public Works chairman, spoke highly of Nesvik’s professional credentials. 

“I actually first met him when he served in the Wyoming Army National Guard — he’s been in the guard since ‘86,” the state’s senior senator said. 

Gordon — who picked Nesvik to lead Game and Fish in 2019 — similarly touted the Trump administration’s nominee. 

“Brian has taken part in and led Wyoming’s efforts to successfully recover some of the world’s most charismatic megafauna,” Gordon testified. “In Wyoming, that’s grizzly bears, grey wolves, as well as some of our treasured species that have [been] declared extinct, like black-footed ferrets.” 

If confirmed, Nesvik could wind up leading the Fish and Wildlife Service with fewer Wyoming-based staff and resources because of the president who appointed him. The Trump administration’s Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency has caused disarray within the agency, slashing staff that lead black-footed ferret recovery and run its Saratoga fish hatchery and angling to close the service’s tribal-focused Lander Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office. 

Since the mass layoffs started in February there have been court-ordered rehirings, but the official toll of the cuts on Fish and Wildlife’s staffing and resources in Wyoming is unclear. Written questions sent in by WyoFile for several stories yielded only short statements from the agency’s Washington, D.C. headquarters. 

Nesvik declined an interview for this story. He cited his still-pending confirmation, which must clear the entire U.S. Senate. 

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.