Committee backs $5 million-plus in large-project funding from wildlife trust income
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Summary
Senate File 52, a package of large-project funding drawn from a trust income account (not the general fund), won committee do-pass after presentations about fish passage, invasive-grass treatments and rangeland health; directors said unobligated income-account cash is about $20 million.
The Select Water Committee recommended do-pass on Senate File 52, a 2026 large-project funding bill that funds water and habitat projects from the wildlife/natural resource trust income account rather than the general fund.
The presenting senator and the director summarized seven projects in the bill, including fish-passage work in Park County, several invasive annual-grass treatments (primarily to address cheatgrass), and a Carbon County rangeland-health project. The director said the money comes from the trust's income account and explained the difference between the trust account (which generates earnings) and the income account (from which projects are executed).
In response to fiscal questions, the director said the income account currently has about $20 million in unobligated cash and that $49 million had been allocated last year to address wildfires in northeast Wyoming and remains contractually obligated. Committee members asked why first-year and second-year expenditures differ; the director explained that projects are often weighted to the second year because contracts are executed late in the first fiscal year.
The committee moved and took a roll-call vote; the clerk recorded five ayes and the bill received a do-pass recommendation.
Next steps: the bill was advanced to the Senate floor for further action.
