WY-005 A Fortress for Wildlife

Marker text: Wyoming's Wildlife - Wyoming - A Fortress For Wildlife - it is not happenstance that Wyoming hosts a wealth of our nation's wildlife resource. Early explorers wrote descriptions of the buffalo. "…blackening the plains as far as the eye could see. The pronghorn antelope were as numerous as the buffalo." The rush to the west increased in tempo in the late 1800's. The game herds seemed limitless and settlers took their wildlife for granted. Buffalo, antelope, elk and mountain sheep became nearly extinct by 1900. Market hunters, taking hides and meat, took their toll on a dwindling wildlife resource, in the Wyoming Territory, the first game laws were passed when the territory became a state. It became apparent that in such a vast land, a game and fish enforcement staff was needed to protect and manage the State's wildlife resource. In 1927, the Wyoming legislature organized the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to manage the state's wildlife resource. After many years of law enforcement, state of the art wildlife management, habitat protection and habitat enhancement. Wyoming once again hosts a wealth of wildlife. Wyoming's wildlife management programs are funded principally from hunting and fishing license dollars. Like Fort Steele, an early fortress for man, the people of Wyoming and her Game and Fish Department have created a permanent fortress for wildlife -- part of the formula for keeping Wyoming wildlife wild.