|
In late May, CWSF/WFLC Director of Policy Neil Simpson joined Wyoming State Forester Kelly Norris as she hosted staff from the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The group traveled around Wyoming, showcasing recent success in advancing wildland firefighting resources and accomplishing cross-boundary forest management projects.
The visit started at the Casper airport with a tour of the Casper Interagency Dispatch Center and a single-engine air tanker (SEAT) base. The tours highlighted the value of partnerships and interagency cooperation. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the USDA Forest Service (Forest Service) collaboratively funded the SEAT base construction and staffing support for the SEAT contract is coordinated by Wyoming State Forestry Division through funding from Wyoming BLM. The base was still being constructed during the visit but has since been completed.
Moving on from Casper, the group traveled north into the Black Hills, where the theme of partnerships and coordination continued. The group visited the Wonder Lytle Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) project and the Moskee Fuel Break Project, where proactive hazardous fuels reduction allowed firefighters to safely and effectively stop the nearly 7,000-acre Fish Fire in 2022. Following the Black Hills, the group traveled to Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest, where they looked at interagency post-fire recovery efforts and cross-boundary hazardous fuels mitigation projects.
The week wrapped up in Sheridan with a tour of the State Forestry Maintenance and Fabrication shop and Governor Mark Gordon’s Fire Briefing. During the briefing, Norris and Gordon reiterated the importance of local, state, and federal coordination.
Learn more about Governor Gordon's Fire Briefing.
Photo: Dana Pirrotta
| 
