Wyoming Wildlife magazine - 2

FROM THE

DIRECTOR
Wyoming's path forward for CWD

By Brian Nesvik

rom the time I
began my career
with the Wyoming Game and
Fish Department, Wyoming
was already grappling with
chronic wasting disease.
While we knew it was here, at the time our understanding of its potential impacts had major gaps.
The department's early efforts focused on detecting where
CWD existed across our state, and I was acutely aware of
how the prevalence of the disease was increasing. Now we
know CWD is endemic to much of Wyoming, and science
has evolved to help improve our understanding of where the
disease exists, how it interacts with the environment and
how it may impact the overall health of herds. This fall, we
are embarking on the next phase of CWD management.
It's been more than three decades since CWD was first
discovered in Wyoming, and Game and Fish, alongside our
partners and the public, is still working diligently to tackle
this difficult issue. Over time, we've made advances. More
people are aware of the disease and are concerned about
the impacts to deer, elk and moose populations. As a state,
we've spent years leading the nation in monitoring wildlife,
researching vaccines, considering genetics and searching for
diagnostic testing options. While we know more, CWD
remains an immensely complex disease without answers
for how to stop its spread.
We must keep advancing our science and research on
CWD for the benefit of wildlife and our state. To make
progress, we are taking bold risks and trying new approaches.
In July, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission approved
the Wyoming Chronic Wasting Disease Management Plan.
The plan is the result of a year's worth of hard work by a
team with members who rolled up their sleeves, dove into

2 | September 2020

the challenge and used their passion for wildlife as fuel.
I appointed 31 people to
deliver a plan to chart our future
course on CWD management
in Wyoming. These stakeholders were members of the public,
hunters, landowners, wildlife
enthusiasts, policy makers, out(Adobe Stock Photo)
door advocates, disease experts
and wildlife managers. I detail
who was involved with the making of this plan for two
reasons. First, I am extremely humbled by the cooperative
efforts of team members with diverse backgrounds and
thoughts. Secondly, the team approach and inclusion of
the public in decision making sets the right example for
how future decisions will be made as we carry out the plan.
Together, the group created a cutting-edge plan that
serves as a toolkit to tackle CWD. While it doesn't offer a
silver bullet to end the problem in our state, it is informed
by the best-available science and diverse perspectives. Further, the plan is adaptive - meaning we can change it to
respond as we learn more. This plan is a representation of
the multifaceted stakeholders in Wyoming who coalesced
around one cause - the health of wildlife - and it will
help guide the department's work on CWD.
As we move into the 2020 hunting season, Game and
Fish is prepared to collect lymph node samples from harvested deer and elk to help us gather more information.
We are targeting specific hunt areas where we aim to collect
as many samples as possible - a listing and map of those
areas available on our website. Hunters' participation is
extremely important. If you are asked for a sample, please
take the time to provide one, and be sure to follow carcass
transport rules.
Though I've never worked in Wyoming without a growing presence of CWD, I am hopeful that together we can
change that trend. Game and Fish will continue to rely on
the best science and your input as we work hard to ensure
deer, elk and moose exist for enjoyment by the next generation of conservationists.

Wyoming Wildlife magazine

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