Wyoming Legislature 2023: Ag Committee Asks, What Is A Fence?

AARP Wyoming Photo

2023 Agriculture, State and Public Lands, Water Resources
Committee Chairs (click to meet the committee)

Senate - Cheri Steinmetz
House - John Ecklund

Senate committee members - Tim French, Larry Hicks, Bob Ide, John Kolb
House committee members- Lane Allred, John Winter, Allen Slagle, Barry Crago, Bob Davis, Dalton Banks, Jon Conrad, Bill Allemand

Heading up the Agriculture, Public Lands, and Water Resources Committee in 2023 will be new co-chairs Senator Cheri Steinmetz (Pictured above), and Rep. John Ecklund. Seven new legislators will also take part on the committee, meaning new faces for a new era. The group will inherit seven committee bills from the previous committee. But perhaps more important, Steinmetz says, is her interest in focusing on Wyoming’s water supply.

“The direction I hope to take us is to make sure our water resources are protected with all of the demand on the Colorado River,” she says. “We also don’t have beneficial use if the Fontanelle Reservoir and most of that water is running downstream and we aren’t getting any credit for it. We just can’t deplete our static water level in our aquifers.”

Steinmetz also suggests caution in the state’s work around hydrogen hubs to make sure water resources aren’t lost. Among the bills which have dropped for the Ag Committee thus far is a measure to allow state leasees to make up to $4,000 in improvements per section of land without obtaining permission for the state. That is up from the previous threshold of $2,000 per section. Another bill would allow state leasees to graze livestock they do not own, but retain management and responsibility without asking the state for permission. 

Steinmetz says the question of what is a legal fence will be explored by the Ag Committee. She says this comes out of dealing with fences being built when subdivisions and ranch land touch.

“We will talk about what a legal fence is and who pays for it,” Steinmetz says. “With  subdivisions coming in, we saw people putting together fancy privacy fences and sending the rancher a bill for half of the fence. “You can bill for half of a legal fence, but you can’t do the same for a fancy fence and send them a bill.”

A process for determining who is right when it comes to disputes with the Office of State Lands; Brucellosis management updates, priorities given for state land swaps, and lease deficiencies will also be considered by the Ag Committee in the 2023 session.