SUPPORTING UW

Governor and Wyoming Legislature grant university big funding

During Wyoming’s 67th Legislature, Gov. Mark Gordon and other state legislators showed strong support for the University of Wyoming (UW) and for the College of Agriculture, Life Sciences and Natural Resources, especially.

In fact, according to a UW press release dated March 20, the university will receive $120 million to complete construction projects and provide staff pay raises, in addition to other one-time and ongoing funding provided through the supplemental budget, which was approved during the 2023 General Session.

Support for the College of Ag UW’s College of Agriculture, Life Sciences and Natural Resources was specifically awarded several million dollars and will reap benefits from the state’s generosity.

According to the press release, this includes a onetime $2.5 million in endowment matching funds for chairs, professorships and programs

BLM proposes public lands rule

On March 31, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) published text of a proposed rule making significant changes to the agency’s authority under the Federal Land Management and Policy Act of 1976 (FLPMA).

The act, as amended, would advance the BLM’s mission to manage public lands for multiple use and sustained yield by prioritizing the health and resilience of ecosystems across the lands and apply land-health standards to all 245 million acres the BLM manages, instead of limiting them to federal livestock grazing allotments.

The rule would also designate conservation as a formal use of public lands, on par with energy development, grazing and recreation and revise regulations to ramp up identifying and designating Area of Critical Environmental Concerns (ACECs).

The proposed rule noted conservation leases “would not override valid existing rights or preclude other, subsequent authorizations so long as those subsequent authorizations are compatible with the conservation use.”

Industry concern

Several agricultural organizations, including the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and Public Lands Council (PLC), have expressed serious concern regarding the BLM’s proposed rule.

According to PLC, the proposed rule was developed by agency staff, without consultation or input from grazing permittees or other regulated stakeholders.

“Ranchers have a reasonable expectation of transparency and predictability when dealing with BLM, and this

REAP funds

President Biden’s IRA looks to lower energy costs and build America’s clean-energy economy within the college, as well as a $1.6 million annual, ongoing increase for UW’s Agriculture Research Station and Extension Centers, due to inflation.

Additionally, UW’s School of Energy Resources (SER) will be awarded one-time appropriations of $1.5 million in endowment matching funds and $14.75 million to continue developing new, nonenergy uses for Wyoming’s coal through a state-sponsored carbon engineering program, in which $300,000 will be used specifically to analyze the feasibility for producing high-grade graphite from coal.

The Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory is also set to receive up to $860,000 to help recruit and retain pathologists and other critical positions. Annual increases in funding

In addition, the press release explains the supplemental budget includes an annual increase of $12.27 million for staff and faculty pay raises, on top

Please see UW on page 5

On March 31, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsask announced USDA is accepting applications, starting April 1, for $1 billion in grants to help agricultural producers and rural small businesses invest in renewable energy systems and make energy-efficiency improvements.

USDA is making these $1 billion in grants available under the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), with funding from the president’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which works to invest in combatting the climate crisis.

“Supporting renewable energy and energy-saving systems helps the people of rural America create thriving, livable communities,” Vilsack said. “When we invest in rural communities, we are supporting hard work which sends a ripple effect across our country.”

“Clean energy is critical to the future of our economy, and the IRA provides the Biden-Harris administration with resources to build a more prosperous rural America, while tackling the climate crisis and

Please see REAP on page 7

Casper College hosts 43rd annual sale

The Casper College Agriculture Department hosted their 43rd Annual Lamb and Pig Sale on April 2 in the Grace Werner Agricultural Pavilion in Casper.

According to Casper College’s Head Livestock Judging Coach Colby Hales, the purpose of the sale is to provide youth exhibitors with livestock projects to exhibit at the county, state and national levels from the best producers in the Rocky Mountain Region.

Last year, Casper College added a livestock show the night before the sale to allow breeders to showcase their livestock in the big ring and to set a sale order for the following day.

“The show the last two years has been fantastic, and we believe it has really built up a good amount of hype for our event,” Hales said.

43 rd annual sale

This year, Casper College offered 31 lambs and 31 pigs through their sale, from consignors throughout the state. Hales explained consignors must be invited to participate in the sale, with preference going to producers who are Casper College alumni.

According to a March 16 Casper College press release, lamb consignors

Please see SALE on page 9

Just as I was getting used to warmer weather and smaller snowbanks, a furious storm from the northeast blasted us.

We got some 27 inches one day, on top of nearly eight inches the day before.

Now, it looks like a bomb went off with all of the piled snow.

After this past winter, I’m wondering, what’s next?

Earlier last week, Congress announced news of new public lands regulations. It caught public lands ranchers off guard since the White House and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) never openly asked for any input from stakeholder involvement, which has also created a lot of hard feelings out in the hills.

These two entities still haven’t released any details on how the new regulations will work, so it’s too early to understand the effect it will have on public lands ranchers and others.

BLM proposed this new regulation, which, pursuant to the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA) as amended, would advance the BLM’s mission to manage public lands for multiple use.

To support these activities, the proposed rule would apply land health standards to all BLM managed public lands and clarify “conservation” is a “use” within FLPMA’s multiple-use framework. This would place conservation as a use along with recreation, minerals and grazing.

Using the word conservation is just a ploy to manage for climate change, as this is the White House’s main goal. Everyone likes the word conservation, and now on public lands, it will not be a practice but a use under regulation.

I believe in climate change, and that it has been around since the “Seventh Day.” However, what I think most people disagree on is what causes climate change and the things we can do to change it.

If individuals want to see true conservation in action, they should visit a farm or ranch. I think BLM is now using a smoke screen for management. So, what’s next?

One large issue is the passing of the farm bill, which occurs every five years through Congress. It is a very important issue for all of those involved in agriculture, even though nearly 80 percent of farm bill dollars go toward food stamps, making it very political.

To some, food stamps are a real need, but corruption in the program needs to be cleaned up. For all Americans, the farm bill is a direct line to food security, plain and simple.

This time Congress shouldn’t need to completely rewrite the farm bill, because most of the 2018 bill was good.

Some individuals in Congress want to focus solely on climate and conservation in all of the farm bill initiatives, while others note, “If we focus solely on climate and conservation in all of our farm bill initiatives, we could miss something in literature that could make certain practices mandatory instead of voluntary. This is the concern we’re hearing from farmers and ranchers now.”

I’ve always believed if something is done voluntarily, the result will most always turn out better than if it’s mandatory. But, it sounds like that’s Washington, D.C.’s way these days.

WDA Celebrates 100 Years

In 1923, King Tut’s tomb was opened, the first game was played at Yankee Stadium and the first issue of Time Magazine was published. Along with these noteworthy events, something a little more important to us here in Wyoming happened in Cheyenne.

During the 17th session of the Wyoming Legislature, 25 members of the Senate and 60 members of the House debated and passed House Bill (HB) 230 to establish the Wyoming Department of Agriculture (WDA). The legislation was then signed into law by Gov. William Bradford Ross on March 3, 1923.

This legislation created the Board of Agriculture, which would oversee WDA activities and hire the first Commissioner of Agriculture. It transferred duties of the Immigration Department and the Dairy, Food and Oil Department to the new state department, along with supervision of the Wyoming State Fair.

This legislation also required the commissioner to hire deputies from the University of Wyoming (UW) for technical scientific training and expert advice, while paying onehalf of their salary to serve in these positions. These deputies would continue to act as faculty at UW, while also serving as employees of the State Department of Agriculture

100 Years Of Support And Regulation

From the first days of WDA, the focus has always

By Doug Miyamoto

been on supporting and regulating the agricultural industry in Wyoming.

Over the past 100 years, there have been 19 commissioners and/or directors of agriculture, including myself, and as time has rolled on, the duties, structure and statutory responsibilities of WDA have shifted and grown with the times and the needs of the ag industry and the state.

While there have been changes over the years for WDA, the protection, regulation and enhancement of the agriculture industry in Wyoming has always been the driving force.

We are proud of the work we do for our industry and for the citizens of our state.

We currently oversee a wide variety of statutes, regulations and programs for the ag industry and citizens of Wyoming.

WDA continues to be dedicated to the promotion and enhancement of agriculture, natural resources and contribution to Wyoming’s quality of life, and we do this through the five divisions of WDA.

These include administration, which makes sure the business of WDA continues, and we have the ability to move forward as a department; analytical services, which includes ensuring our laboratory has the ability to run a wide variety of scientific tests for agriculture and more and technical services, which deals with plants, seed, feed, bees, pesticides, predators and more.

The last two of these divisions are consumer health services, which inspects and licenses meat plants, restaurants and more and natural resources and policy, which makes sure ag has a seat at the table for policy decisions at the state and federal levels, various grants, mediation and more.

We strive to promote and preserve our agricultural community, assist the citizens of Wyoming to live safe and healthy lives, be responsible stewards of our natural resources and achieve integrity in the marketplace.

Celebrating a century

As part of the 100th year of WDA, we are planning an open house at the WDA Main Office in June, where everyone can come to Cheyenne and celebrate with us. While our doors are always open to the public, the open house will be a chance for the community and our partners to come see us and learn more about WDA and the history of our department.

Along with this, we will be releasing a variety of information on our website and social media in coming months about our department over the years, so keep an eye out for this content.

Finally, we will be hosting the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) Annual Meeting in Cheyenne on Sept. 10-13. This is the first time our state will have hosted this pres- tigious, national conference where directors, secretaries and commissioners of agriculture from across the country, along with employees from the federal government and ag industry representatives come together to discuss important agricultural issues of the day.

We anticipate more than 450 attendees for the NASDA meeting, and we are excited to bring them all to town. We look forward to celebrating our industry and department during the conference by showcasing our industry, our state, our people and our department.

It’s going to be a busy year, but we are looking forward to celebrating with the citizens of Wyoming at the open house and with the national agriculture community during NASDA.

It has been a good century here at WDA, and we look forward to the work we do for our state over the next century of work for Wyoming.

Doug Miyamoto is the director of WDA and can be reached by calling the WDA Main Office at 307777-7321.

Proclamation made

The Wyoming Weed and Pest Council and Gov. Mark Gordon announced April 2023 as Wyoming Native Plant Month. According to WWPC, this proclamation is intended to raise awareness about the importance of native plants and the role they play in keeping Wyoming wild and beautiful.

The proclamation states, “Native plants are essential for healthy, diverse and sustainable ecosystems and are critical for cleaning air, filtering water and stabilizing soils.”

“Wyoming is home to more than 2,500 native plant species including large shade trees, shrubs, vines, grasses and wildflowers,” it continues. “Native plants provide essential food including nectar, pollen, seeds and foliage for native birds, insects and other wildlife in ways non-native plants cannot.”

The proclamation further notes it is important to encourage public awareness about the benefits of Wyoming’s native plants and pollinators and other wildlife to the economy and the health and substantiality of Wyoming’s treasured ecosystems.

“From ranchers to recreationalists, we all play a role in keeping our native plant life healthy and flourishing,” said Lindsey Woodward, WWPC program coordinator for the Wyoming Department of Agriculture. “We encourage everyone to be informed about native plant life and how to preserve it while working or enjoying the outdoors.”

WBA set to meet

The Wyoming Board of Agriculture (WBA) will meet on April 10-11 in Cheyenne at the Wyoming State Capitol Extension in room W53/W54 and via Zoom.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. on April 10, and during the meeting, the board will elect a new president and vice president, discuss conservation district appointments, vote on a resolution to add palmer amaranth to the State Designated List, hear Rangeland Health Assessment Program applications and hear water quality reports and water quality applications.

On April 11, the meeting will begin at 9 a.m. and the board will set tentative meeting dates, review liaison assignments, hear Weed and Pest declared resolutions, hear an update from the Seed Lab, hear Wyoming Department of Agriculture division updates and partner updates and cover any other business as needed.

The public is welcome to attend the meeting and there will be a chance for public comment each day of the meeting.

The Wyoming State Capitol Extension is located at 200 W. 24th St. in Cheyenne. A full agenda for the meeting with Zoom call information can be found at agriculture.wy.gov/boa/agenda. Times are tentative and subject to change without notice. If the board finishes one topic, they will proceed to the next topic.