CHEYENNE — The Joint Appropriations Committee of the Wyoming Legislature isn’t willing to give the governor a blank check to mitigate wildfires in Wyoming.
On Monday, members of the committee grilled members of Gov. Mark Gordon’s staff for more details in his $692 million supplemental budget request about how around $170 million of the budget would be specifically spent toward firefighting and restoration efforts severely depleted during this year’s historically devastating wildfire season.
State Rep. Bob Nicholas, R-Cheyenne, pushed Gordon’s chief of staff and former state legislator Drew Perkins for a more detailed accounting of how the fire money would be spent. Nicholas said he wants to see a more specific framework for how the governor’s office will use the money.
“Who gets what, how is it allocated, who’s first in line, who’s not in line, what are requirements to use federal funding first, and how do you prioritize it- private versus state?” Nicholas questioned. “There has to be a game plan, otherwise we’re just handing you a bucket of $170 million and saying, ‘go for it.’”
Sen. Mike Gierau, D-Jackson, agreed, saying the large outlay of public funds “could become problematic.”
Perkins said his office will provide the Appropriations Committee a letter from the governor later this week that will provide a “broad outline” answering these questions.
He sees the areas of wildfire needs breaking down into 3-4 categories: Treating invasive grasses and pastureland, and restoring habitat, infrastructure and watersheds.
How Bad Was It?
More than 2,000 huge and damaging wildfires, including the second and third largest in state history, decimated Wyoming this summer, burning more than 850,000 acres, including rangeland, fencing and other infrastructure. At one point during the Flat Rock Fire, 40,000 acres burned in a single hour. At times, there were as many as 900 people working on a single fire.
“The unusually high amount of burned private acres means a high degree of direct injury to our families and communities,” Gordon said, speaking remotely on Zoom.
Driving up the cost of managing these fires for Wyoming was the fact that around 70%, nearly 600,000 acres, of the land burned was state or private land, which significantly limits the amount of federal money that can be applied for restoration.
“Without further appropriation, Wyoming will not have sufficient unobligated funds to effectively respond to future fires or other potential emergencies, such as flooding or rapid runoff or winter and spring snowstorms, which as we know are not uncommon to Wyoming,” Gordon said. “This is an essential government service. It is our responsibility to our citizens and community to be prepared to respond should emergencies arise.”
Mitigating the fires cost the state a total of $56 million, which completely depleted the fire suppression and emergency accounts dedicated to supporting Wyoming’s firefighting and emergency efforts through July 1, 2026.
Gordon is requesting the Legislature to fill these accounts back up as well as an additional $130 million to treat invasive grasses and help restore land and property damaged by this year’s wildfires.
Rep. Lloyd Larsen, R-Lander, requested more detail for how exactly this money was spent.
Perkins said around 2,000 miles of fence burned in the fires, which will cost about $15,000 per mile to replace, a statewide total of $46.9 million. He said some of this cost can be covered by federal assistance and insurance, but not all.
“It would be to augment, fill a gap,” Perkins said.
Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, the incoming House Appropriations chair, questioned Perkins whether the 2,000 total includes both state and private land and is actual, documented fence that was burned. Perkins said the total is only an estimate.
Instead of giving a blanket cost for the governor’s office to dole out, Bear suggested the idea of giving a sales tax holiday through a rebate to residents for the chemicals they spray to prevent the growth of invasive grasses and the products they purchase for fencing as a result of the fire damage. Invasive grasses are typically the first ones to grow back after a major wildfire.
Perkins expressed skepticism about this idea, saying it would require the state to verify an applicant was harmed by a fire and qualified for expenses.
“It’s a way that you could cut through red tape and maybe get it on the ground and get it applied and done in a period of time,” he said of the governor’s proposal. “And also have some insight and some oversight and some input from people who know about those things to make sure we’re getting things done uniformly and appropriately.”
The State’s Role
Larsen also asked Perkins what the state’s role should be in assisting private landowners with natural disaster costs.
Perkins answered by mentioning how a significant amount of wildlife lives on private land, species that the state is in charge of managing.
“Restoring those landscapes, whether they’re on public or private land, (we) also have a significant interest in doing those things,” he said.
Perkins also said significant water infrastructure and grazing land were burned in the fires, the latter of which will hinder ranching opportunities in Wyoming for years to come.
He said numerous parties have already started assessing the wildfire costs and the governor’s office has established a formula of sorts to determine restoration costs based on the acres that were burned in each county, developed with the assistance of Bob Budd, executive director of the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust.
Nicholas said he wants more information about this formula.
“Once the state steps in with the helping hand, everything we have to do has to be totally transparent and front center,” he said.
Costs And Figures
Perkins expects that $145 million will be needed to treat cheat grasses that will quickly sprout up on the burned land, and $116 million will be needed for habitat restoration.
Perkins also acknowledged that these costs greatly exceed the actual amount of money being asked for by the governor, estimating the total repair cost at more than $400 million.
“This is probably the first year and we’ll have to see how this goes,” Perkins said, adding that what is seen as a priority today could change significantly in six months.
When it comes to hammering down the final cost to treat invasive species and coordinating the response measures, Rep. Ken Pendergaft, R-Sheridan, asked Perkins who will be responsible. Perkins said the governor’s office will attempt to tackle these problems moving forward with the permission of the Legislature.
Wyoming is one of only five Western states that does not have a dedicated, state-funded disaster recovery program to address disasters that don’t meet federal requirements for assistance.
Perkins said he doesn’t expect Wyoming to create a new program to address this cause but wants the Legislature to consider it. His biggest concern is guaranteeing Wyoming’s pasture and wildlife habitat is allowed to recover in full.
“The biggest concern I have … is that we have a vibrant and healthy landscape rather than one filled with invasives,” he said.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
