Wyoming
Wyoming to absorb ~3,500 Bureau of Reclamation acres near Glendo Reservoir – WyoFile
The wheels are in motion — and potentially nearing a finish line — to convey some 3,461 acres of U.S. Bureau of Reclamation property abutting the North Platte River to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
Although there’s been renewed life in the federal land takeover movement in Wyoming and beyond, the conveyance has nothing to do with that. Rather, the land transfer was kicked off a handful of years ago by Game and Fish, whose leadership at the time expressed interest in acquiring the acreage spanning Converse and Platte counties for wildlife habitat and hunting.
“Their former director and our former director got together and realized that it was an area that’s popular for the sporting public,” said Matt Pollock, Game and Fish’s Casper Region habitat and access coordinator.
“Director [Carlie] Ronca and Director [Brian] Nesvik came to the conclusion that, if there was a way we could figure this out, it’d be great to put it into the hands of the Game and Fish, and we could manage it as a wildlife habitat management area,” he added.
Although the title remains with the federal government, the goal of managing the property as wildlife habitat has already been achieved. It’s used for pursuing deer, upland birds, waterfowl and for fishing, Pollock said. In the spring of 2023, Game and Fish took over management of the land and created the North Glendo Wildlife Habitat Management Area.
The creation of that management area was covered in a short article by Game and Fish’s publication, “Wyoming Wildlife,” but otherwise it received little to no publicity. Changes have been few, though the state agency put up some gates, signs and closed some roads.
“Many areas became muddy due to driving off-road or on dirt two-tracks when it was wet,” the “Wyoming Wildlife” article stated. “The hope is to reclaim those areas and some roads to provide more and better habitat for wildlife.”
Meanwhile, work continued to convey the title of the tract from the Bureau of Reclamation to Game and Fish. Originally obtained for floodplain reasons back in the 1950s, the federal agency classified it as “acquired land” and subsequently reported it as “excess,” according to Hailey Glarrow, a natural resource specialist for the bureau’s office in Mills.
“It doesn’t really serve a project purpose for us anymore,” Glarrow said.
The bureau’s mission is water-related — it builds and manages dams, canals, etc. — but it’s not considered a land management agency.
In mid-February, the U.S. General Services Administration posted a notice alerting other federal agencies that it was disposing of the properties. An inquiry to the GSA — which has been in the news for its DOGE-related property disposals — yielded no responses.
According to the GSA’s notice, other federal agencies had until Tuesday to express interest in the Bureau of Reclamation’s property near Glendo Reservoir. By mid-morning that day, Glarrow had not heard from anybody.
The next step in the process is what’s called a “public benefit and homeless-use screening,” Glarrow said. It’s a 30-day process, she said, during which the window would be open for Wyoming to formally acquire the land.
“Game and Fish would step in and put their bid in during step two,” Glarrow said.
The “bid,” however, would not be monetary.
“We’re not going to be paying anything,” Pollock said.
The Game and Fish Commission has already approved moving forward with the acquisition, spokeswoman Janet Milek said.
If somehow the transfer fell through, then the 3,461 acres head to an open auction, Glarrow said. Although fellow federal agencies have not signaled any interest in acquiring the property, private parties have found the riverside wetlands and meadows sprawling out from Glendo Reservoir appealing.
“I’ve heard a lot from the public,” Glarrow said.
Folks haven’t been reaching out in support of Game and Fish’s acquisition. Rather, they want to buy it, she said.
Correction: this story was updated to fix the name of a former Bureau Reclamation employee. -Eds.
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.”
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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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