diff --git a/src/uwtools/config/jinja2.py b/src/uwtools/config/jinja2.py
index 72726560a..cba03bae0 100644
--- a/src/uwtools/config/jinja2.py
+++ b/src/uwtools/config/jinja2.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 from jinja2 import Environment, FileSystemLoader, StrictUndefined, Undefined, meta
 from jinja2.exceptions import UndefinedError
 
-from uwtools.config.support import UWYAMLConvert, UWYAMLRemove, format_to_config
+from uwtools.config.support import UWYAMLConvert, UWYAMLRemove, format_to_config, uw_yaml_loader
 from uwtools.exceptions import UWConfigRealizeError
 from uwtools.logging import INDENT, MSGWIDTH, log
 from uwtools.utils.file import get_file_format, readable, writable
@@ -269,7 +269,7 @@ def _deref_render(val: str, context: dict, local: Optional[dict] = None) -> str:
     context = {**(local or {}), **context}
     try:
         rendered = _register_filters(env).from_string(val).render(context)
-        if isinstance(yaml.safe_load(rendered), UWYAMLConvert):
+        if isinstance(yaml.load(rendered, Loader=uw_yaml_loader()), UWYAMLConvert):
             _deref_debug("Held", rendered)
             raise UWConfigRealizeError()
         _deref_debug("Rendered", rendered)