The City of Powell isn’t the only local governmental entity vying for dollars from Wyoming Outdoor Recreation & Tourism Trust Fund: At their Tuesday night meeting, the Cody City Council unanimously voted to pursue a $500,000 grant for an improved boat ramp, parking lot, restrooms and other amenities below the Belfry Bridge along the Shoshone River. The project is currently in the preliminary design phase, funded by a $115,000 grant from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

While the city is currently taking public feedback, it says it expects the improvements will include a new boat ramp, new restrooms, parking lot improvements to accommodate passenger vehicles, buses and boat trailers, ADA access to existing picnic shelters, river eddies for fishing and boat launching, additional signage, lighting and access road repairs.

Cody staff are estimating that construction could cost around $715,000 and are hoping a half-million dollars from the state can be combined with a $215,000 (30%) contribution from the city’s coffers.

City Public Works Director Phillip Bowman said Tuesday that he hopes to pursue additional grants for the project, including by seeking funds from the Park County Travel Council; the city applied for travel council funds last year but was not selected, Bowman said.

Because the city is seeking more than $200,000 from the Wyoming Outdoor Recreation & Tourism Trust Fund, the grant would have to be approved by the Wyoming Legislature — meaning Cody officials won’t have an answer until the spring of 2027 at the earliest. However, staff said that timeline works well, because the hope is for construction to potentially begin in the fall of 2027 or spring of 2028.

The City of Cody is currently asking members of the public to provide input on their priorities for improvements at the Belfry Boat Launch. More than 100 people had offered feedback as of Tuesday, 

“We’ve had a pretty quick and solid response,” Bowman said.

To access the survey, visit tinyurl.com/5n6r3ye7.