Wyoming State Forester Kelly Norris called into the Weekday Wake-Up on Tuesday, June 9 to discuss her role and responsibilities as State Forester and also promote her upcoming visit to Lincoln County to meet with both the Star Valley Chamber of Commerce and Fossil Basin Chamber of Commerce.

(0:00) It is the weekday wake up on SVI radio this morning, Swift 98 and the (0:04) spur and an opportunity to catch up with Kelly Norris. (0:07) Kelly is the Wyoming state Forester and is going to be visiting Lincoln County soon. (0:12) She’ll be here visiting with the Star Valley and Fossil Basin Chambers (0:15) of Commerce on Thursday, June 18th.

(0:18) Kelly, thanks so much for taking a few minutes of your time today. (0:20) Looking forward to having you in Lincoln County. (0:22) Thank you so much for the invite and having me on the radio.

(0:26) I love it. (0:27) Absolutely. (0:27) Well, let’s talk about what your role is as the state Forester.

(0:31) Tell me how long you’ve been the state Forester and what does that mean? (0:34) What do you do? (0:36) Yeah, so I have been the Wyoming state Forester for almost three years now. (0:41) I was, so I answered to the land board, a state land board of commissioners, (0:46) which is the five elected, the governor, the secretary of state, (0:51) superintendent, auditor, and treasurer. (0:53) And I was nominated during a special session.

(0:56) About three years ago on the 19th of June. (1:00) So we’re coming, I’ll be showing up to Lincoln County on that three year anniversary. (1:05) With that, the state Forester really encompasses all things when it comes to forest (1:12) management and forestry in the state of Wyoming, as well as wildland fire suppression.

(1:18) So I kind of cover both. (1:19) And since we are a division of state lands, we really focus in when we have foresters, (1:28) we focus in on state land trust management, but we do cooperative forestry (1:33) assistance programs, so we are helping doing quite a bit in our communities and (1:37) also on private forested lands. (1:39) And we have a very large and growing good neighbor authority program, which is where (1:44) we’re doing forestry work on federal lands, whether that’s on the forest (1:47) service lands or BLM lands.

(1:49) And then when it comes to wildland fire, the state Forester helps really oversee the (1:55) suppression and fire management on state trust lands. (1:58) There’s about, I think, 3.6 million acres of state trust lands. (2:03) And then really support and coordinate with all of those fire districts across (2:09) Wyoming and really help represent them in different capacities and support them when (2:14) it comes to wildland fire suppression.

(2:16) So that’s kind of it in a nutshell. (2:18) Forestry and fire. (2:19) So, so I guess to summarize, you’re not busy at all, are you? (2:24) You have nothing going on.

(2:26) Nothing going on. (2:27) There’s been lots of fires even going on in early June this year. (2:31) Yeah.

(2:31) So again, Kelly, when you, when you talk about the state Forester position and (2:35) everything that you just mentioned, working with the federal agencies like the (2:39) U.S. Forest Service here in Lincoln County, of course, we have the Bridger-Teton (2:42) National Forest, of which we are a part of, and it’s right in our backyard. (2:46) I mean, I, I am looking at our studio window here in Afton and I see the (2:50) Bridger-Teton, I mean, literally a few hundred yards away. (2:53) And so how does the state work with that federal agency when it comes to the (2:58) public lands that, that we access on a regular basis here in Lincoln? (3:02) That is a great question.

(3:04) We actually work pretty closely. (3:06) I, I work pretty closely with not only your Forest Supervisor, Chad Hudson. (3:10) I work pretty closely with the regional offices and regional, regional (3:15) leadership as well when it comes to management on those lands.

(3:21) So for example, we are as a cooperating agency, as a state agency, forestry, (3:28) working with the Forest Service on their forest plan revision. (3:31) We also help with planning, project planning, especially when it comes to (3:36) vegetation management. (3:37) And we really work closely with the Forest Service when it comes to the (3:41) good neighbor authority program.

(3:43) And we actually, that gives us the authority to actually contract out and (3:51) do timber sales on those lands. (3:53) And whether that is a timber sale or a fuels project or an Aspen enhancement (3:58) project, we do use our state contracting systems to do that work. (4:03) So we work pretty closely with your district specifically in that Lincoln (4:08) County area and in growing that forest management capacity on that forest.

(4:15) And, and we really, we do quite a bit when it comes to wildland fire (4:19) and coordination. (4:20) We have agreements with the U.S. (4:22) Forest Service as a state. (4:24) I signed that that says, this is how we’re going to operate in the wildland (4:28) fire arena, how we’re going to bill each other, how we’re going to suppress (4:32) fire and coordinate together.

(4:34) And we also have even different levels of those agreements on how we do that (4:39) specific to the Bridger-Teton that we coordinate with, along with your local (4:44) fire districts and actually work pretty well together. (4:48) We’ve really made some pretty significant efforts in increasing our (4:53) communication with the Forest Service. (4:56) You know, most of our forested lands are on, just like you’re seeing, those (5:02) National Forest Service lands.

(5:04) And so if we want to, as a state of Wyoming, have impact, we need to be (5:08) working and coordinating with those land managers, explaining what’s important (5:12) to us here in Wyoming and why we want to see that work get done. (5:15) Speaking this morning with the Wyoming State Forester, Kelly Norris, who’s (5:20) going to be in Lincoln County on Thursday, June 18th, speaking to both the Star (5:23) Valley and Fossil Basin Chambers of Commerce. (5:26) Kelly, a couple more follow-up questions on those.

(5:28) Of course, you talked a lot about wildfire prevention and everything with that. (5:32) And public lands access. (5:34) And for us this year, especially across the whole state, a lot of (5:41) concern over wildfires, of course.

(5:43) And so what can be done to help mitigate those as best possible when (5:48) it’s extremely dry, like it has been? (5:51) That is a good question. (5:52) When you are traveling outside the state, make sure you know (5:55) what your fire restrictions are. (5:57) And I believe right now there isn’t fire restrictions, not merely as much (6:03) on the western side of the state compared to the eastern side of the state.

(6:07) But with that, also be cognizant. (6:09) If we are having a high fire risk day, it is really important to think (6:13) about the actions of ourselves and what we’re doing, because one spark can (6:18) really change a situation drastically, especially with the, we have little (6:25) snowpack this year, so we’re noticing as we’re having these lightning strikes (6:29) hitting that they’re starting fires that we typically wouldn’t see starting (6:33) for another month or so now. (6:35) So being cognizant of, you know, making sure that your chains are set up the (6:41) right way, or making sure where you park, if you smoke, making sure you’re (6:45) taking care of putting out that cigarette.

(6:47) And if you have campfires, please, please take the time to put out those (6:53) campfires completely when you’re out camping this summer. (6:56) And outside of that, if we have homes and businesses that are in a forested (7:02) setting, it is really important to think about what kind of fuels are directly (7:06) impacting and around those house, your house, as well as in the larger vicinity. (7:12) So taking time to get those needles off those roofs and out of those gutters, (7:18) taking time to make sure your firewood piles are not up against your homes, (7:23) thinking about what you could do to really reduce the amount of flammable (7:29) debris that is directly and immediately around your home.

(7:32) And then also within that a hundred foot radius can make a real difference if a (7:35) fire is coming towards the direction of your house. (7:38) Miami State Forester, Kelly Norris. (7:40) Kelly, thank you so much for your time.

(7:41) Looking forward to having you in Lincoln County next week on June 18th. (7:44) We’ve touched on a just a really glossed over quite a few topics today. (7:48) So maybe, maybe give us a preview of what you may be discussing when you (7:52) come to our chambers next week.

(7:54) Yeah, I am super excited to be coming to the chambers and meeting with everyone. (7:59) We’ll be covering basically high level, right? (8:03) Wildland fire and forestry, shared stewardship agreement, and the work (8:07) we’re doing, like we just talked about with the Forest Service. (8:09) But we are going to take some time to hone in and focus in on what we’ve been (8:13) doing in Lincoln County.

(8:14) We just moved an office actually to Kemmer. (8:18) So we’re going to talk about the staffing that we have that we’re setting up in (8:23) conjunction with Lincoln County commissioners, getting our office space and, (8:26) and really talking about what we want to achieve over the next couple of years in (8:30) Lincoln County with the Forest Service and, and really the communities on improving (8:35) our forest health and forest management activities. (8:38) Again, that is Wyoming State Forester, Kelly Norris.

(8:41) She’s going to be at the Afton Civic Center with the Starvati Chamber of (8:44) Commerce, 12 o’clock noon, and then that’s on Thursday the 18th and then six (8:49) o’clock PM at the Opera House in Kemmer with the Fossil Basin Chamber of Commerce. (8:53) Kelly, thank you so much. (8:54) Look forward to seeing you next week.

(8:55) Thank you so much. (8:57) We’ll see you next week. (8:58) It’s all part of the weekday wake up this morning on SBI radio.