Brian Nesvik, a former Pinedale game warden turned Wyoming Game and Fish Department director, has been nominated by the Trump administration to lead the agency that manages the nation’s wildlife.
Nesvik’s nomination to be U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director, a post most recently occupied by Joe Biden appointee Martha Williams, appeared on Congress.gov on Tuesday. The Wyoming resident, who retired from his Game and Fish job in mid-2024, still must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Nesvik’s nomination has been referred to the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee — and his selection passing muster there is the first step in the confirmation process. Later, the entire Senate would vote on his nomination.
Nesvik was also a longtime Wyoming Army National Guard member until his guard retirement in 2021.
He rose through the ranks at the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, stepping from his warden job in Sublette County to the supervisor gig for the state agency’s Cody office. He was selected by Gov. Mark Gordon to direct Game and Fish in 2019. Angi Bruce succeeded him.
In a speech around the time of his Game and Fish retirement, Nesvik said that introducing children to hunting, fishing and the outdoors was among his top achievements, according to reporting in the Powell Tribune.
“I think that one of the most important things we do is provide opportunities for kids to have that experience that we all had at some point that got us hooked,” Nesvik said in September. “I am extremely proud because I really believe that that’s where you have an impact 30 years down the road. We’ve gotta have people that care in 30 years.”
If confirmed, Nesvik would continue with a recent tradition of Westerners and Wyoming residents in the top posts at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
His predecessor, Martha Williams, is a Montanan. The Fish and Wildlife Service’s prior deputy director, Siva Sundaresan, formerly lived in Jackson and Lander.
Nesvik was unable to be immediately reached for an interview.
This breaking news story will be updated.
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