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Convened by

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March 25, 2002

The Wyoming Landowner/Sportsman Rendezvous held in Casper on February 1-2, 2002 brought together landowners, hunters and anglers to begin discussing issues of concern and identifying areas of common ground. Co-sponsored by the Wyoming Wildlife Federation (WWF) and the Wyoming Stock Growers Association (WSGA), the theme of the conference was Redefining our Common Ground. The Wyoming Community Foundation convened the Rendezvous, and the University of Wyoming's Institute for Environment and Natural Resources provided support.

The Honorable Mike Sullivan, former Governor of Wyoming and former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, set the tone for the conference during his keynote address by stressing the importance of finding common ground. He noted that both landowners and sportsmen are facing similar issues including the loss of open space, declining numbers of ranchers and hunters, and changing demographics as populations in some rural areas increase.

Following the keynote address, participants were organized into nine breakout groups. Each group contained a mix of landowners and sportsmen and was guided by a professional facilitator. The participants introduced themselves and identified what they hoped to gain from the conference. Next, they discussed key issues and problem areas between landowners and sportsmen in Wyoming. After three hours of small group discussions, all participants gathered in one room and representatives from each group reported on the highest priority issues identified by their group. The top seven priority issues were:

1. Property rights and access, including how to provide access for hunters and anglers to federal, state, and private lands in a way that respects and preserves private property rights.
2. Access to public lands, including how to provide access to public lands in a fair manner with consideration of the management and regulatory implications, liability issues, and other personal rights issues.
3. Open space, including an emphasis on wildlife habitat, threats to the ranching culture, and changing agricultural land use patterns as development increases.
4. Communication and education, with an emphasis on cooperation to improve the exchange of information among landowners, sportsmen and the public.
5. Respect for our values, including values related to livelihood and economics, wildlife habitat and harvest, land use stewardship and behavior, and future generations.
6. Wildlife management, including accountability of management agencies and communication with those agencies, overlapping agency jurisdiction, allocation of tags, and non-game issues such as endangered species and predator control.
7. Economics, incentives and compensation, including discussion of compensation to landowners for costs associated with producing and maintaining quality wildlife for public use.

These priority issues became the topics of breakout sessions held on the second day. Participants in seven groups, again led by professional facilitators, discussed strategies for dealing with issues or conflicts that have arisen in each of the topic areas.

After the breakout sessions, participants returned to one group to report on their discussions. Following these reports, participants joined for lunch and discussed the next steps and "where do we go from here?" Actions suggested during this closing session include:

• The sponsors and facilitators need to issue a press release about the Rendezvous.
• Pick an "early win" issue and begin to work on it.
• Start locally, take the lessons learned and apply them at community levels.
• Create a coalition group to move forward on the Rendezvous goals.
• Move toward a joint communication strategy to encourage positive reporting in the media.
• The sponsors need to write joint articles, such as newspaper columns, commenting on the progress of the various issues and reminding Rendezvous participants to keep the ball rolling.
• Members of each group need to work on expanding awareness of the common ground between landowners and sportsmen, so that more people will be represented at future meetings like this one.
• Draft a code of ethics jointly for landowners and sportsmen.
• Create a volunteer mediation board for people to address their grievances.
• Identify all stakeholders.
• Have follow-up sessions with Rendezvous participants to address current issues.
• Distribute a progress report one year from now.
• Develop a timeline for action items.
• Build relationships by starting with those groups who are committed to finding common ground.
• The WSGA and WWF boards of directors need to hold a joint meeting.
• The landowners and sportsmen need to involve public land agencies and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

Many participants agreed that landowners and sportsmen do share common ground on numerous issues and that the conference was an important beginning toward improving communication and cooperation between the two groups. The efforts of both groups will be strengthened by working together. The Rendezvous sponsors, along with the WCF and IENR, expect to get together again in late March. Meanwhile, additional comments and suggestions from the participants are welcome.

Wyoming sportsmen and agricultural landowners assembled at the Parkway Plaza in Casper at the Wyoming Landowner/Sportsman Rendezvous on February 1 – 2, 2002. The theme of the meeting, Redefining our Common Ground, resounded throughout the weekend as participants talked with each other, identified issues of concern, and sought opportunities to begin resolving those issues.

In the past, Kim Floyd, former Executive Director of the Wyoming Wildlife Federation (WWF), and Jim Magagna, Executive Vice President of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association (WSGA), met primarily as adversaries representing their respective organizations in the legislative process. During the past year each of them contemplated the opportunities, as well as the risks, in seeking to define common ground while respecting differences. With admitted hesitation, each decided to approach the other with his ideas. The result was this Rendezvous.

The conference was the first of its kind in Wyoming, addressing issues such as changes in land ownership patterns and increased recreational activity in the state. The vast majority of Wyoming ranchers support the harvest of wildlife and the vast majority of Wyoming hunters and anglers respect private property rights. Conflicts have emerged between the two groups in recent years, however, over access, license allocation, landowner compensation, and other issues. The Wyoming Landowner/Sportsman Rendezvous was an important first step in reaching common ground between these two groups.

The Wyoming Community Foundation (WCF) convened the meeting as part of its mission to encourage fair dialogue on issues of critical importance to Wyoming communities. The University of Wyoming's Institute for Environment and Natural Resources (IENR) provided support for the meeting (please see Appendix A for information about the convener, sponsor and support organizations).

Approximately one hundred and ten people attended the conference, from nineteen of Wyoming’s twenty-three counties. Participants were asked to register as a landowner, a sportsman, or both, and while many people registered as both, landowners made up more than half of the conference participants.

Following participant registration in the morning, a welcome session was held to introduce the conference conveners and establish the format for the Rendezvous. Jack Turnell, President of the WSGA, and Jim Narva, President of the WWF, each gave welcoming remarks, highlighted the historical significance of this first-of-its-kind event, and emphasized that the objective of the Rendezvous was to identify common ground held by both landowners and sportsmen.

Also during this initial session, Dick Gross, Co-Director of the Policy Consensus Initiative and co-lead facilitator for the Rendezvous, and T. Mark Mickelson, Chair of the WCF, further outlined the conference format and expectations. Dick urged participants to focus on building relationships as a potential outcome of the conference, rather than on developing far-reaching action items, which are not likely to emerge in the early stages of the process. He proposed ground rules to guide the participants during the meetings (see Appendix B).

The Honorable Mike Sullivan, former Governor of Wyoming and former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, delivered the keynote address and further stressed the opportunity to find common ground. He noted the rapid population growth in many Wyoming counties, in areas that are important for hunting and ranching. With increasing human population, there may also be a loss of open spaces that are important for the survival of working ranches and for habitat required to maintain wildlife populations. He characterized this common threat to landowners and sportsmen as an opportunity to work together to guide Wyoming’s future. Declining numbers and changing demographics in both groups necessitate that sportsmen and landowners learn to speak with a common voice to protect open space and the cultural heritage unique to Wyoming.

Following the plenary session, participants were organized into nine breakout groups with each group led by a professional facilitator (please see Appendix C for the list of facilitators). The groups had ten to fifteen participants each and an attempt was made to create a mix of landowner and sportsmen interests in each group. Participants were first asked to introduce themselves and to identify what they hoped to get out of the conference. Answers to this question were diverse, but several objectives were brought up by multiple participants and seemed to be of particular importance, including:

• Gather and disseminate information – education.
• Develop mutual respect and trust.
• Identify common goals and objectives.
• Minimize misinformation generated by biased media and a vocal minority.
• Begin an anger-free dialogue between landowners and sportsmen.
• Develop a joint statement about the importance of agriculture and open spaces to Wyoming.
• Use the conference as a means to assess sentiments in the state and to understand the magnitude of the issues.
• Develop solutions that will resolve landowner/sportsmen conflicts.
• Discuss values held by landowners and sportsmen.

Participants were then asked to identify the key issues and problem areas between landowners and sportsmen in Wyoming. Although most groups developed long and varied lists of critical issues, several themes emerged and were cited as important issues by multiple groups. Some of these issues include (in no particular order):

• Loss of open space and wildlife habitat to development.
• Lack of respect for private property rights.
• Decreasing access to public and private lands for hunting and fishing.
• Land-locked public lands.
• Rights-of-way.
• Access fees.
• Changing land ownership patterns from local ranch families to landowners who don't depend totally on the ranch for their income.
• Effect of checkerboard land ownership.
• Effect of out-of-state hunters and non-resident landowners on access and hunting culture.
• Impact of the Endangered Species Act on both landowners and sportsmen.
• Management of predators.
• Effects of noxious weeds on agriculture and wildlife.
• Management of game by state and federal agencies.
• Lack of accountability.
• Loss of license fees to non-game programs.
• Need for improved communication between agencies, landowners, and sportsmen.
• Allocation of hunting licenses.
• Too many tags sold.
• Increased hunting pressure on public lands.
• Continued attempts to privatize license allocation.
• Lack of recognition and financial compensation for landowners for managing wildlife.
• Conflicts between wildlife and livestock.
• Need for education on hunter and landowner ethics.
• Role of the media and vocal extremes in controlling the debate.

All participants then gathered in one room where two representatives from each breakout session reported on the highest priority issues identified by each group. The planners and facilitators from each of the breakout sessions met that evening, integrated the issues raised by the breakout groups, and identified the top priority issues. These priority issues were used as the basis for selecting the topics of the breakout sessions held the next day.

On the second day, participants were divided into seven facilitated breakout groups, with each group assigned to discuss one of the top seven issues raised during the first day. The discussions around each issue were extensive. The key questions, some of the strategies for addressing the issues, and ideas for next steps are presented below.

How can availability of, and access by hunters and anglers to, federal, state, and private lands be ensured in a way that preserves and respects private property rights?

• Discuss and define "access." It means different things to different people.
• Preserve the family ranch.
• Encourage placement of private land in conservation easements. Need full disclosure about the implications of the easement.
• Provide incentives to landowners to give access to private land and easements across private land for better access to public land.
• Monetary incentives to encourage landowners not to sell for development.
• Develop partnerships with environmental organizations.
• Develop an education program about what is expected on private property, and on laws, rules, regulations, and rights.
• Revisit the access coupon program.

How can we provide access to public lands in a manner that is fair and takes into account the management and regulatory implications, economic implications, liability issues, and other personal rights issues?

• Deal with specific situations on a local basis, and consider approaches such as land swaps and easements.
• Engage federal and state agencies and let them know what we want in a unified way.
• Develop agreements, including behavioral "ground rules," land ethics, and information identifying areas of public and private lands. Develop a packet (with input from both groups) that landowners distribute, similar to that used in Montana. The Montana approach applies to using private lands, but the same idea could also apply to access to public lands.
• Use signs, ads, and other educational outreach efforts, including education about what landowners can and can't do.
• Pursue Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) funding to purchase easements, possibly through $5-$10 sportsman fee.
• Everyone who wants access would have to pay a fee (birdwatchers, hikers, campers).

How do we protect open spaces with an emphasis on wildlife habitat, threats to ranching culture, changing agriculture land use patterns and increasing development?

• Make agriculture an economically viable enterprise.
• Consider visual impacts of new developments up front.
• Talk with federal agencies about the impacts of their decisions on adjacent private property.
• Anticipate and avoid unintended consequences.
• Begin meetings and discussions at the local level. Learning has to begin between individuals.
• Invite people with different views to a private meeting in your home – begin a dialogue.
• Support local organizations financially (all politics are local).
• Provide appealing alternatives to the dream of owning a 40 acre ranchette.
• Pool resources – provide more tools for landowners.

What communication and education strategies are needed for landowners and sportsmen?

• Dispute mediation between landowners and sportsmen (a call for more sessions like this forum to be held in local communities).
• Recognize that it is beneficial to work together to find better solutions than either group could find on its own.
• Challenge to the WGFD to help bring sportsmen and landowners together, and to build trust and relationships with sportsmen and landowners. Continue work that is already in place, such as Dave Lockman’s (WGFD) excellent education program and the Hunter Stewardship Advisory Council.
• Communicate on a number of levels.
• Hold regular meetings between the WSGA and the WWF at regularly scheduled meetings and board meetings.
• Publish in each other’s newsletters (the Pronghorn published by the WWF, and the No Bull Sheet published by the WSGA).
• Cooperate on public education efforts.
• Opportunity for publicity at the WGFD Heritage EXPO in September. Agriculture needs a higher profile. Sportsmen and landowners need to present information together.
• Collaborative workshops for teacher education – Project Wild, CRM and Ag in the Classroom. Emphasize courses in the high school classroom about natural resources, wildlife and agricultural management practices.

What are our expectations of one another regarding mutual respect for our values, including values related to livelihood and economics, wildlife habitat and harvest, land use stewardship and behavior, and future generations?

• Recognize the common issues – for example, open space concerns, the Endangered Species Act, and future generations.
• Identify representatives and get them together to address specific issues.
• Explore interrelationships (recognizing that there will be differences in some areas).
• Discuss consequences of inaction plus the benefits of working together. This is key.
• Develop an action plan and timeframe for common approach.

Should we change wildlife management to benefit landowners and sportsmen? Issues to address include accountability of management agencies, communication with agencies, overlapping agency jurisdiction, allocation of tags, and non-game issues such as endangered species and predator control.

These proved to be difficult issues with a lot of discussion. The breakout group agreed on the following two goals, but did not have time to identify strategies for achieving these goals.

• Get the WGFD to recognize the value in the predator/wildlife balance.
• Get the WGFD to meet with landowners and then sportsmen and the public prior to issuing tags.

Should there be compensation for the costs associated with producing and maintaining quality wildlife for public use?

• Evaluate the current landowner coupon system to generate more revenue and better use of existing dollars.
• Engage all of the public, including non-consumptive users and non-users, in the maintenance of wildlife and open spaces and habitat.
• Find ways for everyone to contribute to the funds (for example, through the Wildlife Legacy Trust).
• Create a statewide lodging tax that goes to the compensation fund.
• Look at creating a statewide excise tax on non-consumptive user items.
• Explore potential funding from modifications to the real estate transfer tax.
• Modify the conservation stamp program.
• Foster more allies in an effort to address compensation (for example, hotel/motel owners, Chambers of Commerce).

After the breakout sessions, the participants returned to a plenary session where one or two representatives from each group reported on their group's discussions. All the participants then gathered for lunch and participated in a facilitated discussion of next steps and "where do we go from here?" The participants suggested the following actions and next steps:

• The sponsors and facilitators need to issue a press release about the Rendezvous.
• Pick an "early win" issue and begin to work on it.
• Start locally, take the lessons learned and apply them at community levels.
• Create a coalition group to move forward on the Rendezvous goals.
• Move toward a joint communication strategy to encourage positive reporting in the media.
• The sponsors need to write joint articles, such as newspaper columns, commenting on the progress of the various issues and reminding Rendezvous participants to keep the ball rolling.
• Members of each group need to work on expanding awareness of the common ground between landowners and sportsmen, so that more people will be represented at future meetings like this one.
• Draft a code of ethics jointly for landowners and sportsmen.
• Create a volunteer mediation board for people to address their grievances.
• Identify all stakeholders.
• Have follow-up sessions with Rendezvous participants to address current issues.
• Distribute a progress report one year from now.
• Develop a timeline for action items.
• Build relationships by starting with those groups who are committed to finding common ground.
• The WSGA and WWF boards of directors need to hold a joint meeting.
• The landowners and sportsmen need to involve public land agencies and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

John Freeman, Executive Director of the WCF, commended the WSGA and the WWF for having the courage to make the Landowner/Sportsman Rendezvous possible. He noted that there is considerably more common ground among landowners and sportsmen than differences, due in large part to our Wyoming heritage and culture. John also indicated that the WCF is willing to assist subsequent cooperative efforts between landowners and sportsmen.

Jim Narva, President of the Board of the WWF, and Larry Baesler, the new Executive Director of the WWF, noted the historic nature of the event and that the WWF will help keep the ball rolling to build on the success of the Rendezvous.

Jim Magagna and Kim Floyd expressed their gratitude to the conference facilitators, WCF, and IENR for their hard work, and to the Rendezvous participants for their willingness to put time and effort into discussing difficult issues.

Many participants agreed that landowners and sportsmen do share common ground on numerous issues and that the conference was an important beginning toward improving communication and cooperation between the two groups. The efforts of both groups will be strengthened by working together. The Rendezvous sponsors, along with the WCF and IENR, expect to get together again in late March. Meanwhile, additional comments and suggestions from the participants are welcome.

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The Wyoming Stock Growers Association (WSGA) is a non-profit organization established in 1873. It serves the livestock business and families of Wyoming by protecting their economic, legislative, regulatory, judicial, environmental, custom and cultural interests. The Association has two publications: The No Bull Sheet, a newsletter that keeps members updated on the latest issues pertinent to the industry, and Cow Country, a quarterly magazine dedicated solely to the Wyoming cattle industry. Each year WSGA presents the Environmental Stewardship Award to a Wyoming rancher who embodies an environmental steward of the land.

The Wyoming Wildlife Federation (WWF), a non-profit organization established in 1937, is a conservation and recreation advocacy organization. The WWF consists of over 6,000 anglers, hikers, hunters and outdoor enthusiasts who share a deep commitment to protecting wildlife habitat, quality ethical hunting and fishing, and public lands in Wyoming. The WWF educates its members about pressing wildlife and recreation issues throughout the state and empowers them to take actions that protect wildlife habitat and the rights of public land users.

Founded in 1989, the Wyoming Community Foundation (WCF) works to improve the quality of life in Wyoming as well of the lives of future generations. Operating primarily through local affiliates, the WCF is a partnership of donors, professional advisers, charitable non-profit organizations and communities working together to find solutions to pressing needs across Wyoming. The mission of WCF is: to attract and hold in perpetuity capital gifts; to put to work the income from those gifts to respond to emerging community needs; to provide a cost-effective philanthropic vehicle for a broad range of donors; to serve as a prudent steward of assets gifted by donors; and to exercise leadership on select community issues and advance the cause of organized philanthropy throughout the state.

Established in 1993 by the University of Wyoming, the Institute for Environment and Natural Resources (IENR) represents a partnership among UW faculty and students, a prominent advisory board of leaders in the field of environment and natural resources, and the outreach activities and resources of Wyoming’s only university. IENR advances effective decision making on environmental and natural resource issues by promoting and assisting collaborative, informed approaches that sustain both the economy and the environment.

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1. It's your show.

2. Everyone is equal.

3. No relevant topic is sacred (off limits).

4. No discussion is ended.

5. Respect each other's opinions and the time.

6. Silence on decisions is agreement.

7. Make sure the facilitator writes what you meant.

8. Have fun.