Federal land grab, management getting more pushback in Wyoming

The Sweetwater County Commission has joined sportsmen's groups in opposing state management or ownership of federal lands. Meanwhile, on Thursday lawmakers received a handout from the Wyoming Sportsmen Alliance, which represents nine outdoors organizations, urging them to vote against two federal land bills in the Legislature. The alliance represents about 50,000 hunters and anglers across the state, said Steve Kilpatrick, executive director of the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, a group member. But lawmakers who support state management or ownership of federal lands are unmoved. They believe Wyoming has a legal right to the land because the federal government has turned over acreage to other states. They say state officials would be more responsive and flexible to people’s concerns than the federal bureaucracy...more