As the Swift era approaches, the University of Wyoming in Laramie has been preparing its two observatories for a robust GRB afterglow follow‐up program. The 2.3‐m Wyoming Infrared Observatory (WIRO) — first of its kind in collecting power and mid‐infrared optimization — is located on Jelm Mt. (2944‐m elevation) in a semi‐arid atmosphere, 40 km southwest of Laramie. On dry, cold winter nights, our estimates show that WIRO’s sensitivity in the K‐band is comparable to that of a 4‐m telescope at Mauna Kea observatory in Hawaii. Three instruments are currently in use at the observatory: WIRO‐Prime, WIRO‐Spec, and the Goddard IR camera. WIRO‐Prime is a 20482prime‐focus camera with a 20 arcmin diameter FOV (f/2.1). Its sensitivity for a 300‐s exposure will reach as faint as 24th(23rd) magnitude in V (R). WIRO‐Spec is an integral field, holographic spectrometer which utilizes Volume‐Phase‐Holographic gratings with a 20482detector. A bundle of 293 fiber optical cables (1 fiber ∼ 1 arcsec) connects the Cassegrain platform to the stationary spectrometer, optimizing the image by reduction from f/27 to f/9. At 20thmagnitude, a 700‐s exposure yields a S/N ratio of ∼ 10 at a resolution of ∼ 1 Angstrom, sufficient for resolving the MgII doublet [279.8 nm] in GRB host galaxies to determine a 0.4 <z< 2.5 for an operational wavelength range of ∼ 400–1000 nm (WIRO‐Prime and WIRO‐Spec). The Goddard IR Camera is a 2562InSb camera (FOV ∼ 108 arcsec) mounted at Cassegrain and operated at 15K. Available filters for GRB observations include R, I, J, H, and K’. WIRO slew timescale (∼ 120 s) is comparable to that of Swift. Red Buttes Observatory (RBO) is located 19 km south of Laramie in a dark site and houses a 0.6‐m f/8 Cassegrain DFM reflector. RBO’s Apogee AP8p 10242camera (18 arcmin FOV, sufficiently large for BAT localizations) is available for use with filters U, B, V, R and I. We are in the final stages of implementing fully automated response to Swift BAT alerts at RBO, and expect an average acquisition timescale to random sky positions of ∼ 25 s. Thus, rapid GRB detections by RBO can be forwarded to WIRO even while Swift’s pointed instruments are performing first integrations. © 2004 American Institute of Physics