The Green River Region of Wyoming Game and Fish has a new Wildlife Supervisor. Todd Graham has returned to southwest Wyoming to replace outgoing wildlife supervisor Steve DeCecco, who recently retired after 35 years with the Game and Fish.
The Laramie, Wyo. native says he is ready and excited to begin his new assignment.
“I have always had a passion to be a game warden in Wyoming and I have been ‘living the dream’ for 25 years,” Graham said. “Now I’m ready to do something different and challenging. With this new position, I hope to share any knowledge and skills I have gained over the past 25 years with the people I work with, especially the newer folks. I truly believe that Wyoming has the best wildlife resources in the country and the best people to manage those resources. Wyoming people really care about the conservation of our wildlife.”
This isn’t Graham’s first time working in southwest Wyoming. Graham was the Mountain View Game Warden 18 years ago, and has since spent time working around the Cowboy State.
“I spent six years as the Mountain View Game Warden,” Graham said. “I wanted to get more experience in other districts, so I transferred to Alpine, WY in the Jackson Region when that position came open. I spent the next 16 months in Alpine until that warden station was officially closed. A warden district opened up in Wheatland, so I moved to Wheatland and worked there for two years and eight months. Finally, another transfer opportunity came about in Afton in 2002, so I headed to Afton where I spent nearly 14 years as the Afton game warden. I believe that I gained a lot of experience working in different areas of the state, so when a supervisor position came open, I knew it was the right time to apply for it.”
While attending the University of Wyoming, Graham worked two summers for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department at Daniel Fish Hatchery. Graham graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Wildlife Conservation Management from the University of Wyoming in December 1989 and went to work for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources as a fish technician on Lake Powell. After four months, Graham transferred to Logan, UT to work at the Fisheries Experimental Station until April 1991 when he was hired to move back to Wyoming and work on the Game and Fish Glendo Reservoir Crew in the Laramie Region. He went on to graduate from the Wyoming Law Enforcement Academy in March 1992 and hired on as the game warden trainee in Lander. It was from here that Graham transferred to Mountain View, in southwest Wyoming, to begin work in his first game warden district.
Graham knows there will be times he will miss being a game warden in the “field”, now that he has traded that role for the role of supervisor, but he is up for the challenge. He is looking forward to helping coworkers, too.
“It is pretty cool to come back to southwest Wyoming,” Graham said. “Not only are we closer to family, my wife and I also love the variety of habitats in the region; from desert country to mountainous country, the Green River region has it all. I’m also looking forward to getting reacquainted with landowners, sportsmen and sportswomen. One of the strengths our people in the Game and Fish have is the ability to form strong, quality relationships with all of our publics. We will continue to work at forming and maintaining those relationships.”
“Todd comes to Green River with a very diverse background,” said Brian Nesvik, WGFD Chief Game Warden. “His strong performance and achievements in a wide range of past assignments make him well suited to take on the wildlife management challenges in southwest Wyoming. Todd is known for his talents in working with the public and being able to look at tough problems from a variety of perspectives.”