The New Deal split Wyoming's federal policy in two. In the west, the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 brought public range under federal regulation, creating grazing districts and permits that permanently reshaped grazing rights. In the east, federal programs deemed homesteaded Great Plains land unfit for farming and worked to resettle its residents.

When the stock market crashed in 1929, Wyoming’s farms and ranches were already struggling. Collapsing markets, failing banks, and drought pushed the state’s agriculture to the breaking point. Roosevelt’s New Deal offered relief, but also brought federal power into Wyoming’s rangeland, permanently reshaping ranchers’ relationship to the land.