Keeping Wyoming, Wyoming at the Capitol
The 2026 legislative session showed what’s possible when hunters, anglers, landowners, conservation partners, and local communities show up together for wildlife and Wyoming’s outdoor way of life.
This year, the Wyoming Wildlife Federation helped lead one of the strongest sessions for wildlife and public lands in recent memory. Together with partners and supporters from across the state, we helped advance meaningful conservation wins, stop harmful proposals, protect major habitat and wildfire investments, and continue building a stronger sporting conservation community in Wyoming.
Just as importantly, this session reinforced something we have believed for a long time: good conservation outcomes do not happen by accident. They come from showing up consistently, building relationships year-round, engaging in interim committee meetings, working through hard issues with stakeholders and legislators, and staying at the table long after the headlines move on.
Public Lands Stayed Public, the Wyoming Way
One of the defining moments of the session came with the passage of Senate Joint Resolution 0009, Keeping Public Lands Protected and Decisions Local.
WWF played a quiet but strategic role helping bring partners together to support legislative outreach and keep credible, Wyoming-rooted sporting voices front and center throughout the process. Hunters, anglers, landowners, businesses, conservation organizations, and local communities all showed up to speak clearly about something most Wyomingites already know: public lands are part of what keeps Wyoming, Wyoming.
From wildlife habitat and migration corridors to hunting access, fisheries, grazing, outdoor recreation, and responsible energy development, these lands shape our economy, traditions, and way of life.
A huge thank you goes to Senator Barlow and the 38 co-sponsors who helped move the resolution forward and showed that Wyoming can still come together around practical, locally grounded conservation values.
The resolution’s passage sent an important message well beyond Wyoming: hunters and anglers will show up for public lands when it matters.
Learn more:
WWF Statement on the Passage of SJ0009 The Public Lands Resolution
Wildlife Stayed Public Too
Coming into the session, many expected extended discussions over transferable landowner tags and the commercialization of wildlife.
Instead, several of the most problematic proposals failed early, and a late-session attempt to revive parts of the debate ultimately fell short.
That happened because sportsmen, landowners, outfitters, wildlife professionals, and conservation groups stayed engaged and kept the conversation grounded in a simple principle: wildlife belongs to all of us, and solutions need to work for both wildlife and the people stewarding the land.
WWF helped convene conversations, keep partners aligned, keep weekly sporting coalition calls during session updated, and work toward practical solutions instead of political theater.
Learn more:
Transferable Landowner Tags Overview
Supporting Wyoming Landowners While Keeping Wildlife Public
Habitat and Wildlife Funding Moved Forward
Budget sessions are ultimately about priorities, and this year WWF and partners worked hard to protect meaningful conservation investments.
The final budget restored nearly $40 million for cheatgrass response and wildfire recovery and mitigation after proposed cuts earlier in the session. WWF also supported a new water conservation program aimed at addressing long-term water challenges impacting fisheries, wildlife, and working lands.
At the same time, WWF helped advance Wyoming Game and Fish Department funding as a formal interim topic, opening the door for larger conversations around long-term, durable wildlife funding solutions instead of continuing to rely on piecemeal fixes.
WWF also helped support a practical fix exempting Wyoming Game and Fish Department office buildings from property taxes, providing roughly $400,000 in annual relief to the agency and helping ensure sportsmen dollars stay focused on wildlife management instead of unnecessary overhead.
These issues matter because funding today shapes habitat tomorrow.
Showing Up Matters
One of the best examples of that engagement came during Camo at the Capitol, when more than 75 hunters, anglers, trappers, students, and conservation advocates from across Wyoming came to Cheyenne to learn the legislative process, testify in committee hearings, and meet directly with lawmakers.
WWF Civic Engagement Fellow Colton Schick played a huge role throughout the session supporting Government Affairs Director Jess Johnson. In addition to helping track legislation and support outreach with legislators and partners, Colton became an important second set of eyes and ears at the Capitol while also helping encourage more young people to engage directly in the process.
That kind of leadership matters. Conservation does not move forward if the next generation is sitting on the sidelines.
Learn more:
Meet Colton
Camo at the Capitol 2026 Recap
Looking Ahead
The work does not stop when the session gavels out.
Over the coming months, WWF will stay deeply engaged in interim legislative meetings and ongoing policy conversations shaping the future of wildlife and public lands in Wyoming.
That includes continued work around long-term Wyoming Game and Fish Department funding, wild horse management, and a collaborative effort with legislators and stakeholders to improve and advance a suite of bills focused on ethical hunting and responsible wildlife stewardship.
We will also remain heavily engaged on major habitat and public lands issues like the proposed Seminoe Pumped Storage Project, which threatens important bighorn sheep habitat, mule deer range, sage grouse habitat, and the Miracle Mile fishery.
As always, our approach will stay the same: bring people together, stay grounded in Wyoming values, work the problem honestly, and keep showing up.
Because in Wyoming, lasting conservation work is built over time, shoulder to shoulder, with people willing to stay engaged and do the work.
Thank You
None of this work happens alone.
We are deeply grateful to the many hunters, anglers, landowners, wildlife professionals, legislators, businesses, conservation organizations, volunteers, conservation ambassadors, and community members who showed up throughout the session to help keep Wyoming, Wyoming.
A special thank you to our many sporting and conservation partners who worked together throughout the session and interim process, including:
- American Bear Foundation
- Backcountry Hunters & Anglers
- Bowhunters of Wyoming
- Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation
- Ducks Unlimited
- National Wild Turkey Federation
- Mule Deer Foundation
- Muley Fanatic Foundation
- Pheasants Forever
- Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
- The Nature Conservancy
- Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership
- Wyoming Game Wardens Association
- Wyoming Houndsmen Association
- Wyoming Outfitters & Guides Association
- Wyoming State Trappers Association
- Wyoming Trout Unlimited
- Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation