CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission met this week in Cheyenne for their January meeting. Director Brian Nesvik and Commission President Pete Dube recognized two outgoing commissioners, David Rael of Cowley and Pat Crank of Cheyenne.
The two vacancies will be filled by Wyoming Gov. Gordon in the coming weeks. Commissioners serve a term of six years each in the voluntary roles that commence on March 1. The Commission also welcomed Ken Roberts of Kemmerer, who participated in his first meeting, filling former Commissioner Mike Schmid’s vacant seat.
Following the recall of Mike Schmid by Governor Mark Gordon, the President of the Commission Pete Dube, issued a statement. Dube thanked Schmid for his service over the past four years.
The statement read in part, “Commissioner Schmid, on several occasions, made public statements in writing, via social media, and in-person that were directly contrary to votes and actions taken from Commission as a whole. That type of behavior, unfortunately, undermined the actions of the Governor, the Commission, and led to confusion and problems in enacting the mandates found to be important by the Commission and the Department.”
During the Commission’s meeting, BH Construction, Inc., of Rock Springs, was awarded the contract for the new game and fish office building in Wyoming. They submitted the lowest bid at $8,831,913. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department remains on-track for breaking ground in May.
The Commission also approved updates to the department’s guidelines for wind and solar projects. The updated guidelines will provide a consistent process for Game and Fish communications and recommendations on renewable energy projects when asked to provide comments in efforts to reduce impacts to fish and wildlife.
“When it comes to solar and wind, we feel that it is about location. If sited in the right place we can drastically minimize the impacts for fish and wildlife upfront,” said Angi Bruce, Game and Fish deputy director of external operations, during the presentation.
The meeting recording will be available in the coming days online. The next commission meeting is planned for March 16-17 in Cody.
