River & Stream Restoration
The Foundation was proud to sponsor the Trout Run Fishery enhancement project in Saratoga. In November 2019 the Foundation awarded a $16,000 grant to the Star Valley Conservation District for the Lower Swift Creek Stream Restoration and Stabilization Project.
The Foundation Trustees have also targeted the Rock Creek Fishery Enhancement project, in the Medicine Bow Conservation District near Arlington, as a high priority for funding through the Sims Endowment. Click here for more information on the Rock Creek Project!
The Powder River Conservation District Middle Fork Powder River Stream Diversion Projects were designed to improve the connectivity of approximately 33.1 additional stream miles of the Middle Fork of Powder River. These completed projects re-aligned approximately 2,863 feet of stream channel, through grade control, toe wood bank stabilization and increased bedform diversity. The WNRF is pleased to have awarded $10,500 toward this project in 2022.
Click here for more information on the Middle Fork Powder River Stream Diversion Project!
State Fair Living Legacy
In 2006, the Wyoming Board of Agriculture created the Living Legacy Program. The 100+-year-old cottonwood trees at Wyoming State Fair Park were being removed due to their age and condition. The trees were unsafe and unsightly. The Board felt they could replace those trees with new healthy trees so they initiated the Living Legacy Program.
In 2012, the Foundation assumed administration of the program. Due to the need to protect the trees from damage, the program has been expanded to include the installation of beautiful tree guards to provide added protection to the new trees.
Click here view a high resolution PDF map of the tree locations and donors. In addition, the Foundation published a booklet that provides information on each species of tree as well as the individuals memoralized or sponsoring the tree. Click here to view the Living Legacy Program Tree Location Guide.
State Fair Pathway to Water Quality
The mission of the Pathway to Water Quality is to provide an outdoor classroom to education Wyoming citizens about water quality and their watersheds, to showcase a variety of innovative and effective conservation approaches and technologies that can be used to protect the quality of Wyoming’s waters, and to protect the water quality in the North Platte River.
Forest Health
The Foundation is pleased to support the Mountain Pine Beetle mitigation work of the Crook and Weston County NRD. This work to treat acres affected by Pine Beetle has been instrumental in maintaining Forest Health in the Black Hills National Forest and private lands.
