State funding comes available for county natural resource plan

Thanks to legislation passed at the beginning of the year, Crook County can now access a guaranteed $50,000 in state funding to spend on the creation of a new natural resource management plan.

“We have to get our ducks in a row before we can apply for the money,” commented Commissioner Jeanne Whalen last week as the board and County Attorney Joe Baron discussed how to begin the process of obtaining and using the funds.

Enrolled Act 22 became effective on July 1. It appropriated a one-time amount of $1,150,000 from the general fund to the federal natural resource policy account, to be divided equally among the counties of Wyoming.

The $50,000 this will provide to each county is to be used for “development and revision of comprehensive natural resource management plans”. These plans, according to the new law, must identify objectives and priorities for the use, development and protection of natural resources and land.

The plans are mandated according to the new statute to be based on criteria established by the governor’s office in consultation with the counties; serve as a basis for communicating and coordinating with the federal government and its agencies on land and natural resource management issues; and be developed or revised in public meetings to allow for contribution from the public.

Having received a reminder from the Wyoming County Commissioners Association about the available funds, along with suggestions for five potential contractors who might be available to create the plan, the commissioners discussed how best to identify the right company for the job.

“Obviously they can use what exists, there are several land use plans in the county,” commented Baron, explaining that the contractor would not need to start from scratch.

However, as Whalen pointed out, the county does not yet know what exactly it should be looking to obtain for the $50,000. Acknowledging this, Baron suggested that the first step will be to send requests for proposals to the five suggested companies, along with an advertisement to any other companies that might be interested.

The county will then review the written responses to these requests at the end of the month and invite the two or three they would like to hear from to attend the regular meeting of the commission at 10:30 a.m. on October 2.