CHEYENNE - Leaders of Wyoming's Joint Interim Appropriations Committee say they share Gov. Dave Freudenthal's concern that the state may not be getting its fair share of federal economic stimulus money.

The governor last week wrote Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack complaining that national forests in the state have not received any stimulus funds for fire suppression and other projects. The national head of the Forest Service said in response that he will look into the governor's complaints.

Sen. Phil Nicholas, R-Laramie, and Rep. Rosie Berger, R-Big Horn, are co-chairmen of the appropriations committee. Both said they're concerned about the stimulus funding issue.

Lynne Boomgaarden, director of the Office of State Lands and Investments, said the state had received $382 million in stimulus funds through the end of May.

Boomgaarden testified to the JAC on Thursday that while the state may apply for some funds, federal agencies themselves have much discretion about which states they choose to spend money in.

Boomgaarden said agency discretionary spending seems to be more politicized than direct federal grants to states.

"Wyoming is a small-populated state. If some of the decision-making at the federal level is to try to get this to states with higher unemployment rates, we're just not faring very well," Boomgaarden said in an interview Friday. "We have probably the least amount of information in that area, and the least amount of award notices that we would like to see."

Freudenthal, in his letter to Vilsack, said national forests in the states surrounding Wyoming have received about $170 million for fire suppression and other projects while none has been awarded to national forests in the state.

"As I have previously stated, the current bark beetle epidemic does not stop at the state line, nor do other resource concerns and needs," Freudenthal wrote.

Freudenthal asked Vilsack to give Wyoming $26.5 million to address wildfire concerns and beetle infestations. The governor said he believes that more than $500 million in Forest Service stimulus funds remain unallocated.

Boomgaarden said Wyoming seems to be coming up short from other agencies as well.

"The point that I keep making is that we're a federal lands state," Boomgaarden said. "If you look at the presence of the federal government in the state of Wyoming - especially you look at BLM, Forest Service, National Park Service - there's a huge presence here. But we're not getting proportional attention through those agencies for stimulus dollars spending here."

Nicholas said the appropriations committee members also are not satisfied the state is getting its fair share. He said the committee believes Boomgaarden has done a good job of tracking and reporting on the issue.

"I think we concur with her conclusions that Wyoming is getting short-shrifted on stimulus funding in multiple areas," Nicholas said. "I hope that our congressional and senate delegation along with the governor understand the problem and that they're allocating resources to deal with it. But it's not fair."

Berger also said that Wyoming is coming in behind surrounding states.

"At the same time, I think we need to take into consideration that we're a very rural state," Berger said. "We have a small population. We have a balanced budget. We have revenue reserves, and those are things that are taken into concern, I think, on the issue of how we're treated."

Ryan Lance, deputy chief of staff to the governor, has been tracking the federal agencies' decisions on how to allocate stimulus funding. He said the National Park Service and BLM seem to be doing a fair job of looking at the needs of each state and allocating funding.

But in addition to the Forest Service, Lance said the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation also seems to be freezing Wyoming out.

"In terms of other agencies that we're sort of concerned about, or that we're disappointed in, I would have to offer up the Bureau of Reclamation," Lance said.

Of $1 billion in water infrastructure funding the BuRec has to allocate, Lance said Wyoming has received notice that it may apply only for a share of $10 million for a salinity control project on the Colorado River system. The money is to be divided among Wyoming, Colorado and Utah.