Chad Baldwin, AVP of Marketing and Communications at the University of Wyoming, called into the Weekday Wake-up for his monthly report on Wednesday, September 17. Baldwin touched on a wildfire prevention study, cheatgrass study, carbon storage hub and more.

(0:00) Joining me live over the phone from Laramie on the campus of the University of Wyoming, (0:05) Chad Baldwin with the Marketing and Communications Department. Chad, (0:08) good morning. How are you today in Laramie this morning? (0:12) Good morning, Duke.
We’re doing great. (0:14) Appreciate the time as always and the monthly update on what’s happening with (0:17) the University of Wyoming, not just there in Laramie, but its impacts across the entire state. (0:22) And, you know, with the recent news in Lincoln County with the Willow Creek fire, (0:26) I thought this was a quite interesting study on the wildfire prevention and the public support for (0:33) more prevention of wildfires across the state.
Tell us about the study and what the results are. (0:39) You bet, Duke. So we have researchers here in our Department of Economics and a few other (0:44) units who have been doing a lot of surveying and some very extensive surveys really across the (0:49) country, but also in our region.
And what they’re finding is that, you know, that people, people (0:55) recognize and support the idea that we need to do more wildfire prevention. Things like timber (1:01) thinning, that sort of thing. You know, we spend a lot of effort, appropriately so, in fighting (1:07) fires once they’ve started.
But the public also favors more prevention. And so that’s what their (1:17) findings are. You know, we’ll see if this can maybe influence actual policy making.
But, (1:25) you know, when you look at actually the Forest Service spent $2.7 billion in 2023 fighting fires, (1:33) they only spent about a tenth of that, less than a tenth of that, in preventing them. (1:37) And so that’s the sort of policy change that seems to be supported by the public, (1:44) according to the research done here at UW. You know, I can promise you there’s a lot of people (1:48) out here listening right now that says, yeah, we should do more thinning.
And it just seems like (1:53) natural for a lot of people to consider that. And so that was my question when you talk about (1:58) maybe it will impact policy. What typically happens post-study with something like this? (2:05) Does it get sent to the appropriate authorities? I mean, what does happen after the study’s (2:10) complete? So, you know, it gets, first of all, of course, it’s scientifically published, (2:15) so it’s got to be validated through the scientific process.
It gets published in a (2:19) journal. And then, yeah, I think they’re, you know, the congressional staff members and those (2:26) sorts of folks are getting this sort of information. They seek it out or it’s sent to them (2:31) as a way to kind of buttress what our congressional representatives are doing.
(2:38) Now, I can’t speak to exactly what will happen with this one, (2:42) but I do expect it’s going to get some attention. I think it has already actually gotten some (2:47) attention to some of the headlines that have been generated. And I could see this being, you know, (2:53) cited on a congressional speech on the House floor, for example, something like that at some (2:58) point, or in a congressional committee, maybe.
Chad Baldwin with the University of Wyoming (3:03) with us this morning on the Weekday Wakeup. Chad, another item of study that really has big (3:09) impacts to us on the western side of the state is cheatgrass and these invasive grasses of the (3:14) mule deer herds. It’s something I talk about quite often with Director Angie Bruce from the Wyoming (3:18) Game and Fish and University doing a study involving these invasive grasses and their (3:23) impact to the local herds.
Yeah, you know, you guys in western Wyoming are really pretty (3:30) fortunate that you don’t have the cheatgrass problem that, say, northeast Wyoming does. (3:36) And this particular research is focused on northeast Wyoming because of the major cheatgrass (3:42) problem there. Now, as cheatgrass spreads, certainly the findings could apply statewide (3:48) and beyond the state.
What they found is that if we don’t do something to fight back on cheatgrass, (3:54) mule deer habitat in northeast Wyoming is going to be, (3:59) they’re going to lose more than half of the habitat, of their high-quality habitat. (4:03) And so, you know, mule deer are like an iconic species of our state. We know they’ve been (4:07) struggling and this really just adds more, you know, impetus for us to fight back against and (4:16) do what we can to prevent the spread of cheatgrass in our state.
The University of Wyoming’s in (4:23) multiple locations and, of course, with multiple industry and a lot of focus on the energy (4:29) industry, of course, with being in the state of Wyoming. And UW was part of the Sweetwater (4:35) Carbon Storage Hub, which has been completed, the nation’s deepest carbon storage well. Is that (4:40) what I understand? Yeah, over 18,000 feet, Duke, down there in Sweetwater County.
Proving out, (4:49) you know, this is a federally funded thing. So, this is part of the federal government’s, (4:54) the Department of Energy’s priority is to establish the idea that we could store carbon (4:59) underground. And so, and that’s what is being proved out there.
Actually, Duke, we have another (5:06) news release going out today. There’s another well that’s been drilled even deeper, over 19,000 (5:11) feet deep. This one’s a little bit closer to Wampasota or Sutter, so a little bit farther (5:16) east of this one that you’re talking about.
But we’re validating the potential to be able to have (5:23) these carbon storage facilities. And this would help our state’s industry. This helps the coal (5:34) industry, it helps other industry, and having that as an option to be able to keep carbon out (5:41) of the atmosphere.
Chad Baldwin joining us on the Weekday Wakeup this morning with the (5:45) University of Wyoming. Well, Chad, just a couple quick comments here on a few other things. (5:51) Laramie, are UW in your community? You’re going to be close to us later on this month.
Sounds (5:56) like you’ll be in, or at least, not, I don’t know, you specifically, but UW will be in Pinedale (6:01) later this month, right? Yep, yep, we’ll be there and I’ll be there. In fact, Floyd, (6:06) in fact, Duke, yes, we’re going to do a UW in your community gathering at the Sublette County (6:13) Library on September 30th from 5 to 7 p.m. I think of particular interest to folks in Star Valley (6:20) and your coverage area beyond, of course, is we’re going to have an update on the Wyoming range (6:26) mule deer herd. You know, that herd was really devastated by the winter of 2022-23.
Professor (6:35) Kevin Monteith here at UW is the expert on the health of that herd, and a member of his team (6:41) will be there to present about how they’re doing. I mean, we’ve heard that they’re bouncing back (6:47) pretty well, but there’ll be a lot more detail provided there at that event. And other things, (6:53) we’ll have some other things happening there as well.
Okay, so that’s September. And so everybody (6:57) in western Wyoming is invited. That’s September 30th in Pinedale at the Sublette County Library (7:03) is when that is happening.
Chad, also a quick note on here, I thought this was intriguing. (7:08) Laramie ranked the number six on top college towns specifically for fly fishing. (7:15) Yeah, yeah, that’s right.
We get ranked, you know, these college rankings for different things, (7:21) and yeah, we’re up in the number six as a top college town for fly fishing. Now, I will (7:28) acknowledge, Duke, that we don’t have the great stream action that you have there in western (7:36) Wyoming, but we’ve got the Laramie Plains Lakes, we’ve got the Alpine Lakes and the Snowy Range. (7:41) We do have the, you know, the big Laramie, Little Laramie, some of the other stream action too, (7:47) but yes, it’s a great place to, if you’re an angler, Wyoming is the place to be, (7:53) and Wyoming’s university is recognized nationally for that.
Well, Chad, as always, appreciate your (7:59) time. I think we can’t end without mentioning Josh Allen announcing his first return back to (8:05) Laramie since he graduated, and he’s going back for, well, the retirement of his number. That’s (8:10) November 22nd, correct? November 22nd, yeah, the Nevada game.
Duke, it’s sold out. It’s already (8:19) sold out because people are excited to be able to see our most famous alum come back to the place (8:27) where he, you know, got his chance to ply his trade there. So, yeah, everybody’s very excited.
(8:33) You know, he’s the hottest brand in the NFL now, I think. Duke, we can probably all agree, (8:40) and the fact that he’s, you know, finding time during the season to come back to his alma mater (8:46) and be honored, it’s a great thing, and we’re all very excited. Absolutely a big deal.
Well, (8:52) Chad, as always, appreciate your time, and we’ll touch base again next month. (8:56) Thanks a lot, Duke. (8:57) It’s the Weekday Wakeup this morning on the SBI Radio Network.