Wyoming Outdoor Council (WOC)

Background

The Wyoming Outdoor Council was founded in 1967 by Tom Bell. Bell’s vision was “to bring together various organizations throughout the state to speak as one voice on conservation issues.” He resigned as director in the 1970s, and later founded High Country News, a local magazine that would eventually become an environmentalist national news journal. ¹

From the 1970s to the 2000s, the Council’s efforts focused on wildlife and land conservation. The organization has lobbied for limitations on oil and gas production in Wyoming, claiming that the operations endanger mule deer, sage grouse, and other wildlife. The Council also successfully lobbied against plans for the construction of nuclear waste disposal facilities in the state. ^{2 3}

In the 2020s, the Council began to shift its focus to left-leaning climate change-related initiatives and left-of-center social causes. The organization appointed Carl Fisher as executive director in 2024 and announced that the Council would be “moving in two areas of growth: our Indigenous conservation program, and energy transition as a response to climate change.” ⁴

The Council also appointed Big Wind Carpenter as its tribal engagement coordinator. Big Wind Carpenter, who claimed to have “personally witnessed environmental racism before they even knew there was a name for it,” was involved with the Dakota Access Pipeline protests and several United Nations climate change initiatives thereafter. ⁵

Government affairs manager Era Arannow was nominated to the Wyoming Citizen Oversight Board in 2021 but was rejected due to her perceived antagonism towards the conventional energy industry. ⁶

Activities

As one of the leading voices of the Keep It Public, Wyoming coalition, the Wyoming Outdoor Council engages in litigation and advocacy to restrict the leasing of public lands for industrial uses.  The organization filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service in 1997 to attempt to block oil and gas leases, with the courts ultimately ruling against the Council. ^{7 8}

The Council also partners with other environmental organizations such as Citizens United for Responsible Energy Development to designate protected wildlife migration corridors that would be off limits to oil and gas leasing. ⁹

The organization lobbies for several climate change-related initiatives, including the expansion of “appropriately sited” weather-dependent energy. The organization lobbies for restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions and stricter methane rules. In 2022, the Council helped launch the inaugural Wyoming Climate Summit. ^{10 9}

The Council is heavily involved in state water management practices, partnering with Protect Our Water Jackson Hole to pressure the Teton County Commission to adopt the organization’s recommended wastewater management plan. The organization successfully lobbied the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality to reverse a plan to allow Aethon Energy to increase its wastewater discharge volume. ¹¹

The Council maintains a full-time presence at the Wyoming legislature to lobby for the organization’s legislative priorities and maintains reports on how state legislators vote on environmental issues. ¹²

Financials

The Wyoming Outdoor Council receives most of its revenue from gifts and contributions, receiving $2.4 million in 2022. The organization also reported $107,989 in investment revenue. The Council reported holding $6.1 million in publicly traded securities and $720,571 in cash in 2022. ¹³

The Council’s largest contributions come from the G O Forward Charitable Trust, which donated $494,042 to the Council from 2020 to 2022. ^{14 15 16} Patagonia Org contributed $120,000 to the organization from 2020 to 2022. ^{17 18 19} The George B. Storer Foundation contributed $55,000 in 2020. ²⁰ The MWC Foundation contributed $85,000 from 2020 to 2021. ^{21 22 23}

The Council reported expenses of $1.3 million in 2022, mostly on program service expenses ($901,345). The organization reported fundraising expenses of $223,744 and management/general expenses of $212,416 in the same year. The Council also reported $8,349 in direct lobbying expenses. ¹³