Listen below to an interview with the candidate and SweetwaterNOW

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Tell us a little about yourself.

As a Wyoming native with backgrounds in education, sales, agriculture and public service and a graduate of Green River High School, I have deep roots in the state. As a young adult I received degrees from the University of Wyoming in Business Education and Colorado State University (CSU) with degrees in Marketing Education along with a Ph.D. in Vocational Education Administration. The four years at CSU were with a national leadership fellowship. Also during this time I became an instrument rated private pilot and later owned my own Cessna 182 airplane.

For the past 20 years I have served in an elected position on the Conservation District–17 of those years as chairman. I am familiar with county government and its operations and have been a businessperson all my adult life . Currently I am helping to manage a family ranch and farm.

I have led many public processes, the major one being the development of a “Land and Resource Use Plan” for the District. For the past 20 years I have spent countless hours in federal government “cooperator” planning meetings advocating for multiple use, responsible development, access, recreation, habitat improvements and sustainable agriculture.

With the support of the County Commission and through a public process, I led an effort to develop a major data base detailing all of the roads in the county and the different layers of minerals, wildlife habitats, land ownerships, etc. This guides both the Commission and the Conservation District when providing local input on the federal plans and projects. ACCESS and our roads will be protected when the BLM develops their Travel Plan.

Due to our involvement in decisions being made on public lands (Sweetwater County is 7 million acres and 70% public land), I helped co-found a Coalition of Local Governments (CLG) involving 5 conservation districts and 4 county commissions in SW Wyoming. We meet at least once a month to discuss all proposed federal plans and projects. We provide input to our legal and technical team who then prepare legally defensible and scientifically credible comments for the administrative record. Currently we are focusing on ensuring that FACTS are considered by the Public Service Commission while the future of our coal mines with the nation’s most reliable power source is threatened by outside interests.

As a member and twice elected chairman of the Executive Committee of the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative representing conservation districts in SW Wyoming, I have worked to enhance habitats on our high-energy industry lands–both private and public. All natural resource leaders in the State sit on this board and oversee projects in a 19 million acre area.

For 7 years I served on State Treasurer Cynthia Lummis’ Investment Advisory Council–meeting annually with national and international investment bankers and providing input on the State’s investment portfolio. It was during this time that the State’s investment portfolio was diversified and major increases in returns were realized.

What do you see as the most important issues in your candidacy and how will you address them?

Sweetwater County is facing unprecedented economic uncertainty and it is not all related to Covid-19–although those impacts are monumental. Everything we love about Sweetwater County is tied to our natural resources–jobs, tax base and infrastructure, and recreation. We need leaders with experience and maturity to face the issues and make touch decisions to preserve our quality of life in this County. I understand those issues and am prepared to deal with them.

The County’s prior budget of $41 million is going to see drastic reductions in the coming years due to the pandemic and declining mineral income. My experiences with budgeting and working with groups will be invaluable as will my education in marketing and business. Tough decisions will have to be made and I feel I have the experience to work together with our other commissioners to meet those challenges.

How can voters contact you?

• Facebook: MaryThoman2020 or email: maryethoman@gmail.com