How Wyoming controlled weeds and rangeland pests looked different this year, mostly because of federal funding freezes. Budgets could also remain tight in the coming years because of property tax cuts initiated by state lawmakers earlier this year.
Federal grants for weed and pest control were caught up in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) freezes earlier this year. In Wyoming, that meant no counting or treating for grasshoppers and Mormon crickets this summer. The state manages the bugs because they can wreak havoc on agriculture.
Luckily, it was a mild year for those insects, otherwise, “we would really have been in a pickle,” said Lindsey Woodward, Wyoming’s weed and pest coordinator.
Woodward gave an agency update to state lawmakers during the Aug. 28 meeting of the Joint Agriculture, State and Public Lands, and Water interim committee.
“Grasshoppers are cyclical, so last year was the tail end of their cycle,” she said. “But if that's how it would have looked [this year], it would have been ugly.”
A bulk of the funding for the state’s 23 weed and pest programs comes from the federal government, which Woodward reiterated was tough this year.
“It was extremely unpredictable and it made it really hard for districts to plan their summers,” she said.
Woodward added that much of the federal funding has since been released from the DOGE freeze, but it’s too late to do a lot of those projects this year.
The countywide weed and pest programs also get a chunk of funding from local mill levies, which took a hit too.
Mill levies are a tax rate that local governments use to raise money for public services, like weed and pest control. One mill represents $1 a taxpayer must pay for every $1,000 worth of the assessed value of their property. In Wyoming, mill levies help pay for things like mosquito spraying, airports, hospitals, public schools, cemeteries and county fairs.
But earlier this year, the state Legislature slashed property taxes, meaning less mill money for local governments and districts.
The Wyoming Constitution says counties can issue a maximum of 12 mills, while towns and cities are capped at eight mills. According to Wyoming Taxpayers Association Executive Director Hank Hoversland, 21 out of Wyoming’s 23 counties have already maxed out the number of mills they can issue.
Woodward said this is trickling down to weed and pest programs.
“Park County, for instance, this year lost about 21% of their mill levy, and it's widely varied throughout the state depending on if you've got petroleum in the county or if you're really, really leaning on those property taxes,” she said.
A state agency report Woodward shared with lawmakers said, “Some proposed property tax reform measures, targeting mill levies, have the potential to erode this critical funding for districts. This is a concern for the stability of programs and the ability for Districts to carry out the Weed and Pest Control Act.”
Woodward emphasized that funding is needed to stay on top of weeds and pests in the state. She referenced a University of Wyoming study looking at economic impacts of weeds on agricultural lands. Woodward highlighted cheatgrass – an invasive, rapidly spreading weed that is prone to wildfire.
“Because of the areas that are infested right now, the state loses $32 million a year,” she said. “If cheatgrass spread to all of the areas of the state that it could inhabit, that loss is calculated to be $110 million a year.”
Woodward said weed and pest programs are helping to hold the line and keep cheatgrass from spreading.
Many times, the weeds or pests that need treatment are on private property. Landowners, especially ranchers and agriculture producers, work with their weed and pest district to help pay for a project. For example with grasshoppers, Woodward said the districts helped fund about 60% of treatment in 2024. Had the needs been the same this year, the agency would’ve been able to fund only 40% because of the federal and local funding situation.
“When those tax breaks come, districts at some point will adjust their programs down,” Woodward said. “You could expect less cost share on less big-scale projects, depending on what that funding looked like.”
This sentiment is shared across the state with other groups that rely on property tax funding, like public schools and other special districts. State lawmakers are considering further property tax changes this upcoming legislative session, like nixing property tax language from the state constitution altogether.
