CHEYENNE — The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is pleased to announce the inductees for the 2026 Outdoor Hall of Fame.
Established in 2004 by former Governor Dave Freudenthal, the Outdoor Hall of Fame honors individuals living and posthumously, who have made significant, lasting, lifetime contributions to the conservation of Wyoming’s outdoor heritage.
“While we can never repay these individuals for hard work and sacrifices they have made to conserve Wyoming’s wild places, we can recognize them through this award,” Game and Fish Interim Director Eric Wiltanger said. “Our agency is grateful for these and all the individuals who support our mission to conserve wildlife and serve the people of Wyoming, and I am looking forward to formally recognizing their accomplishments in November.”
The 2026 inductees are:
Scott Talbott (posthumous award): Talbott was the second-longest serving director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. He served in nearly every role within the Wildlife Division, and was particularly proud of his leadership in the recovery and delisting of wolves, the revival of the Yellowstone grizzly bear population and the reintroduction of the black-footed ferret.
Alan “Dok” Binns: Binns had a long and distinguished career with Game and Fish. During his time with the agency, Binns developed aquatic habitat tools and approaches still used today throughout the state and nation. Nearly 30 years after his retirement, virtually every river in Wyoming includes habitat projects developed by Dok, or which have been influenced by others applying methods Binns established, with generations of trout, wildlife and anglers the beneficiaries.
Bob Budd: In 1993, Budd went to work for the Nature Conservancy, managing the Red Canyon Ranch near Lander. Following that, he served as the Director of the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resources Trust, a position he holds to this day. Budd is a key implementor and planner of the Governor’s Sage-Grouse Core Area Strategy, and served as the first and only chair of the Sage-Grouse Implementation Team. He has facilitated the development of key management plans throughout the state, including management for sage-grouse, the Big Sandy River and bighorn sheep in Wyoming. He worked on migration corridor policy, mitigation banking policy and invasive species in recent years. He continues to be a key player in all discussions, deliberations and policy development for much of the state’s natural resource policy.
Arthur “Jack” Welch: Welch had a fruitful career with the Bureau of Land Management in the Lander area. Jack’s career includes documenting the importance of healthy sagebrush, bitterbrush and other shrubs for mule deer and pronghorn in the Pinedale, Big Piney, LaBarge and Farson areas. He initiated BLM’s first efforts to modify sagebrush spray projects to mitigate negative impacts to big game and sage-grouse ranges, now a standard practice across the West. He pioneered replanting of sagebrush on oil, gas and mineral development sites, and drew attention to the significance of vehicle-big game road kills at the Cora Y in Sublette County, helping develop big game underpasses and fence modifications to reduce mortalities, inspiring work that continues today. Jack’s efforts to secure winter range habitats for bighorn sheep, elk, mule deer and other wildlife species included the withdrawal of more than 9,600 acres of BLM land from mineral exploration and development on the Whiskey Mountain Bighorn Sheep winter range, and led a land exchange adding another 2,862 acres.
The formal banquet and award ceremony will be held at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody Nov. 5, at 6 p.m. Tickets are available for $75 and can be purchased online through Oct. 15.
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