Eric Wiltanger, Interim Director of the Wyoming Game & Fish Department, called into the Weekday Wake-Up on Wednesday, September 2 for the department’s monthly report.

Wiltanger discussed his background and focus as interim director, the timeline for the permanent director to be announced, the cause of the fish mortality along the Salt River, regulations on fishing guides and outfitters and the annual Hunt Forecast.

(0:00) Welcome to this morning’s first guest interview segment and joining me over the phone today (0:04) is Wyoming Game and Fish Interim Director Eric Wiltinger. (0:08) Today for the monthly report for the Wyoming Game and Fish, good morning Director Wiltinger. (0:12) How are you doing today? (0:13) I’m good.

(0:14) How are you? (0:15) Hey, doing fantastic. (0:16) Really do appreciate your time. (0:17) Of course, a number of topics that we’d like to get into today, but first, let’s get to (0:22) know you a little.

(0:23) Tell us about what you’ve done previous to this time with the Wyoming Game and Fish (0:27) and before being named Interim Director. (0:30) Yeah, I guess I’ll start with yesterday. (0:33) Yesterday was the kickoff to archery season for me, elk season, and got to chase some (0:37) elk yesterday morning and evening, so that’s, you know, about me, I’m a sportsman.

(0:41) And you know, I wasn’t born and raised here in Wyoming, I was born in Pennsylvania and (0:46) joined the military, spent 20 years bouncing all around, had a great career doing security (0:51) forces stuff with the Air Force, and then I came through Wyoming twice. (0:56) First time in Cheyenne was early 90s and left, went to Washington, D.C., and we knew we wanted (1:01) to call this place home, so we were able to make it back here, oh, in 2006, and then I (1:07) retired in 2010. (1:09) After I retired from the military, I took a job with Department of Corrections up in (1:13) Torrington and then that led to a job in Rollins at the state penitentiary, and then after (1:19) that I went to work for the Division of Criminal Investigation and did that for about eight (1:23) years, nine years, and always knew that I wanted to do something with game and fish.

(1:27) From my early experiences with some of the folks out in the field, I thought this is (1:31) a pretty good outfit, and so I came to game and fish in 2020 as the Services Division (1:36) Chief, and that division kind of handles everything that’s not fish and wildlife, but also (1:41) supports fish and wildlife, so our engineering branch, lands branch, IT, and everything (1:46) else. (1:47) Did that job for a little while, and then there was an opportunity as the Deputy Director (1:51) for Internal Operations, and I was fortunate enough to get that position, and after that, (1:57) I guess history about three weeks ago changed a little bit, and now I’m serving as the (2:03) interim at least until probably, I don’t know, sometime, we’ll see when the commission (2:08) decides to do interviews, but I’m expecting probably at least until January time frame. (2:14) Yeah, absolutely, and so as we talk about being an interim director, of course, the (2:19) timeline is still unknown, but you would expect the, I mean, it’s an approved by the (2:23) legislature position, if I’m understanding correctly, right? (2:26) And so you would expect to maybe have, whether it be you or someone else, the permanent director (2:30) picked by the end of the 2027 session maybe? (2:34) Yes, exactly.

(2:35) You know, once the commission does a recruitment, right now in my talks with them would probably (2:41) be sometime November, December, and then their responsibility is to send three names to the (2:46) governor, so I would expect that to happen hopefully in January sometime, and then confirmation (2:52) of whoever that person is would be sometime before the session. (2:55) Interim Wyoming Game and Fish Director Eric Wiltinger on the weekday wakeup this morning. (2:59) Of course, you mentioned three weeks ago how things pivoted pretty quick.

(3:04) It was a fast and unexpected departure of former Director Bruce. (3:08) Walk us through that transition. (3:09) Tell us, what are you able to say about it, if anything, and then what have you been doing (3:14) since then as interim director, I guess? (3:17) Yeah, not to really focus on the actual transition.

(3:21) We’re really leaning forward, rolling our sleeves up, and yeah, it’s a big shift, but (3:25) I would say more internal focus right now. (3:28) I’m going to try to, over the next few weeks, get to the field, which, you know, the last (3:32) seven years I’ve spent a lot of time with our folks, and we’re really leaning in on the (3:37) internal structure of the department and kind of seeing where there’s holes and better understand, (3:42) you know, that process of recommendations that come out of the department to make sure (3:47) they’re really, you know, backed by science, which they always are, but making sure that (3:52) the recommendation that leaves the department is, you know, what’s best for wildlife. (3:56) And then, of course, after that, that’s where the other sciences come in, the social and (4:00) political sciences, and that’s really the way I see things, the responsibility.

(4:04) It begins with the commission. (4:06) The commission starts to weigh those other factors, especially, you know, hearing from (4:09) the public and maybe potential political issues, dealing with the governor’s office, (4:15) to try to get that balance. (4:16) You know, we can’t be one side or the other.

(4:19) We always shoot for hitting in the middle, and sometimes folks, I think, misunderstand (4:22) that, like maybe we aren’t advocating for wildlife, but we do that every day, Duke. (4:27) You know, we make decisions in what’s best for wildlife. (4:29) When you start to talk to policy level, that’s whenever, you know, other things play into (4:34) it, and the commission starts to weigh in, and then, depending on if it goes to the governor’s (4:38) office or not.

(4:39) So, that’s really what we’re focusing on. (4:41) My focus over the next few months is obviously budget stuff. (4:46) We have joint travel and recreation committee meeting next week, and we’re really trying (4:50) to dig in to find how we fund this department for the future.

(4:54) So, that’s one of the big things going on, and we’re leaning into that. (4:58) Wyoming Game and Fish Interim Director Eric Wilkins is with us live on the weekday wake-up (5:01) this morning. (5:02) Well, let’s talk about what’s happening in the Salt River here on our side of the state, (5:06) in Lincoln County, specifically Star Valley.

(5:09) A press release went out recently from the Game and Fish calling it a widespread fish (5:13) mortality. (5:14) What’s the very latest on the cause here, and is that still being worked on? (5:18) Yeah, it is still being worked on. (5:20) As far as the cause, you know, I just got an email.

(5:23) I think we’ve kind of got a cause. (5:25) I don’t know that it’s released yet, but we suspect that the fish mortality event, which (5:30) really focused more, you know, it hit the mountain whitefish more than anything, and (5:36) it’s the prophylactic kidney disease, PKD, is what I’ve always referenced it as, because (5:42) I struggle understanding the exact disease, but really what occurs is, you know, it’s (5:48) numerous things. (5:49) So, you have high temperatures on the waters, and with those high temperatures, with that (5:56) basic PKD out there in the waters, the stress of the fish are more susceptible to having (6:02) that parasite infect them.

(6:04) So we’re really leaning forward with, we believe that’s what caused this, and you know, it’s (6:10) mostly downstream towards the reservoir, but it seems like we’ve kind of got it to a point (6:15) where we’re pretty sure we’ve got a suspected cause, and that’s that PKD. (6:18) Okay, so there’s been a lot of, you know, speculation, of course, and everyone maybe (6:23) has an opinion on one thing. (6:25) A lot of people saying, well, it’s just overfished.

(6:28) There’s too many outfitters, there’s too many guides, all that stuff is happening. (6:32) Do you feel like overuse of the river can contribute to this, or do you feel like, or (6:37) just the water temperature? (6:39) No, I think we’re talking two separate things here. (6:41) I think it really, they’re susceptible whenever those water temps are high, which we’ve experienced (6:46) over the last few weeks for sure, and then with that parasite in the water, that combination (6:52) and the stress from the fish being in those high temperatures, really that’s what probably (7:00) caused it more than anything.

(7:01) I don’t think fishing had anything to do with it. (7:02) Okay, so, and just the, it doesn’t seem like it’s been as effective to some of the more, (7:07) you know, the trout species and those types of things, just this whitefish? (7:11) Correct, just the mountain whitefish. (7:13) Okay.

(7:14) So, speaking along those lines of the, I guess, let’s wrap up that conversation. (7:20) What happens next here? (7:22) Anything that needs to be done with this, or is it just you wait until the temperatures (7:26) drop and it should get better? (7:29) Well, I think we kind of let nature take care of it. (7:32) I don’t think there’s any treatments that we would do.

(7:34) I’m going out on a limb on that one, but I think temperatures start to, you know, go (7:39) down, that’ll help. (7:41) Yeah, I don’t think there’s any real corrective action for the department right at this moment. (7:45) Okay.

(7:45) Eric Wiltinger, Interim Director of the Wyoming Game and Fish on the Weekday Wake-Up. (7:48) So, speaking of use of the salt and other rivers, there has been talk of regulation (7:54) of fishing guides, and that was something passed by the legislature recently, and I know the (7:58) Game and Fish and the Commission’s been working on this. (8:01) Give us an update, and how is this going to work as it’s rolling out, and fishing guide (8:06) regulation on rivers such as the salt? (8:09) Yeah, in 2025, that legislation was passed, and it really gave the Commission the authority (8:15) to limit the number of guided fishing boats allowed to launch into or use any river or (8:20) lake sections.

(8:22) Where it’s at right now is the advisory board was formed, and they’ve had several meetings, (8:27) and this first year in January of 26 is when our registration and tracking, we kind of needed (8:33) to know exactly what we were dealing with before we can lean into any sort of regulated (8:37) on the waterways for guides. (8:40) So January 1st, 26, we started selling registration stickers to kind of better understand what (8:47) kind of traffic we’re dealing with, and as of right now, 579 registration stickers were (8:53) sold to 500 individual registrants as of June 30th, and that could be anything from outfitters, (8:59) individual guides, or guides working for multiple outfitters. (9:01) So we’ve kind of got a handle on, we know what the traffic looks like right now.

(9:08) I think this year, there was 8,537 trips reported of those. (9:14) So we had our last, I guess, advisory board meeting probably about two or three weeks (9:20) ago, and to better understand where things go from here, they’re going to go to the travel (9:27) recreation wildlife meeting in September up in Jackson, and provide a recommendation (9:31) that’s been worked through the commission to create a new board, separate board for (9:39) the outfitters and guides for fishing, or is it going to be included in the existing (9:44) Wyoming Board of Outfitters, and that recommendation will be made by the advisory board, I think (9:48) it’s next Tuesday or Wednesday. (9:50) Perfect.

(9:51) Interim Director of the Wyoming Game of Fish, Eric Wilton, is here on the weekday wake up. (9:55) Eric, thank you so much for your time. (9:56) We appreciate it.

(9:57) You mentioned the archery hunts beginning to open up across the state, and Game of Fish (10:01) this week actually just released the hunt forecast for all the different areas of the (10:06) state, and that can be found online. (10:08) Yeah, absolutely, yeah, we released that, and I know our field folks are out there, (10:12) you know, patrolling and doing biology, and we’re really looking forward to this season, (10:18) even though, you know, obviously with the drought, and we’ve got critters roaming everywhere (10:22) looking for forage, I think this is going to be a good season, and we’re excited about (10:26) Perfect. (10:27) That’s Eric Wilton, your Interim Director of the Wyoming Game of Fish.

(10:29) Thank you so much for your time. (10:30) We appreciate it. (10:31) Alright, take care.

(10:32) It’s all part of the weekday wake.