Wyoming State Forestry 2018 Annual Report

marked one of the busiest and destructive wildfire seasons on rec-

ord for Wyoming. The destruction included the loss of several homes and
structures. Fortunately, no lives were lost during the wildfires. Part of the
work of the Wyoming State Forestry Division (WSFD) is reducing the risk of
catastrophic wildfires, addressing forest health issues, and improving Wyoming-
ites quality of life within the rural and urban areas. While much of the effort is
targeted on lands managed by the state and private non-industrial timber
ground, WSFD has been increasing work with Good Neighbor Authority
(GNA) across the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
boundaries.

Concerns over our forest health are ever present, while bark beetle numbers are
not as high as during the peak, concerns over other insect outbreaks such as western spruce budworm are being
monitored. To assist in improving resilience and overall health of our forest, WSFD works on several approaches.
The main form of assistance comes from planning; communities looking to improve tree cover, landowners wish-
ing to have a stewardship plan, ranchers looking to reduce fuel loads, or a volunteer fire department developing
community wildfire protection plans and future equipment needs. Some innovations in assistance have occurred as
well, such as providing tree trunks full of educational material available to checkout or reimagining ways to assist
landowners to get work completed once a plan is in place.

While it is hard to know what the next year will bring, one can only hope for enough precipitation to keep our for-
ests green. Much of the state has seen decent snowpack within the mountains and snowfall within the High Plains
so far this winter but as we all know, things can change rapidly. WSFD will continue to look for opportunities to
conserve, enhance, and protect the forest resource. This year marks 15 years serving as State Forester and I can say
no one year has been like the others. 2019 will have its own ups and downs but I know that the WSFD is ready for
the challenge.

Bill Crapser



The Wyoming State Forestry Division (WSFD), part of the
Office of State Lands and Investments, operates from its
headquarters in Cheyenne with field offices in a number of
locations around the state. The field locations include dis-
trict offices, sub-district offices, the Helitack base at Dun-
can Ranch, and forestry conservation facilities associated
with the correctional site in Newcastle.

The State Forester, appointed by the Board of Land Com-
missioners, provides overall management direction for the
Division. State Statute 36-2-108 charges the State Forester
with having direction of all forest interests and all matters
pertaining to forestry within the jurisdiction of the state, as
well as directing the Division to be involved in all aspects
of fire suppression and forest management on state and
other lands. Cooperation with landowners, cities, counties,
federal agencies, and others to fulfill the intent of the stat-
ute is explicitly directed.

The mission of WSFD is to...
Conserve

working forests by promoting sound management practices;

Enhance

the benefits of forests through improved management of Wyoming’s varied
forest resources in communities, riparian areas, and mountain ranges; and

Protect

forest resources and other values against wildfire and forest health threats while
preparing to manage new forests

Did you know that...

In 2010, the WSFD developed and published a state Forest Action Plan
(FAP). In conjunction with many partners, the plan identifies and prioritizes
areas in the state for management across ownership. A revision of the FAP is
due in 2020, WSFD has started gathering information, coordinating with
partners, and over the next 1.5 years will have a new plan of action for Wy-
oming’s forest resource. To download and print or view the current FAP
please visit: www.stateforesters.org/state/wyoming

The Division delivers numerous programs which can be grouped into three categories: Operations & Trust Land
Management, Fire Management, and Cooperative Forestry.
Operations & Trust Land Management includes forest management on 263,000 forested trust land acres, use
of forestry conservation crews on trust lands, and trust land improvement projects such as road maintenance and
thinning.
Fire Management includes cooperative fire, fire suppression, and fire management on 3.6 million acres of trust
land, helitack, federal excess property, and WSFD’s fabrication and maintenance facility.
Cooperative Forestry includes community forestry, forest health, rural forestry assistance, and more. These
state assistance forestry programs are enhanced by federal grant funding.

In State Fiscal Year 2018, the WSFD produced over 580,000 board feet
of timber from 1,250 acres of State Trust Lands. Timber management on
State Trust Lands provides important revenue to the states trust accounts,
as well as helping to maintain Wyoming’s forest products industry. These
treatments are also important for protecting the long-term health of the

states forest assets from fire and forest

TRUST LAND MANAGEMENT pests.

The WSFD is currently working closely with partners and stakeholders to
update the current Forestry Best Management Practices (BMP) Manual
and associated documentation. This effort is a result of the semi-annual
BMP audits conducted and feedback from stakeholders. BMPs are an

effective means of protecting natural

BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES resources including water quality.

During the FY2018 Year, our forestry inmate work crews assisted 28
agencies with 155 projects. These crews worked 73,856 hours on the
previously mentioned projects. The forestry conservation work program
averaged 39 inmates on the crews/day. Approximately half of the work
hours were spent on forestry related work projects. These forestry
projects were on ten parcels of state land and included thinning, fuel
break construction, juniper eradication, skidding, firewood hauling, slash
burning, erosion control, and seeding. The Smokebuster fire suppression
efforts included assisting with 36 wildfires in eleven counties throughout
Wyoming and two counties in South Dakota. These 36 fires totaled over

9,800 acres consumed.

FORESTRY CONSERVATION PROGRAM

The WSFD has an active forest thinning program which is funded

through the Trust Land Preservation and Enhancement (TP&E) funds

appropriated to the Office of State Lands and Investments, matched with

federal forest health grant funds. These projects treat insect and disease

issues in young forests, as well as reducing stocking to increase individual

tree growth and health. In the state fiscal year 2018, the WSFD planned,

prepared, and contracted for over 900 acres of thinning despite a 50%

reduction in TP&E funds. TP&E funds were also utilized for fire

rehabilitation, road maintenance, and

TP&E state land cleanup.

Conserve working forests…

The Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) allows federal agencies to contract with states to perform authorized
forest and rangeland restoration activities on federal lands. The objective of this authority is to capitalize on
state efficiencies and expertise to increase the pace and scale of federal land management and treat lands that
otherwise may not be treated. WSFD has several ongoing projects, as well as many projects in the planning
phase. Current GNA project examples include:

 Mill Creek and Sandstone thinning projects in the Sierra Madre mountains of the Medicine Bow NF
 Ribs Timber Sale in the Bearlodge mountains of the Black Hills National Forest
 Lake Owen Timber Sale on the Medicine Bow National Forest
 A shared forester position with the USFS based out of Encampment
 Financial commitments from the Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities to implement hazard reduction

treatments around Cheyenne’s municipal water supply
 Proctor and Moore Canyon Timber Sales on BLM lands near Sundance
 In cooperation with the Council of Western State Foresters, WSFD will be contracting for a 2-year term

GNA coordinator to be based in Cheyenne
 Additional projects are in the planning phases with the Bighorn and Bridger-Teton National Forests, as

well as BLM projects in Shirley Basin

GOOD NEIGHBOR AUTHORITY

by promoting sound management practices

During 2018, the WSFD provided on the ground, technical
assistance to 137 Wyoming landowners. Management plans were
developed for 14,090 acres of private forest land. A total of
167,477 acres of private lands in Wyoming are currently under
management plans as result of WSFD assistance. 15 landowner
workshops and field days were facilitated this past year with 366
RURAL LANDOWNER ASSISTANCE attendees.

With funding from the U.S. Forest Service State and Private

Forestry program and Rocky Mountain Power, over $118,000 in

cost-share grants were awarded to 18 communities in 2018 for

tree planting and community forestry program development.

Projects funded community tree inventories and management

plans, local community tree guideline publications, volunteer and

advocacy group support,

COMMUNITY FORESTRY ASSISTANCE scholarships for training, and tree
planting projects.

From bark beetle mitigation to emerald ash borer (EAB)

detection and many insects and diseases between, Forest Health is

important to Wyoming’s 10.5 million acres of forest land. The

Wyoming State Forestry Division uses tools such as Aerial

Detection Survey and state and federal forest health funding to

identify and combat forest and urban tree pests. Recent efforts

also include finalizing a statewide EAB response plan, a “Don’t

Move Firewood” marketing campaign, and western spruce

budworm detection and

FOREST HEALTH management.

This program focuses on protecting culturally and ecologically
critical forest lands through conservation easements or
acquisition. The WSFD works in cooperation with state, federal,
and non-governmental partners to identify areas of importance to
be maintained as intact working forest land. In collaboration with
its partners, the WSFD has been working on a forestry legacy
land acquisition project in Wyoming’s Black Hills.

FOREST LEGACY

Enhance the benefits of forests through improved management of

WSFD partners closely with Wyoming Project Learning Tree
(WY PLT) for K-12 education. This year WY PLT hosted the
2018 International Coordinators Conference in Cody. In 2018,
the steering committee hosted workshops across the state and
currently is revising the Exploring Wyoming’s Natural

Environments supplemental
WYOMING PROJECT LEARNING TREE publication.

Tree City USA is focused on providing cities and towns with a

framework for better management of public trees, green spaces,

and educational outreach about the benefits of community

forests. In 2018, 41 of Wyoming’s 99 incorporated cities and

towns were Tree City USA certified and Sheridan College was

TREE CITY USA AND ARBOR DAY renewed as a Tree Campus
USA.

In 2018, the statewide Community Tree Managers Focus Group
held a meeting in Bar Nunn focused on current community
forestry pests, guiding documents for the WSFD Community
Forestry program, as well as a tour of local tree planting projects.

COMMUNITY TREE MANAGERS FOCUS GROUP

The Northern Rockies Tree School (NRTS) is a joint educational
training conducted by the Community Forestry Programs of
Wyoming and Montana. In 2018, nearly 170 individuals attended
the 9th Annual NRTS in Cody, covering topics such as functional
tree biology, tree nutrition, wood utilization and biochar, and

invasive pest planning.
NORTHERN ROCKIES TREE SCHOOL

Living Snow Fence plantings enhance state and county efforts to

keep roads safe and open during periods of adverse winter
weather while reducing highway maintenance expenditures. The

Living Snow Fence Program provides funds to cover the costs of
planting and maintaining Living Snow Fence projects. WYDOT

provides $100,000 annually to the Program. In 2018, the program
planted 11,690 lineal feet of tree

LIVING SNOW FENCE rows.

forest resources in communities, riparian areas, and mountain ranges

In 2018, WSFD aided in the management of 7 Emergency Fire
Suppression Account fires totaling nearly 14.3 mil dollars. There
were 2 FEMA declarations for 2018. Additionally, WSFD has
processed 255 payments for counties and local department
totaling $3,631,346.11. Through interstate compacts, WSFD and
other agencies in Wyoming can utilize firefighting resources from
across the U.S. when needed. WSFD added capacity by the

addition of a type

WILDFIRE RESPONSE & MANAGEMENT VI engine.

WSFD provides the opportunity to all 23 Wyoming counties to

apply for grants. In 2018, WSFD distributed a total of

$127,173.99 to 17 counties in State Fire Assistance (SFA)

grants. The SFA program provides financial assistance for all fire

management activities, including, but not limited to: training,

preparedness, prevention, planning, fire compact, hazardous fuel

mitigation, website development/support, and purchase/

STATE FIRE ASSISTANCE maintenance of equipment.

The WSFD’s Helitack crew flew a total of 34 missions for a total
of 141.1 flight hours. These missions were comprised of the
following: 22 wildland fire suppression missions; 2 prescribed

fires; 3 preposition flights; 2 repeater missions; 2 false alarms; 1
cargo mission flight; and 1 reconnaissance flight.

Of the wildland fire missions there were 9 county fires, 5 BLM, 5

USFS, 2 Wyoming State, and 1 South Dakota State fire. Of the

county fires, 4 occurred in Converse County, 2 in Albany County,

and 1 each in Campbell, Sheridan, and Platte. The Wyoming State

Helitack hosted 15 detailers from the BHF, MBRF, Wyoming

State Forestry, BLM, and Platte County. WSFD Helitack also sent

9 personnel throughout Wyoming and the Nation to assist with

the suppression of large

WSFD HELITACK wildland fires.

Protect forest resources and other values against wildfire

WSFD manages and/or audits all National Wildfire Coordinating Group fire
training records for fire departments within the state. In 2018, there were 842
red cards issued by WSFD for Firefighter Type 2, Firefighter Type 1, Single
Resource Boss, and numerous other qualifications that are below unit leader.
There were another 318 red cards issued by those counties who are managing
their own training records with assistance from WSFD for the same positions.
WSFD issued 232 red cards for Unit Leader and above positions equaling a

total of 1,392 red cards issued. This is

INCIDENT QUALIFICATION SYSTEM an increase of 9% from 2017.

The Firefighter Property Program (FFP) continues to be the preferred avenue

for equipment acquisition. However, over the last 5 years the WSFD has also

received engines through the Federal Excess Personal Property (FEPP). The 5

year FFP acquisition total is $3,579,356.33

FIREFIGHTING EQUIPMENT and just over $809,481.66 for FEPP.

The Volunteer Fire Assistance (VFA) grant program awarded funds to 25

applicants for $73,328.89. VFA funds are utilized for equipping, training,

organizing, and prevention for rural fire

VOLUNTEER FIRE ASSISTANCE departments that service a population less
than 10,000 people.

In 2018, the WSFD Fuels Mitigation Program supported the completion of 53

defensible spaces, 338 acres of fuel treatments, and 13 acres of fuel breaks

throughout the state. There are currently 21 up to date county wide CWPPs

throughout the state, providing direction on wildfire and hazardous fuels

management. Wyoming received $714,000 in funding through the National

Fire Plan and the Western States WUI grant program and will sub-award these

funds to Fremont, Sheridan, and Washakie Counties to help reduce hazardous

fuels on privately owned lands. The program also released, Wyoming Wildfire

Risk Assessment Portal (WYWRAP), a public-facing risk assessment portal

that includes GIS layers and information on reducing wildfire risk. One new

Firewise Community was developed and recognized in Wyoming in 2018,

bringing the total number to nine in the

FUELS MANAGEMENT state of Wyoming.

& forest health threats and prepare to manage new forests

District 1 District 3 District 5
431 Delaware Avenue 2500 Academy Court 600 Veterans Lane

Newcastle Riverton Buffalo
307-746-4261 307-856-8655 307-684-2752

District 2 District 4 Wyoming Fire Academy
2020 Fairgrounds Road, 100 Sage Street 2500 Academy Court
Riverton
Suite 101 Lyman 307-858-0027
Casper 307-787-6148
307-234-6116
145 Street Fremont
710 East Garfield Street Pinedale
Suite 259
Laramie 307-367-2119

307-286-6945

The State of Wyoming is an equal opportunity provider.