House TRW advances $30M+ in wildlife trust large projects including Kemmerer migration crossing

The House Travel, Recreation, Wildlife & Cultural Resources Committee voted unanimously to approve Senate File 88, advancing a set of large-scale projects recommended by the Wyoming Wildlife Natural Resource Trust (WWNRT), the committee heard Wednesday.

The measure funds multiple landscape-scale habitat and infrastructure projects, including the Kemmerer 189 migration project — a $31,000,000 multi-component highway crossing package featuring fences, underpasses and one overpass — and a suite of invasive-grass (cheatgrass) control initiatives across several counties.

Why it matters: The projects target wildlife movement, sagebrush-ecosystem restoration and cheatgrass control on tens of thousands of acres. Director Bob Budd of the Trust told the committee these are the largest-dollar “large projects” the board has submitted for legislative approval and said they respond to legislative direction to address invasives and migration mortality.

Director Bob Budd, director of the Wyoming Wildlife Natural Resource Trust, described project types and scale. “If you’re treating 50,000 acres, as an example, with invasive species, you’re taking out the seed source for everything downwind and you’re protecting that particular area,” Budd said. He also described fence…