Investing in post-fire recovery is no gamble

2024 marked the second-largest wildfire season in Wyoming’s history, impacting nearly 850,000 acres—surpassed only by the fires of 1988, which burned 1.7 million acres across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The first wildfire ignited on New Year’s Eve in 2023, setting the stage for seven consecutive months of relentless blazes. 

And unlike the fires of ’88 that primarily burned federal lands, 70% of the acres burned in 2024 were privately owned. Emblematic of drought conditions throughout the West, the wildfires highlighted how catastrophic events impact Wyoming’s communities and ranching operations and the importance of financial support for the recovery of the rangeland.

One of the most significant fires was the House Draw Fire in Johnson County, southeast of Buffalo, which swept across 175,000 acres of private and state land. The aftermath revealed charred livestock, fences and water infrastructure, and exposed lands to the invasion of invasive and noxious weeds. According to Johnson County records, landowners lost $25 million in goods and infrastructure.

Johnson County resident David Belus is one of many Wyoming ranchers devastated by the House Draw wildfire. The blaze burned between 80 and 90% of his ranch. He is now working to restore his land, rebuild fences and recover his herd. When asked about the road to recovery, he highlights the crucial support of local and federal agencies, including BLM soil scientists, Johnson County Weed and Pest, and non-governmental organizations, alongside resources from the USDA’s Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Wyoming Wildlife Natural Resource Trust Fund (WWNRT). “The last critical piece that just came through was the USDA’s grazing deferment payment,” he said. 

After a severe burn, rangelands need time to recover. Deferment payments help producers rest the land for a season, allowing perennial grasses to regenerate and outcompete invasive species like cheatgrass, medusahead and ventenata—common threats to Wyoming’s high-elevation prairies and the sagebrush steppe ecosystem. Without this support, landowners would be forced to graze too soon just to stay in business, jeopardizing rangeland recovery and impacting wildlife such as mule deer and grassland birds, as well as long-term soil health.

After such severe and expansive wildfires, producers are rarely made whole. Many are forced to sell what remains of their herds, losing generations of genetics that can never be recovered. They often lose winter pasture, haystacks, water tanks and more. Producers receive only a portion of the market value for cattle consumed by the wildfires from FSA’s Livestock Indemnity Program, but as Belus notes, “with so much money on the line, anything helps.” 

Resilient rangelands don’t just happen. They are the result of stewardship, investment and a commitment to sustaining the West’s working lands for the benefit of everyone.

“Such circumstances require speedy federal and state financial support,” says Bob Budd, director of the WWNRT, “and Wyoming deployed all her resources to help these communities.” WWNRT is a state-run endowment established in 2005 to conserve Wyoming’s wildlife habitat, open spaces and agricultural landscapes. The fund provides grants for a variety of conservation projects with private landowners and conservation organizations, including those impacted by wildfires. The Fund allows Budd to deploy resources quickly to local entities like the Johnson County Weed and Pest and local conservation districts who fund projects on private working lands. 

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Wyoming is one of the few western states without a state-funded disaster recovery program to support events that fall short of qualifying for federal disaster assistance. That makes funding state emergency accounts and the WWNRT crucial to a timely and coordinated response to wildfires and long-term rangeland recovery

Twenty-four of the 1,900 different fires in Wyoming’s 2024 fire season qualified for funding from Wyoming’s Emergency Fire Suppression Account (EFSA), but the fire suppression costs exhausted all funds from the account, including those left over from previous years. The firefighting efforts also depleted Wyoming’s Office of Homeland Security and Governor’s contingency accounts. As such, the governor requested a supplemental budget during the 2025 legislative session to refill the depleted accounts to respond to the devastation, future wildfires and recovery efforts, writing in his request to the legislature, “It is our duty and responsibility to Wyoming communities.” 

Unfortunately, the Wyoming legislature declined to pass a supplemental budget to address the full request from the governor. However, leaders did pass a stand-alone bill that replenished emergency accounts, while adding some funds for recovery to the WWNRT. 

When asked what the return on investment is for the public when disaster funds are deployed to working lands after a fire, Belus emphasizes that investing in recovery efforts today reduces the cost of future disasters by building more resilient landscapes and communities. ‘If we want to keep these landscapes intact and productive for generations to come, we have to support the people who steward them.”

So far, 70 of the hundreds of miles of destroyed fences have been rebuilt as wildlife-friendly to allow better movement for migrating wildlife like pronghorn and mule deer. And earlier this spring, Belus partnered with Pheasants Forever to help reseed 800 acres of sagebrush.

This support helps sustain local economies, preserve critical natural resources and ensure that agricultural operations remain viable—benefits that extend far beyond individual landowners to wildlife, watersheds and rural communities as a whole. By keeping ranches and farms intact, these funds help prevent land fragmentation and development pressures that could permanently alter the landscape. Well-managed rangelands contribute to all the wildlife, which adds to long-term ecological and economic value.

Budd emphasizes the urgency of proactive recovery efforts. “If we don’t treat cheatgrass, it could permanently alter the productivity of rangelands for farmers and wildlife. Every dollar spent on recovery from WWNRT is a dollar invested in Wyoming’s future—our communities, our working lands and our economy.”

Currently, Budd is collaborating with the Johnson County Weed and Pest and Brian Mealor at the University of Wyoming to prioritize invasive annual grass treatments in the most critical areas. Targeting these threats now can prevent long-term damage, ensuring that rangelands recover for both livestock and wildlife.

As Belus and others work to rebuild after their losses, their efforts reflect a broader truth—resilient rangelands don’t just happen. They are the result of stewardship, investment and a commitment to sustaining the West’s working lands for the benefit of everyone.