Public land meeting

Three Wyoming gubernatorial candidates -- Eric Barlow, Brent Bien and Megan Degenfelder -- along with a slew of national, state and Big Horn County candidates set up on the lawn behind the Old Shell Store on Sunday to talk public land. An estimated 100 people, some travelling from Washakie and Park County, flowed through the “Politics of Public Land” meeting over the course of the day, talking to candidates and public land advocacy groups. 

“I really hope people left feeling better informed and more empowered as voters. Personally, I had probably three or four voters tell me they felt the event was ‘needed.’ I think it speaks to how politics has been evolving in Wyoming, how big some of these races are, and how hard it can be to keep on top of who’s running and when they’ll be nearby,” organizer Victoria O’Brien said. 

The event was put together by a group of local voters that hoped to draw a nonpartisan crowd to talk one of Wyoming’s top issues - public land. 

“Keep It Public, who was there on Sunday, just released data from a study they funded showing 91% of Wyoming voters want to keep public lands in public hands. Seventy-nine percent of those voters said they would be disinclined to vote for someone who was for the sale or transfer of public land,” O’Brien said. “We can debate how the land should be managed, absolutely, but the overwhelming consensus appears to be that we like the setup we have right now. Events like this encourage those conversations and they need to be had constantly, not just when we’re worried about land sales, budgets, and staffing.”

Protect Wyoming, a public land political action committee, was also in attendance. President Zach Lentsch relayed that the group has been putting a lot of effort into their voting guide, https://www.protectwyoming.org/voter-guide, which ranks politicians on their commitment to protecting public land, public wildlife and science-based management. 

Also making an appearance Sunday were Jimmy Skovgard, Sam Mead and James Byrd for U.S. Senate; Bo Biteman, Steve Friess, David Giralt, Kevin Christensen and Lisa Kinney for U.S. House; Robert Short, Qwenton Eagle Oviatt, Bryan McCarty for Secretary of State; Sergio A. Maldonado Sr. for Superintendent of Public Instruction; Paul Hoeft and RJ Kost for Senate District 19; and Mike Laird, Deb Craft, Tim Beck and Rodney Hopkin for Big Horn County Commissioner. 

Park County Democrats, Park County Republicans and Get Out to Vote filled out the remaining booths. 

“I can’t say if we will do another event during the general, but it’s certainly a possibility. That said, we’re already talking about what we can do next year,” O’Brien said. In its inaugural year, over a three-week organizational period, she was satisfied with the event’s turnout. She had hoped to pull in more recreational organizations to get people involved but found that their 501(c)(3) status prevented them from taking part in a political event. 

“Next year is an ‘off’ year, so we’re hopeful that we can build something with those groups that is both the same, but also different. We want people to get outside, especially young people, and we want the experience of coming to this event to be fun for everyone,” O’Brien said.