The math just does not add up. With only 587,000 residents, Wyoming has the smallest population of any state in the United States. Yet thanks to our volunteers and members in the Cowboy State, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation helped conserve or enhance 1,371,104 acres of Wyoming wildlife habitat. That accounts for 15 percent of RMEF’s lifetime total of 9,137,884 acres conserved or enhanced across all elk country.
How is that even possible when there are 28 states with wild elk and each of them has significantly larger human populations?
“It’s no surprise to those of us who live here,” said J.R. Larsen, RMEF regional director in southern Wyoming. “Our volunteers are a passionate and dedicated bunch. They love all wildlife, especially elk, as well as our rugged landscapes and hunting. It’s just who they are and how they roll.”
Wyoming is home to 22 RMEF chapters and about 7,000 members, but it is volunteers who give of their time and talents to plan and host banquets and other events that generate dollars for RMEF’s mission. That funding goes back on the ground to help with efforts like a multi-year aspen enhancement and prescribed burn project on the Bighorn National Forest in the northern part of the state. Workers removed conifers encroaching into aspen stands and applied prescribed fire to improve forage for elk, moose, mule deer, turkeys and other wildlife species.
Wyoming volunteers don’t mind getting their hands dirty, either. In fact, they thrive on it. In June 2024, RMEF supplied both funding and volunteer manpower to remove more than a mile of old, obsolete barbed-wire fencing on land overseen by the BLM not far from Lander. Doing so helped clear the way for elk, moose, pronghorns, mule deer, black bears and other wildlife to better move across the landscape.
For a more visual example of Wyoming volunteers in action, check out this 2024 RMEF Film production of a fence removal project in the Bighorn National Forest.
(Photo credit: Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation)