FEBRUARY 13, 2025|
♥Photo♥ Brian Nesvik – Courtesy Wyoming Game and Fish website
Two figures known to Wyoming voters have been picked for top jobs in the Trump administration. Governor Mark Gordon applauded the pair of picks.
Brian Nesvik has been nominated to serve as Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Nesvik was appointed by Governor Gordon in 2019 as Director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. Nesvik retired in 2024, following a 30-year career with the agency.
Meanwhile, Kathleen Sgamma, the President of the Denver-based Western Energy Alliance, has been nominated to serve as the new director of Bureau of Land Management.
Governor Gordon issued the following statement: “I congratulate Brian Nesvik on his nomination to serve as Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. I am delighted that my friend – who was looking forward to more pack trips, fishing and hunting – answered the call to serve his country again in this important capacity.”
The Governor said Nesvik’s career in wildlife conservation and leadership in dealing with endangered species will ensure that “Wyoming has a seat at the table” on these issues.
Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis praised the selection, making note of Nesvik’s decades of experience in wildlife conservation.
In the final days of the Biden administration, the former president extended protections for more than 2,000 grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, a move that was blasted by Republican officials in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. Nesvik had pushed to remove federal protections for grizzly bears.
Nesvik was not the only Trump pick making news on Wednesday.
Wyoming’s governor also applauded the president’s choice in selecting Sgamma to lead the Bureau of Land Management. “As someone who has worked with Ms. Sgamma,” the governor said in a written statement, “I know she is well-qualified and knowledgeable when it comes to Wyoming, the West, and multiple use of public lands. I look forward to working with her on a range of issues, including our efforts to identify suitable BLM lands for purchase or exchange.”
Sgamma has been a frequent witness on Capitol Hill, where she has been a strong advocate for the oil and natural gas industry, representing independent oil and natural companies in the West.
Sgamma symbolizes a polar change from Tracy Stone-Manning, former President Joe Biden’s pick to lead BLM, who put conservation on equal footing with leasing and grazing, frequently with controversy.
The leftist Biden Administration drew opposition from Sgamma and Republicans in Congress over the last four years. Sgamma said recently that Trump’s agenda represents a return to regular order.
Environmental groups, such as the Center for Biological Diversity, condemned the choice, saying it will be “an unmitigated disaster for our public lands.”
Both Sgamma and Nesvik will face questioning from the U.S. Senate.
