Two internal teams were honored recently for their special efforts on behalf of wildlife and sportspeople. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department recognized members of the Wyoming Chronic Wasting Disease Management Plan team and the Access Yes technical support group with the Team of the Year award.
Game and Fish Director Brian Nesvik made the announcement to the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission at a September meeting in Douglas. Game and Fish’s senior leadership team received nominations of teams whose work goes above and beyond Game and Fish’s mission statement of Conserving wildlife — Serving people.
CWD is one of the most concerning wildlife diseases in Wyoming and the West. CWD is a fatal, neurological illness that occurs in deer, elk and moose. No treatments or vaccines are currently available. Game and Fish released its CWD management plan in July 2020.
“This team went to work and developed a management plan that outlines different surveillance strategies, different ways to manage the disease and ways to communicate with the public,” Nesvik said. “They did it brilliantly. They put together and worked with a large group of publics to do this. Some of this work was very controversial, and they masterfully moved through the process.”
Members of the team include: Brad Hovinga, Greg Anderson, Corey Class, Justin Binfet, Bart Kroger, Janet Milek, Justin Dodd, Hank Edwards, Chris Baird, Dr. Mary Wood, Lee Knox, Dr. Samantha Allen, Scott Edberg and Jordan Kraft.
Nesvik touted the work of the Access Yes technical support team that made the program’s application process more efficient for hunter management area permission slips, renewal of Access Yes agreements and new mapping functions to help regional access coordinators around the state.
“All of this is very complex, not only from an information technology standpoint but from a budgeting standpoint,” Nesvik said. “There were a lot of complexities to work through with laws and getting everything legally correct. Because of their work our folks are able to provide the sportsmen and sportswomen of Wyoming more opportunities and more access.”
Members of the Access Yes technical support team include: Robin Ahrndt, Tom Graham, Denise Jensen, Laura Survis and Cathy Weese.
(Story by Robert Gagliardi/WGFD)
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