The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission has granted approval for a mule deer project at its recent March meeting.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission met last week for its March meeting. During the meeting, Wyoming Game and Fish Commission elected a new president and vice president. Additional to the election of new commission leaders, the commission undertook the preliminary stages of the budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
A highlight of the meeting was the Commission giving preliminary approval of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s fiscal year 2023 standard budget. Additionally, the commission gave preliminary approval to one-time project budgets. The department proposed $85.2 million for the standard yearly budget. The standard yearly budget pays for the bulk of the department’s day-to-date operations, salaries, and projects.
The commission often grants funds for one-time projects. For the one-time projects in 2023, the department proposed $5.3 million. The budget includes $2.5 million to support a state-of-the-art mule deer monitoring project. The project is a collaboration between Wyoming Game and Fish and the University of Wyoming’s Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources.
The Program’s Purpose
The programs’ focus is to gather cutting-edge data to inform mule deer management decisions. The University of Wyoming Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources is the nation’s leader in the study of the conservation of ungulates. Wyoming’s western ranges have some of the nation’s largest mule deer populations. Most importantly, The technology developed from the project will help the Wyoming Fish and Game gain important data. The data will give insight into the harvest, migration, depredation, and winter range habits of the Mule Deer population. Consequently, the project will lead to better managed and informed hunting opportunities in the future.
In conclusion, the Wyoming Fish and Game Commission will meet again in July. In addition, the final approval of these budgets will take place at the July 2022 Commission meeting.
To learn more about the University of Wyoming’s Haub School of Environments and Natural Resources and other research projects they may have please click the link here. Likewise, you can read more Wyoming hunting news by clicking here.
