Chad Baldwin called into the Weekday Wake-Up on Wednesday, February 18 for his monthly report from the University of Wyoming. Baldwin touched on a fishing guide course, entrepreneurship in agriculture seminar, nuclear energy forum and university funding.

(0:00) It’s 8.35 this morning on SVGuy Radio, Swift 98 and The Spur heading into this hour’s guest (0:06) interview segment, our first one of the hour today, and Chad Baldwin, Marketing and Communications (0:11) with the University of Wyoming, joining me live over the phone today with his monthly (0:16) report from UW. (0:17) Chad, good morning. (0:18) How are you and Laramie today? (0:20) Doing great, Duke.

(0:21) How are you? (0:22) Hey, doing well. (0:23) Appreciate the time. (0:24) All right.

(0:24) You know, we’re coming off a UW win in the AA last night, so, right, I think it’s always (0:30) a better day when that happens the morning after. (0:33) Absolutely. (0:34) We smoked those people from California.

(0:36) That was fun. (0:38) Appreciate your time to talk about what’s happening within the University of Wyoming. (0:42) And, you know, a number of examples of UW reaching out across the state and not just (0:48) what happens in Laramie, but UW’s Jay Kemmerworth Institute partnering for a fishing guide course.

(0:54) Tell us about this. (0:56) Yeah, Duke. (0:58) I think this is something, you know, our focus on outdoor recreation and tourism, it really (1:03) has increased in recent years, and this is about providing fishing guides in Wyoming (1:08) who are interested.

(1:09) This is absolutely nothing that’s mandatory, of course. (1:13) Basically, it’s a course that blends online coursework with an in-person, on-the-water (1:20) practicum to advance fishing guide certification course, specifically tailored to Wyoming’s (1:27) rivers and our regulations and our guiding traditions. (1:31) So we’re doing this in collaboration with some outfitters, actually, Western Wyoming (1:38) outfitters, and it’s just a resource for this really growing industry in our state, (1:44) particularly in, you know, you see it a lot in Western Wyoming on your rivers and streams (1:49) there.

(1:50) To some degree, we’re seeing it, you know, for instance, the North Platte River over (1:53) on this side, lots of fishing guides, and this is just another resource for this industry (1:59) in our state. (2:00) Absolutely. (2:01) So that’s happening with the University of Wyoming.

(2:04) Also some entrepreneurship seminars in regards to agriculture, and of course, agriculture (2:10) is, it’s changed over the last number of years, especially in Leakey County, but still very (2:15) strong whether it, for the type that it is. (2:20) And so, tell us about these seminars. (2:22) Sure, yeah, so jumping from tourism to agriculture, which is another key industry in our state, (2:28) we do have this, it’s a ranch management and ag leadership seminar series that’s going (2:35) on, and some of them have taken place outside Laramie.

(2:39) The one that’s coming up here on February 26th is actually going to be in Laramie, and (2:43) this is about how you can do a sort of add-on to maybe your family ag operation. (2:51) It’s about entrepreneurship, and this one actually is going to focus on the Mountain (2:58) Meadow wool operation in Buffalo that is really started up as just like his mom’s knitting (3:05) hobby. (3:06) It’s now turned into the biggest full-service wool mill in the whole entire Rocky Mountain (3:10) West.

(3:12) So, you know, so we’re just trying to give our ag producers some additional tools on things (3:17) that they may be able to do to augment their operations. (3:21) Chad Baldwin with the University of Wyoming with us this morning on the weekday wake-up. (3:26) A nuclear energy forum registration opens for this upcoming forum hosted by the University (3:32) of Wyoming, and it sounds like this is kind of focused on the fuel cycle, and so we talk (3:36) about the nuclear plant that’s under construction right now in Kemmerer, and maybe a good opportunity (3:42) for people to learn more about what’s taking place in nuclear energy across the state.

(3:48) You bet, yeah, just jumping from ag now to energy and minerals, which is our top industry (3:54) in the state, this forum is done by our Ruckelshaus Institute and our Hobbs School of Environment (4:01) and Natural Resources every year, and this year it’s focused on nuclear, which we know (4:06) is such a big deal now in our state and even getting bigger and bigger, and we just want (4:10) to equip people with the tools and knowledge they can use to make informed decisions about (4:15) nuclear industries in the state and in their communities. (4:18) So I think, of course, you’re seeing in Lincoln County there, in Kemmerer, I think the community (4:23) largely embracing what’s going on there with the natrium reactor that’s under development (4:28) there. (4:29) There’s other projects in other parts of Wyoming, like Gillette and Casper, that are different (4:34) parts of the fuel cycle that have drawn a lot of interest, and I would say in some (4:39) cases maybe some misunderstandings, and so this is going to help people understand what (4:44) nuclear is all about, from uranium mining, which we do a lot of in Wyoming, to spent (4:49) fuel storage, which is not what we’re talking about in Kemmerer, but has been something (4:54) looked at in other parts of Wyoming.

(4:56) So again, just trying to provide people with information on this really important industry (5:01) in our state right now. (5:02) Absolutely. (5:03) Chad Baldwin with the University of Wyoming this morning.

(5:06) Chad, I think last time we were on the air, of course, we talked about the proposed budget (5:11) cuts to the University of Wyoming. (5:13) Now we have you on there, this time kind of in the midst of the session, and at least (5:19) on the Senate side yesterday, voting to kind of go back to the governor’s bill, not what (5:24) came out of the JAC, which, if I’m understanding correctly, would do away with the proposed (5:30) cut, but what’s the university doing right now, and what’s the engagement process like (5:36) for the university with the legislative session and everything happening at this stage of (5:40) the game? (5:41) Sure. (5:42) Just monitoring very closely and answering questions and providing information.

(5:46) A lot of that kind of happens behind the scenes in Cheyenne. (5:49) We have a person over there who’s focused on addressing those sorts of things, one of (5:54) our vice presidents, but this is largely about helping people understand what a cut of the (6:03) magnitude that came out of the Appropriations Committee would do to us, and we really, really (6:07) appreciate the support we’ve been receiving from people across the state. (6:12) In the Senate yesterday, there were senators who referenced that the people of Wyoming (6:17) basically have spoken on this, and they don’t want to defund our university at this level, (6:23) and so, you know, we really appreciate, for instance, Senator Dockstader’s support for (6:31) going to the governor’s budget on this issue, and we’ll see what happens.

(6:38) I mean, there probably, I assume, you know, as you look at just reading tea leaves here, (6:43) it’s probably going to be some sort of compromise that will have to be struck unless the House (6:47) is willing to change here. (6:49) There’s more time. (6:51) Amendments can be made here in the next few days, but we really appreciate the support (6:57) people around Wyoming have been giving to their legislators for UW.

(7:02) That’s Chad Baldwin this morning on the Weekday Wake-Up. (7:05) Chad, as always, appreciate your time. (7:06) Anything else you’d like to touch on today while we have you on the air? (7:10) Just maybe to reiterate just what we talked about earlier, we talked about three things (7:15) today, agriculture, tourism, energy.

(7:18) Those are the bedrocks of Wyoming’s economy, and Wyoming’s land-grant university is focused (7:23) on those topics, and I think that’s helping us make our argument in Cheyenne. (7:30) That’s Chad Baldwin, Public Relations with the University of Wyoming. (7:33) Chad, as always, thank you very much.

(7:34) We’ll touch base again next month. (7:36) Thanks, Duke. (7:37) It’s the Weekday Wake-Up this morning on SVI Radio.