A Bill in the Legislature to allow Camping on State Land.

In looking at various bills in the legislature I frankly tend to find the bills introduced by Natrona County Democrat Chuck Gray to be on the unlikely to pass often extreme side.  I note that, as here's one that he introduced this session that I hope passes.

Gray's bill would allow overnight camping on State of Wyoming owned lands.

A lot, probably most, Wyomingites don't realize that the lands owned by the State of Wyoming are much more restrictive in use than lands owned by the Federal Government.  You can't camp overnight on them, for example.  You also can't hunt on them without permission from the state.

By and large most people ignore these restrictions and aren't even aware of them.  But some are, and to my surprise this past year I was speaking with a rancher who had called a Game Warden as he found some hunters camping on state land near a county road.  I would have ignored it, but he didn't, and the Game Warden required the campers to pick up and move on.

This would fix what I feel is something that needs to be fixed.

I'll give Gray credit for this, but I'll be frank that due to his prior positions in the legislature I can't help but feel that this is preparatory to another effort to grab the Federal domain from the U.S. and vest it in Wyoming.  Savvy Wyomingites raised issues like this when the bad idea came up last session and I suspect that this is an effort to address one of those complaints in the hopes of making land grabbing less objectionable, which it won't do.

But maybe I'll be surprised.  Maybe the proponent is just a camper.

2019

STATE OF WYOMING

19LSO-0579

HOUSE BILL NO. HB0217

Wyoming camping act.

Sponsored by: Representative(s) Gray, Jennings, Miller and Pelkey and Senator(s) Biteman and James

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to state lands; repealing the prohibition against camping overnight on state lands; and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1.  W.S. 36‑2‑107(b)(v) is repealed.

Section 2.  This act is effective July 1, 2019.

(END)

1

HB0217