By the time Wyoming Game and Fish Department Wildlife Deputy Chief Martin Hicks and Statewide Terrestrial Habitat Manager Ian Tator finished their presentation during the Commission’s January meeting on what it would take to help solve the decline of mule deer herds — including a steep price tag — commissioners were a little shocked.

Despite seeing a Power Point presentation showing the request for each part of the department’s conservation strategy, nobody expected a number like $155 million annually.

The two big ticket items — $75 million to treat 1 million acres for invasive plant species and $50 million for high-priority wildlife crossing projects — amount to more than 125% of a year of the department’s entire budget. Commissioner John Masterson (Dist. 7) did some large-digit counting during the presentation.

“I did some quick math. There are 16 million acres of cheatgrass in Wyoming,” Masterson said. “You had a slide that said it is $75 million to treat 1 million acres; so all you need is $1.2 billion to treat all 16 million acres?”

Masterson then lightened the air a little, saying, “Commissioner Roberts has a Platinum American Express that can cover that,” receiving laughs from many at the head table and in the crowd.

Game and Fish Director Angi Bruce came to the defense of the two department employees.

“So we believe, as [the agency] having management authority over mule deer, we should say what is needed. We should say what that is, even if we aren’t the ones who have that authority to do some of this, but clearly lay it out what it’s going to take so all those other partners and folks who are interested have something to grab onto and promote and go after,” she said.

“Who gets to try to push this through?” Masterson asked.

“Who drew the short straw?” Hicks asked, drawing some chuckles. “It’s going to be a collaborative effort.”

The population of mule deer in Wyoming has experienced a significant, long-term decline, dropping from a peak of around 578,000 in 1991 to an estimated 216,000 by 2023. The decline is driven by habitat loss, drought, disease, and, recently, severe winter mortality, according to the department. That said, Bruce did say population decreases caused by the 2022-23 winter storm, which killed a significant portion of deer, were bouncing back according to this year’s harvest data.

The plan

The multi-year plan identifies priority actions and provides a coordinated, statewide approach, Hicks said. It is currently in the process of being reviewed internally and by external partners.

“We want to make sure we are not missing anything that we have in there as we go forward,” he said. “But this is very, what you’ll soon find, I think, a very aggressive plan.”

There are three major priorities to their plan. The first is to conserve intact habitat through coordinated landscape-scale approaches.

The plan to conserve habitat is to, first, develop statewide, cross-jurisdictional developmental policies that value intact, high quality mule deer and habitat.

“In other words, we want to continue to work with our partners to balance the needs of mule deer with industry that is crucial to the state’s economy of success,” Hicks said. “We value industry incredibly. We want to balance those needs by implementing siting policies that are appropriate, that focus on appropriate, high-value habitat during that initial siting process. If we do that early on, we can maintain high quality mule deer habitat and continue to develop industry in the state.”

Second, they want to develop statewide land use, travel and recreational plans that are aligned in how they value and conserve habitat by aligning efforts to maintain the integrity of high-quality habitat across local, state and federal levels, to support landscape scale conservation of mule deer habitat.

The third priority is where the money starts adding up. The department wants to secure $50 million annually to conserve habitat by keeping working lands working.

“This is where we start talking about what it’s going to take to pull these things off,” Hicks said of the ask. “We want to work with private landowners who have an interest and are willing to meet with us to do what’s best for mule deer. And we know what mule deer need. We need wide open spaces where they need to be able to traverse across the landscape without any impediments. And if we have willing landowners who want to do that and put their properties in conservation easements, we want to be able to have the funding to do so.”

The second priority is to support mule deer conservation. There are three tenants to the priority, the first is increased partners use of the statewide habitat plan, including state and federal officials and nongovernmental organizations like Muley Fanatics, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and many others.

“Our plan outlines priority actions to conserve and improve high quality habitat and identify as priority areas to implement those actions. We want to continue to use our statewide habitat plan to drive this as we go forward,” Hicks said.

Second is to develop creative, flexible and ready-to-implement funding mechanisms.

“This is going to take more effort, more manpower, more funding, so we want to work with our federal agencies and partners and with industry to develop dedicated funds needed for equipment, supplies and personnel time to pull off these these habitat projects,” he said.

They plan to convene a mule deer summit to build on successes moving forward, envisioning bringing in directors of state and federal agencies, along with on-the-ground experts and decision-makers to provide opportunities to learn from each other and develop coordinated and strategic priorities to implement.

“I can see this as a way to kicking off the implementation of this plan,” Hicks said.

The fourth tenant is to secure $2 million annually for additional research and monitoring, building on the research they have done over the past decade.

The third priority is improving mule deer habitat by increasing food and availability and connectivity. This is where the “rubber hits the road,” Hicks said.

On an annual basis, the department needs $75 million to treat 1 million acres impacted by invasive plant species like cheatgrass.

“We know that there’s over 16 million acres impacted throughout Wyoming by invasive annual grasses. We have done a very good job of trying to get a handle on those, but it’s growing out of our control,” he said. “We need more funding to help treat those acres on an annual basis, to get ahead of the curve.”

They also need $15 million annually to expand routine habitat management efforts and add an additional statewide habitat crew, and yet another $15 million annually to convert 500 miles of fence to wildlife friendly standards. They also need another $50 million annually to implement high-priority wildlife crossing projects.

The money

“This is the big funding request, and I want to be perfectly clear, this is not funding we are requesting from the Commission. This is funding we would need from our outside partners to help implement these projects,” Hicks said.

As soon as the draft plan is finalized, which should be early February, the department will distribute it to all of their partners and legislators.

“We need to get the word out,” he said. “This is a huge ask, $155 million annually if we want to make some kind of impression on mule deer populations.”

There was a long silence in the room, but Masterson broke the tension by joking, “it seems like a really modest, easy lift. So I don’t really see any issues involved at all.

“Thank you for giving me something I can wave and talk to people about. And I know we’ve been trying to get there, but it’s great to be there now where I can trumpet things. So I guess my first question is, who’s in charge?”

Of course, he meant the person(s) soliciting donations and grants to make the ambitious plan happen.