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The Wyoming Governor's Big Game License Coalition (WGBGLC) finalized its 2025 project funding by allocating $1.5+ million for Wyoming wildlife conservation projects with monies raised by auctioning special big game tags in 2024 and 2025.
A total of 73 projects (including 7 bighorn sheep projects) that benefit the Coalition’s five priority big game species will be funded from the sale of five bighorn sheep, five moose, 10 deer/elk/antelope and five wild bison licenses. These include specific projects benefiting the big game species, including:
"In 1980, under the leadership of then-Wyoming Governor Ed Herschler, the first-of-its-kind special ‘Governor's License’ for one bighorn sheep was issued for auction," said WSF's Gray N. Thornton, President & CEO. “Governor Herschler realized that license revenue from very few available bighorn sheep licenses was insufficient to mount any serious bighorn sheep restoration program. His foresight into a new conservation funding model for big game species is what launched a new age of additive conservation funding to got us to where we are today. Current Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon continues the Wyoming’s Governor Big Game License Coalition which was launched in 2003 by then-Governor Dave Freudenthal and continued under Governor Matt Mead."
Since the first Governor's auction bighorn sheep tag, other state, provincial, and tribal wildlife agencies have followed Wyoming's lead by offering tags for wild sheep and other big game species. Each jurisdiction decides what species and how many licenses, if any, it needs to sell to fund its programs. In the U.S., states often leverage these auction revenues with Pittman-Robertson Act funds, which can match auction proceeds 3 to 1.
“It is with great pride that WSF acknowledges the lead role that current WSF Vice-President of Conservation – Emeritus Kevin Hurley played in organizing and launching the Wyoming Governor’s Big Game License Coalition,” added Thornton. “Kevin worked tirelessly to bring multiple conservation NGOs to the Coalition and chaired the WGBGLC for its first decade of existence.”
Conservation organizations stepping up to market and sell these Wyoming licenses include the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Mule Deer Foundation, Muley Fanatics, Western Hunting & Conservation Expo, Grand Slam Club/Ovis, Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation, and Wild Sheep Foundation.
"WSF was honored to have sold the first Wyoming bighorn tag, and we continue this proud tradition today, having put over $3.89 million back into the state's conservation programs since 1980," Thornton continued. Since the Wyoming Governor's Big Game License Coalition was formed in 2003, the coalition has funded nearly $15 million in conservation projects.
"We commend the Coalition on its continued stewardship of the state's wildlife resources and for its transparency as to where the monies are being spent and to what benefits," Thornton added. “While Governor's Tags may be how this system of conservation funding started and auction tags represent how these tags are sold, Conservation Permits is a more defining and fitting name that represents the many jurisdictions they now support."
A complete list of funded projects can be found at this link.
The Wild Sheep Foundation (WSF), based in Bozeman, Mont., was founded in 1977 by sportsmen and other wild sheep conservationists. WSF is the premier advocate for wild sheep, having raised and expended more than $145 million, positively impacting these species through population and habitat enhancements, research and education, and conservation advocacy programs in North America, Europe, and Asia to “Put and Keep Wild Sheep On the Mountain”®. In North America, these and other efforts have increased bighorn sheep populations from historic lows in the 1950s-60s of 25,000 to more than 85,000 today. WSF has a membership of more than 11,000 worldwide. www.wildsheepfoundation.org