On Monday, Wyoming Game and Fish commissioners gave unanimous permission to the department to seek a way to expand the department’s options for investing tens of millions of dollars saved in a rainy day fund.

Under current state law, the Game and Fish has very limited options to invest its revenue. The operating budget can only be kept in the state’s “pool fund,” said Meredith Wood, chief financial officer in the department’s Fiscal Division, and the department makes less than 1% on the funds.

“In [fiscal year] 2021, just for comparison purposes, the return on that fund was 0.23%,” she told the commission during a teleconference Monday afternoon.

The average for the past five years on the pool fund is about 2.1%. It’s essentially used by all state agencies as a checking account and is extremely liquid, she said. 

The commission is also able to invest the $33.2 million in the Wildlife Trust Fund in an investment vehicle known as “Pool A.” The current five-year average return on that investment is just under 5%. However, only the revenue generated by the Wildlife Trust Fund can be spent by the commission and the fund fluctuates in the percentage of return.

“It is a higher risk investment,” Wood said, pointing out that the Pool A return on investment in 2021 was 12.44%, or more than 12% higher than the state pool.

But the department now has an even larger sack of cash — the $44.2 million rainy day fund, which is equivalent to seven months of operating expenses for the entire department. The fund was started by the commission in 2017 when the state stopped supporting the Game and Fish through the general fund. At that point they thought it would be prudent to save some of their cash reserves.

About 85% of the department budget now comes from the sale of licenses and fees to outdoor sports persons and federal taxes brought in on the sale of fishing and hunting equipment.

Until recently, the state continued to compensate the department for free and reduced price licenses, but the department returned $800,000 to assist the state with shortfalls in the 2021 budget process. The amount represented less than 1% of the department’s nearly $90 million in annual revenues, said Game and Fish Deputy Director John Kennedy.

Revenue from the rainy day fund could be significant if the Legislature would allow the Game and Fish to have more flexibility over how revenue is invested, said Brian Nesvik, the department’s director. However, he said the vote Monday — allowing the department to pursue a change to the law — would not change any immediate investment strategies.

“Our recommendation to the Legislature would not be a statute that makes any immediate change to those investments, but rather, would give the commission the ability to have that discussion and decide on their own, where you wanted to invest your funds,” Nesvik said.

Unlike the Wildlife Trust Fund, both investment revenue and principal of the rainy day fund could be used to supplement annual budgets or special projects, Nesvik said.

District #2 commissioner Ralph Brokaw moved to vote on the issue and District #6 commissioner Richard Ladwig seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous.

The commission will meet again this month, Jan. 26-27, in Cheyenne. The following meeting will be the annual spring meeting in Cody, set for March 24-25. A meeting planned in Cody last year was canceled due to weather. The scheduled meeting in March is the only commission meeting in the area in 2022.

In other Game and Fish news, the department opened applications for six different big game species and wild turkey Monday. Resident and nonresident hunters can now submit applications for elk, deer, antelope, moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goat and spring wild turkey. The first deadline is Jan. 31 for nonresident elk and resident and nonresident spring wild turkey. 

Tentative season information is also available from the department for moose, bighorn sheep and mountain goats. Elk, deer and antelope hunters can use prior season information for the best estimate, the department suggested in a recent press release. Final season information will be published May 1, with time for hunters to make modifications or withdraw applications.