Joint Ag Committee continues addressing concerns
The Joint Agriculture, State and Public Lands and Water Resources Committee held a meeting at the Bomber Mouååntain Civic Center in Buffalo on Sept. 10-11.
During the second day, discussions included updates on temporary water use, meat inspection issues, the rangeland health assessment program and Wyoming wildfire funds.
Temporary water use update
To begin, Wyoming State Engineer Brandon Gebhart commented briefly on the preferred language use in draft bill 25LSO-0099.5, temporary water use agreements amendments.
The temporary water use agreements were amended twice during the 2024 legislative session. The amended bill passed the Senate but failed to pass the House Agriculture, State and Public Lands and Water Resources Committee.
During the public comment period, Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation Director of Public and Governmental Affairs Brett Moline addressed the committee on verbiage in the bill and questioned if the bill would affect diversion use.
Gebhart noted the bill’s verbiage involving senior and junior water rights could be made more specific if additional verbiage was added to the draft bill and would help the committee when they work the bill.
The draft bill would extend the number of years for which temporary water rights may be granted, provide exceptions, amend and protect the rights of senior owners of permanent water rights and provide for an effective date.
Wyoming Department of Agriculture update
Wyoming Department of Agriculture (WDA) Director Doug Miyamoto led the next topic of discussion – meat inspection and labeling.
He stated, “Due to prior audit results, we needed to increase communication and streamline our processes regarding meat processing.”
He noted the WDA recently conducted meetings with processors, primarily with custom-exempt processing and processors who operate under U.S. Department of Agriculture exemptions, to see if there was a method to increase effective communication about regulations, specifically around the topic of labeling.
Consumer Health Services Manager Justin Latham provided the committee with insight into why proper labeling is critical.
“Three major labeling changes have come out this year, including a sesame allergen notification; new animal-raising claims regulations, which came out in August, and safe and suitable ingredients,” Latham mentioned.
He said WDA has taken action items to improve label approvals, created a label factsheet for processors to utilize and implemented a new label portal page, which tracks the total time of processing the request.
Local Butcher Alex Spring, owner of Chug Springs Butchery, LLC, brought forth comments during the public comment period from area meat processors about cumbersome state regulations and various issues they have had with WDA.
Also joining the conversation was John Butler, Jr., owner of 307 Processing and Sausage in Byron, voicing his frustrations about how the labeling process is very time consuming and expensive.
RHAP updates
WDA Natural Resources and Policy Manager Chris Wichmann updated the Joint Ag Committee on ongoing projects the department is currently working on, including rangeland health assessment program (RHAP) projects.
Wichmann stated, “Overall benefits of the program are improved communications between agencies and permittees, joint cooperative monitoring and defensible data collection.”
Significant outcomes include cooperative monitoring, which has occurred on approximately 9.9 million acres; completion of the National Environmental Policy Act process on numerous grazing permits and reducing challenges from third parties related to grazing issues on federal lands.
Ongoing work includes addressing forage conflict with Bighorn sheep, restocking domestic sheep back into their allotments and assisting conservation districts in the development of RHAP programs.
Wyoming State Forestry update
Wyoming Office of State Land and Investments State Forester Kelly Norris provided the committee with an update on local fire impact and fire rehabilitation programs.
“All 23 Wyoming counties participate in the Emergency Fire Suppression Account (EFSA), and to date, there are approximately $9 million in this account,” she added. “Recently, we made a supplemental request to add an additional $20 million into the account to help handle other large emergency fire situations and hope to get this approved in the legislative session this winter.”
She continued, “We have seen a large portion of the wildfires this year burn private lands, and this means a large portion of EFSA funds will go to cover those damages. So far, 75 percent of Wyoming fires burned private land, and nine percent have been on state land.”
She mentioned wildfire rehabilitation for the large grassland fires Wyoming has seen this year is going to take some time, in order to assess the damages and erosion issues.
“Seedling and regrowth assessment can take a few months, and it could take a few years to monitor conditions,” she said. “We have found native Wyoming tree seeds are not easily accessible or available, so we have been developing a native tree seed collection program.”
Following the forestry update, Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust Executive Director Bob Budd reported on current invasive weed control and funding.
“We need to identify areas of highest priority, areas which do not need treatment and areas where we have physical and restoration issues, which goes beyond treatment, and focus on those priorities in the coming year to preclude invasive forms taking a foothold in areas of opportunities,” he stated.
But, it will take time to see how much funding will be available and how invasive weed control will look since a large number of acres have been burned, he noted.
“A post-burn weed management program is estimated to take five to six years,” stated Wyoming Weed and Pest Council Program Coordinator Lindsey Woodward.
Multiple questions from the Joint Ag Committee arose with concerns on how much this process will cost, how to be prepared for the years to come and funding needed.
Melissa Anderson is the editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.
