Honoring Malcolm Wallop

Malcolm Wallop was a third-generation rancher in the Big Horn area. His ranching roots stem from the pioneer era. 

Wallop attended public and private schools and would graduate from Yale University in 1954.

Wallop would also serve in the U.S Army from 1955 – 1957. He was a businessman and a rancher who served in the Wyoming House of Representatives 1969-1972, and then the Wyoming Senate from 1973 – 1976. 

It was in 1976 that Wallop was elected as the Republican Senator from Wyoming to the United States Senate. He would serve the state of Wyoming as Senator until 1995, deciding not to run in the 1994 election. 

According to a story published by the Associated Press at the time of his death in Sept. 2011, with Wallop as the senior, the trio of Wallop, Alan Simpson and Dick Cheney were considered a powerful Wyoming delegation during the Reagan years in Washington D.C.

Wallop helped to create the Wallop-Breaux Trust Fund. The fund raises money through fees and taxes on fishing gear and fuels to fund fisheries and sport fishing programs.

Wallop’s amendment to the 1977 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act laid the path for Whitney Benefits Foundation to sue the federal government for compensation. The Whitney Benefits Foundation then used a considerable amount of that compensation to fund beautification and development projects in Sheridan, as well as fund grants for educational opportunities for Wyoming youth. 

It’s due to his record of hard work and dedication to preserving the state he loved that led to Kendall Hartman and Kim Love to petition the City of Sheridan to rename North Park to Malcolm Wallop Park.

According to Love, the Sheridan City Council embraced the idea and a dedication ceremony for Malcolm Wallop Park will be held at 10 a.m., Friday, Aug. 7, at the north park site in north Sheridan.

During an appearance on Sheridan Media’s Public Pulse, Love informed listeners that without Wallop and the wording he was able to place in the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, Sheridan would look much different. 

The event will feature Department of the Interior Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Rob Wallace. 

Wallace worked with Senator Wallop for many years, eventually serving as his chief of staff.

Also scheduled to appear are former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson and Sheridan Mayor Roger Miller.