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JACKSON—Naysayers were nowhere to be found Thursday in the Teton County commissioners’ chambers, where residents showered praise on a plan to lease a 640-acre swath of state land on Munger Mountain to keep it open to the public and undeveloped. The occasion was a hearing of the Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments, which is formally analyzing a 35-year “recreational lease” proposal that Teton County sent the state agency this spring. Accolades followed accolades as one Jackson Hole re...
KEMMERER — Monday, June 10, may have started like a normal day for Kemmerer, but as black vans rolled in single file to pick up more than 200 people to shuttle them to the official TerraPower groundbreaking ceremony, it was apparent this was no ordinary day. Heavy excavating equipment set against the big open sky with the Naughton coal plant — which is scheduled for retirement — across the way, served as an appropriate backdrop for the event. Attached to a dozer and an excavator were the American and Wyoming flags, which blew gently in the b...
GILLETTE (WNE) — A new program to help Gillette residents with their mental health has gotten off to a fast start. Earlier this spring, the Northeast Wyoming Community Health Foundation launched Hope Source to help people pay for therapy and counseling costs. Nachelle McGrath, executive director of the foundation, said she’s received 20 applications, and 10 of them have been approved. The other applications were sent back because they needed more information, and they will be re-submitted. “I didn’t realize we’d have so many so quickly,...
JACKSON (WNE) — A 0.1-acre wildland fire that broke out in Yellowstone National Park, dubbed the "Milepost 17 Fire" and the first of the season, was on track to be contained on Tuesday, the park announced in a Monday press release. The lightning-ignited fire was detected by a motorist driving on Highway 191, on the west side of the park, after lightning torched a single tree almost a mile west of Highway 191 and 17 miles north of West Yellowstone, Montana. Yellowstone wildland firefighters were suppressing the fire and expected it to be c...
SHERIDAN — As many builders across Wyoming chip away at a demand for homes that still outpaces supply, any new housing will help alleviate Wyoming’s so-called housing crisis. A greater number of all types of housing — from low income to mid-level to higher end, custom housing — would help, experts say. Available housing at all levels allows people mobility, meaning that someone who moves into a large, custom home at a higher price could free up a mid-level home for another family. However, if a community doesn’t have homes at a higher pr...
SHERIDAN — Fish that are illegally introduced to non-native bodies of water can cause lasting impacts to the water’s ecosystem and a community’s economy, according to Wyoming Game and Fish officials. An illegal introduction occurs when someone moves a fish from one body of water to another, Wyoming Game and Fish Department Chief of Fisheries Alan Osterland told the Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee earlier this week. Osterland said fishermen may have grown up catching a specific fish an...
CASPER - Ski weekends in the Snowy Range. Deer hunts in the Red Desert. Road trips through America's first national park. Travel and tourism is growing across Wyoming, and it's bringing a pretty penny to the state. Travelers spent $4.5 billion in Wyoming in 2023, according to a University of Wyoming report, vaulting the travel industry to the number two sector in the Cowboy State. But there's a problem: The industry's demand for skilled workers may not be met. "This sector is really forecasted to grow substantially. And the concern that this...
CASPER — How much does a single parent with one preschooler and one school-age child need to make in Wyoming to live comfortably, provide for basic needs and survive without public or private assistance? The answers are nuanced and vary by county. But the Wyoming 2024 Self-Sufficiency Standard, released by the Wyoming Women’s Foundation in partnership with the Wyoming Community Foundation and the Wyoming Council for Women, tries to provide those answers. The self-sufficiency standard was created at the University of Washington and is an upd...
Wyoming’s state tourism agency has suspended social media posts and paid ads relating to wildlife amid the worldwide furor over the wolf abuse and killing in Daniel. The Wyoming Office of Tourism, also known as Travel Wyoming, alerted unknown recipients to the social media suspension in a letter obtained by WyoFile. “I know you are all well aware of the public criticism over the wolf abuse by a resident,” read the email, which came from the office’s Senior Communication Manager Piper Singer...
BUFFALO — Johnson County gained both farms and farmland between 2017 and 2022, according to the Department of Agriculture’s Census of Agriculture released in February. That bucks the trend both in Wyoming and nationwide. While agriculture remains one of the county’s biggest industries, the outcomes for Johnson County point to a trend toward greater subdivision of large ranch land into parcels with smaller acreage. That trend revealed itself in the ag census and was not much of a surprise for locals who work in the land use sector. A lot of la...
PINEDALE — Although the news of Cody Roberts capturing and torturing a live wolf by running it down on his snowmobile and binding its mouth shut before killing it in Daniel has captivated the world, it started as a simple citation listed in the March 7 Sublette County Circuit Court Roundup. Game and Fish quietly investigated the incident on March 1 but did not publicize what happened. Five days after he was cited, Roberts paid a $250 fine for violating statute 23-3-402(839), “regarding live wildlife or exotic animals, CH 10.” For comparison, a...
CHEYENNE — Gov. Mark Gordon has decided the new voter registration rules proposed by Secretary of State Chuck Gray exceed his statutory authority. Gordon sided with the Wyoming Legislature’s Management Council — made up of legislative leadership from both chambers — in its disapproval of the new rules, which would have required people to provide proof of residency, not just identity, when registering to vote. Gray has said on multiple occasions, including an op-ed submitted to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle this week that Wyoming elections needed...
CASPER — After years of analysis, political wrangling and a contentious public comment period, the federal Bureau of Land Management officialized a sweeping overhaul of its oil and gas leasing program on Friday. The changes, which will affect how extractive industries operate on federal land, mark the first major update to the federal onshore oil and gas leasing rules since 1988, the first adjustment to bond rates since 1960 and the first increase in royalty rates in more than 100 years. The biggest — and most contested — change is the incre...
CODY - Rodeo champion and rancher Ralf Klopfer considers himself lucky to have been born in West Germany in 1964. Had he been born on the other side of the Berlin Wall, his life would be unrecognizable from what it is today. Exposure to Western culture as a youngster put Klopfer on a lifelong path that led to success in riding and competing on two continents. As a kid, Klopfer watched "Bonanza" and became fascinated with horses and the American West. He loved Johnny Cash and saw him in Germany...
ROCK SPRINGS - Public acceptance of tattooing has increased in the last two decades. Even teachers, lawyers, doctors and politicians have tattoos. In 1976, the first tattoo convention was held in Houston, Texas. The event provided an opportunity for artists to see work from other artists all around the world or to have the chance to display their own work and be seen by their peers. The inaugural tattoo expo in the Lone Star State was a place for artists and outcasts alike to meet and to be resp...
RIVERTON - Compared to most of the United States, a relatively high percentage of Fremont County's residents are veterans. Many people who live here have spent time serving in the military – and many others want to support and give back to local veterans. A few times a year, people gather for a special veteran-focused event: Hunting with Heroes, which takes disabled veterans hunting, free of charge. "Wyoming is the only state in the union that allows this type of hunt," explained Riverton-based...
Just four years after the COVID-19 pandemic upended operations at the National Outdoor Leadership School, the nonprofit wilderness school and staple of Wyoming’s outdoor landscape has announced plans to shed jobs and close satellite facilities. NOLS, a global operation and major Fremont County employer with headquarters in Lander, will eliminate 60 jobs as well as suspend operations at three of its campuses come fall. The bulk of the layoffs, 42, will directly impact staff; the remaining 18 p...
Wyoming faces an array of future affordable housing challenges, but one big hurdle is an aging population. “The state is projected to experience moderate population growth in the coming years,” a new Wyoming Community Development Authority housing needs assessment found. “However, the aging of the population has deep implications for future housing needs, as older adults living longer independently accelerate housing demand.” To illustrate that trend, the report estimates that people 65 and old...
