If we want to keep our wildlife populations healthy, we need to protect them. To do that, we need to study them and make decisions based on those studies. This gets complicated when other interests are vying for pieces of the land those wildlife species need.
But the governor has appointed 18 people from various segments of our communities to serve on the new Wyoming Wildlife Task Force. Their mission is to study top-priority wildlife policy issues and to present their conclusions and recommendations to the legislature, the Game and Fish Commission, and to the governor. Their first meeting is expected to be this summer, and those meetings will be open to the public.
The task force is made up of county commissioners Tony Lehner, Lee Livingston and Rusty Bell; senators Ogden Driskill and Larry Hicks; representatives Jamie Flitner and Albert Sommers; landowner Duaine Hagen; sportsmen Adam Teten and Joe Schaffer; Business owners Elissa Ruckle and Liisa Anselmi-Dalton; President of Wyoming Outfitter and Guides Association Sy Gilliland; Executive Director of the Muley Fanatics Foundation Josh Coursey; Director of the Office of State Lands and Investments Jen Scoggin; outgoing Wyoming Game and Fish Commissioner Pat Crank; President of the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission Pete Dube; and Director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department Brian Nesvik.
This great group of people with such a wide array of perspectives will be a strong voice for the wildlife of our state.
