Members

Story Behind the Photo: ROSE FRY

Posted on by Max Owens

WOC’s 2025 Calendar Contest is live! Join Rose and other photographers by submitting your photos of Wyoming’s lands, wildlife, and people. You can enter your photos via Instagram or email. To submit your photo(s) via Instagram, you must have a public Instagram account so that we’re able to view your submission. Upload your photo(s) and add the hashtag #OurWyoming.

To submit your photo(s) via email, send your photo(s) to max@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org. For more information about the contest, visit our calendar contest page.

A fearless leap. Arms stretched wide and feet tucked beneath, in defiance of gravity. One soaring, weightless moment — before meeting the sparkling waters below.

Rose Fry’s photo of a young swimmer jumping off a dock at Alcova Reservoir perfectly captures the exuberance and simple joy of summer. If you’re keeping up with your Wyoming Outdoor Council calendar, you’ve seen this photo gracing the month of August. This is the month of unrelenting heat, the dog days of summer, when nothing is more enticing than a dip in cool water. This is the season when Wyoming families like Rose’s are drawn to water — whether at Alcova, chilly alpine lakes, or the many streams and rivers that wend their way across the state.

A boy jumps off a dock into the blue waters of a lake with vegetated hills in the background
Image: Rose Fry

The young swimmer in Rose’s photo is her grandson, Maddocks. While the image captures a single, delighted moment (you can almost feel Maddocks’s shock upon plunging into the water), for Rose, it evokes a deep, generational history: Her memories, and photographs, chronicle a lifetime spent enjoying Wyoming’s outdoors with her family.

Born in Gillette but raised in Caser, Rose’s adventures outside began with frequent trips to the high country. “Growing up, our family had a small little cabin up in the Bighorns, kind of out in the boonies,” she says. “We went up there all the time, and we would fish and run around, and we sure enjoyed it.”

Rose has been visiting Alcova Reservoir on warm summer days since she was a child. Later, when she and her husband had started their own family, she passed along her love of the outdoors to her three daughters. And now, she enjoys sharing days at Alcova with her grandchildren, who often come up to visit from Colorado.

It feels special, Rose says, to leave cell service and other distractions behind, and just enjoy the fun of being outside together, with people you love. The day she snapped the photo that ended up in the calendar, the whole family had taken leap after leap off the dock — sometimes holding hands, sometimes aiming to land on an inflatable unicorn, which the kids had playfully nicknamed Susie. “It was just the most fun,” Rose says. “We were just having a ball together.”

Capturing Wyoming’s magic through the viewfinder

For Rose, a longtime hobbyist photographer, capturing images is all about seeking out special moments — and being prepared when they arrive. “The number one rule in photography is to be there. If you’re not there, you’re not going to get the photo,” she says.

Rose’s photography runs the gamut, from images of family, landscapes, and wildlife, to the occasional photoshoot for graduating seniors. After 27 years working for the Wyoming Department of Family Services and Child Protection, Rose recently retired — which means more time to adventure and focus on her photography. Most recently, she supported a bike ride across the Sierra Madres and Snowy Range as part of the annual Tour de Wyoming. (Her sister is the tour’s director, and Rose always enjoys the chance to help her out — and snap plenty of photos!)

While the Sierra Madres and Snowies provide close-to-home photo magic, Rose travels to Yellowstone several times a year to explore the park with a group of photographer friends. It was there, on a snowcoach photography trip, that she experienced one of her favorite moments behind the camera. The group of photographers came upon the Wapiti Lake wolf pack, a group of 18 wolves. For hours, through their telephoto lenses, the photographers watched the wolves play. “After that, I was on a high for a week,” Rose laughs. “It was just amazing.”

But, she added, there’s so much more to nature photography than the large and charismatic mammals that people tend to focus on. From small critters, to birds, to the many overlooked subjects in between, the opportunities to capture beautiful images are boundless, once you start looking for them.

“I have so much fun taking my photos,” Rose says, “but even better is being able to share them with others.”

This year’s contest: Celebrating Wyoming “roots”

If you’d like to share your own Wyoming photos, now’s your chance! Join Rose and other photographers by submitting your shots to the Wyoming Outdoor Council’s calendar contest. In this year’s contest, we’re looking for photos that explore what it means to be “rooted” in Wyoming.

Perhaps, like Rose, your Wyoming “roots” are the multiple generations of family members that have found significance in Wyoming’s outdoors. Or maybe your roots involve a connection to Wyoming’s abundant wildlife, or to a landscape you hold dear. Whatever being rooted in this wonderfully diverse state means to you, we’re looking forward to your help in telling the story of “Our Wyoming,” our ongoing calendar contest theme.

Selected photographers will have their work printed in the 2025 calendar, receive a cash prize, and have their winning photos displayed in an exhibit — exhibit details coming soon.

Photos may be submitted via Instagram or email. To submit via Instagram, simply add the hashtag #OurWyoming. You must have a public account, so that we’re able to view your submission. To submit via email, send your photos to max@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org.

Learn more and view all terms and conditions here. Happy photographing!

THE 2025 CALENDAR CONTEST IS OPEN!

Posted on by Max Owens

Now open: Submit your photos to our 2025 Calendar Contest!

Each year, the Wyoming Outdoor Council hosts a photography contest to celebrate our enduring theme, “Our Wyoming.” Winning photos will be printed in our 2025 calendar, and photographers who have their work selected will win a cash prize — and have the chance to display their photos in an exhibit.

In the sparse forest beneath Wyoming’s windswept slopes, the whitebark pine ekes out a difficult, and amazing, existence. Gale-force winter winds blast the tree with snow and ice; summer heat steals away its moisture. Growing seasons are short, and especially near treeline, it grows no higher than a gnarled and stunted shrub.

Despite these challenges, the whitebark pine plays a critical role in mountain ecosystems. Its large, protein-rich seeds are a valuable food source for a range of animals, from grizzly bears to squirrels to Clark’s nutcrackers — and also are a traditional food source for Indigenous people.

But perhaps the tree’s most important attributes are its roots: fast-growing, sturdy, and clinging tightly to existence, these roots stabilize thin and rocky high-elevation soils, allowing entire communities of plants and animals to persist in a harsh environment. In a way, the whitebark pine’s roots are the foundation upon which many a beloved Wyoming landscape is built.

Encapsulating the importance of close relationships with the landscape and other living beings, the roots of the whitebark pine are a symbol of “Our Wyoming,” the calendar contest’s enduring theme.

At the Wyoming Outdoor Council, we’ve lately been considering what it means to be rooted — rooted in place, rooted in our mission, and, above all, rooted in community. Just a few short months ago, we moved our Lander headquarters from a dark and cramped office to a beautiful, energy efficient, and welcoming building. Rather than a place for our advocates to conduct their work in isolation, the vision for our new campus is a collaborative space where community members and local organizations feel welcome to gather. In this way, this transition was about more than simply moving from one spot to another. It was about digging in, and deepening our roots in our Wyoming community.

In this year’s contest, we invite you to help us strengthen the story of Our Wyoming by sharing photos that explore what it means to be “rooted.” What is the root of our care for Wyoming? How do strong roots sustain us, and allow us to grow? How might we send our roots deeper, building vital connections with Wyoming’s lands, wildlife, waters, and the people who depend on them?

Whether your roots involve a landscape you hold dear, a connection to Wyoming’s free-roaming wildlife, the ancestors who have called this land home for millennia, the children who will carry our conservation legacy forward, or the communities we depend on to survive and thrive, we are excited to see your wonderful photo submissions! (While we love images of beautiful landscapes and wildlife, we’re also always seeking photos that show people enjoying all that Wyoming has to offer.)

This year’s contest is open from July 1, to September 3, 2024. You can submit your photos either via email (max@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org) or Instagram, by using the hashtag #OurWyoming.

Photographers who have their work selected will win a modest cash prize. Additionally, we’re thrilled to bring back a special event that we kicked off with last year’s contest: an exhibit to display winning photos and honorable mentions! Stay tuned for an announcement about an exciting new exhibit host.

For more details, see the terms and conditions below. Good luck — we can’t wait to celebrate all the ways you’re rooted in Wyoming.

TERMS & CONDITIONS

Entries must be submitted between July 1, 2024, and before midnight on September 3, 2024, either via email (addressed to max@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org with “2025 Calendar Contest” in the subject line) or Instagram, using the hashtag #OurWyoming. By entering, all contestants agree to release their photo to the Wyoming Outdoor Council for publication in our calendar and supporting social media. The Outdoor Council, along with a guest judge, will select the winning photos, which will be published in the 2025 calendar. Selected artists whose photos are included in the calendar, and honorable mentions, will receive a modest cash award. All photographers chosen to be in the calendar and honorable mentions will also have their work displayed in an exhibit at the White Mountain Library in Rock Springs. WOC will be responsible for the printing and display of work at no cost to artists. All submitted photos are subject to use both in the calendar and the exhibit; however, if you would not like to participate in the exhibit, please email max@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org.

Your entry to the contest constitutes your agreement to allow your entered photographs, as well as your name and the place the photograph was taken, to be published in the Wyoming Outdoor Council’s 2025 calendar and on the Outdoor Council’s website, in emails, and social media channels to promote the annual photo contest. It also constitutes your agreement to allow your winning photograph to be displayed in the post-contest exhibit unless otherwise communicated. Reproduction of entries will include the necessary photographer credit. Contest entrants retain ownership and all other rights to future use of the photographs they enter. Use of the entered photos in any other fashion or in any other publications will only occur with permission from the entrant.

Please welcome our new executive director, Carl Fisher!

Posted on by Paul Howard

November 29, 2023

Dear friends,

As late November storms blanket much of Wyoming in snow and we transition to winter, the Outdoor Council is in the midst of its own changes. Our search for the right leader to carry our conservation work into the future has concluded — and we’d love for you to join us in welcoming Carl Fisher as our new executive director!

Carl will bring a wealth of conservation expertise honed over many years and marked by a history of collaboration, advocacy, and innovation. In his most recent role as the long-time executive director of Save Our Canyons, a Utah-based organization, Carl forged alliances with communities and organizations to preserve the natural beauty and wildness in and around the Wasatch Mountains. He has also provided leadership on an array of advisory boards and commissions, including the Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and Central Wasatch Commission Stakeholders Advisory Council.

It’s no secret that our work isn’t possible without a deep commitment to the mission — and Carl’s passion for protecting public lands and wildlife while empowering people to stand up for the places they love resonates deeply with the values we hold close to our hearts at the Outdoor Council.

Carl is looking forward to deepening the ties he’s formed with Wyoming communities during many visits to his family — his wife hails from Green River and has deep roots in Lander, where Carl and his family will move. In Carl’s words, they’re like salmon swimming upstream to their points of origin, a relocation that leaves Carl “excited to expand my networks and really engage with the Wyoming community.”

Carl regards community as the vital “currency” that allows for an organization’s success. I believe he’ll be right at home in Wyoming and at the Outdoor Council, where one thing is certain: conservation isn’t something one does alone. As Carl puts it, “The real power comes from bringing people together, establishing a foundation of understanding, and then working through whatever challenges that emerge. I really think there’s an opportunity to do a lot better for our environment, but also to do a lot better for one another.”

We’ve been immeasurably lucky in recent years to be led by Lisa McGee, who’s shepherded the Outdoor Council through many highs and lows — always fearlessly, and always with patience and wisdom. With her departure at the end of the year, and with Carl’s tenure beginning, we’re confident that WOC will remain in extremely good hands.

Carl will officially begin in January. Stay tuned for more details about opportunities to connect with him and learn more about his vision for the Outdoor Council.

With eagerness for this exciting new chapter,

Paul Howard
President, Wyoming Outdoor Council Board of Directors
Cheyenne, Wyoming

Story Behind the Photo: Barbara McMahill

Posted on by Claire Cella

Join Barbara and other photographers by submitting your own shot of Wyoming for the Outdoor Council’s 2024 Calendar Contest. You can enter your photos via Instagram or email. To submit your photo(s) via Instagram, you must have a public Instagram account so that we’re able to view your submission. Upload your photo(s) and add the hashtag #OurWyoming.

To submit your photo(s) via email, send your photo(s) to claire@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org.

For more information about the contest, visit our calendar contest page.

Barbara McMahill saw a photograph of a Greater sage-grouse on a magazine cover a few years ago and was instantly enamored. When she mentioned the bird to a local Lander friend, she was told that it was actually possible to visit the bird’s breeding grounds, called leks, to watch them in the early spring. It wasn’t long before McMahill found herself at the edge of the Twin Creek lek, about 20 miles from Lander, watching the spectacle herself. She now goes out with her camera every year.

“It’s always special,” she says of viewing the sage-grouse, “because you need to wake up suuuuper early to see it. But they really do put on an amazing show. It’s just beautiful to watch. In the end, you do have to sit for quite awhile and it’s usually cold, but when the sun starts to come up over the horizon, there are five to seven minutes of just incredible light. I cannot even describe it.”

That’s why McMahill takes her camera — so she can attempt to capture a moment that is indescribable in words so that others can experience it, too.

“I’m no professional photographer,” she laughs. “I’m a veterinarian. But photography has always been present in my life. I was given my first camera as a present from my family when I was in fourth grade and I started to take photography a little more seriously about 20 years ago. Now, I just have fun trying to capture the beauty of each scene and sharing those with others. Sometimes, like that sage-grouse image, the moment just isn’t describable.”

The image she took that won placement in the 2022 calendar is a male sage-grouse in the snow-dusted grass. His speckled brown and gray wing feathers frame a white, fluffy chest concealing two vibrantly yellow air sacs. “The sun was hitting him just right,” McMahill says of the moment she pushed the shutter. What’s even more amazing about this display that the camera can’t capture, she explains, are the sound effects. During the sage-grouse’s mating dance, there are vigorous wing swishes and a series of clipped, soft coos before two pops as their air sacs expand. It’s truly a sight to be seen — and a sound to be heard.

McMahill wasn’t always so interested in birds. She grew up in Lisbon, Portugal, a city where “birds for me were either pigeons or sparrows,” she says. When she moved to Lander with her husband 10 years ago, she started to notice the diversity of birds in the region compared to her hometown. When COVID-19 sent many of us inside, and our attention was drawn longingly out our windows, McMahill became curious about birds and invested in a telephoto lens to better capture the feathered creatures that visited her backyard. She’s since found some bird-watching friends in Lander and has learned a lot from them as well as the Merlin app, a global bird guide for mobile devices. In addition to sage-grouse, she adores the springtime vocals of the meadowlarks and the return of the mountain bluebirds to the barren but budding tree branches each year. (She submitted a photo of a bluebird too, which we also selected for the calendar.)

McMahill never planned to live in Wyoming, but she’s glad she does. Not only is the local community a constant source of joy, fun, and support, but, “I’m surrounded by beauty.” She spoke of a recent trip to the Red Desert for the first time with her family. “It looks like a place that has been home to not only a lot of different groups of people, but also a diversity of animals for years and years. I realize that keeping these places as they are is very important. It’s part of the reason I — we all — want to live here.”

“It [The Red Desert] looks like a place that has been home to not only a lot of different groups of people, but also a diversity of animals for years and years. I realize that keeping these places as they are is very important. It’s part of the reason I — we all — want to live here.”

— barbara mcmahill

In fact, the Greater sage-grouse relies on landscapes like the Red Desert — large, intact, fenceless areas of sagebrush steppe — for its survival. And it’s not only sage-grouse, but thousands of other species as well. In recent years, this habitat has been dwindling across the West, and as a result, so too have sage-grouse populations that can survive nowhere else. The Red Desert is of particular importance to sage-grouse conservation efforts as it hosts the highest density of sage-grouse on Earth. In peak years you can find more than 100 males visiting leks in this region, whereas other leks average only 20-35.

Local efforts to protect Wyoming’s sagebrush steppe and the sage-grouse who rely upon it are ongoing— we’ve often discussed the importance of the Greater Sage-Grouse Core Area Protection Executive Order signed in 2008 by then Gov. Dave Freudenthal and renewed by his two successors. In addition to this state strategy, there’s a new opportunity on the horizon for further protections for sage-grouse: the recently released draft Rock Springs Resource Management Plan from the Bureau of Land Management. It’s a land use plan that’s been 12 years in the making, and in one alternative, the agency would rebalance management priorities to better support conservation in addition to other uses. This alternative would close much of the Red Desert — which includes significant portions of sagebrush steppe — to industrial development. This is in stark contrast to current management where a majority is open to development and poses a threat to sage-grouse habitat.

We’ll keep you updated on the ways in which you can make a difference in protecting this habitat and all the species, including the Greater sage-grouse, who rely on it for their survival.

And we’re grateful for photographers like McMahill who wake up before dawn and brave the cold to capture this one-of-a-kind spectacle every spring. It’s images like these that allow us at the Wyoming Outdoor Council to better tell the story of the iconic Wyoming species who share their home with us. If you’ve taken your own wildlife shots, send them to us! Our calendar contest is open until September 15 — and this year there are prizes and a chance to have your work in an exhibit. You can read more here.

THE 2024 CALENDAR CONTEST IS OPEN

Posted on by Claire Cella

At the Wyoming Outdoor Council, we’ve been thinking a lot about home lately. Where are the places we find it? Where are the places we choose to establish it? How do we continue to create a sense of it, expand it, and invite others into it? What happens when home isn’t so much a place with walls around it and a roof on top of it, as so many clichés say, but a feeling of belonging? A sharing of a broad sense of space with other humans, and also animals and other living things? What happens when home is felt in — or only for — a moment?

You may have heard that the Outdoor Council is moving “homes” soon from a small, old, cramped office building to another new, energy-efficient, inviting building down the street in Lander. We are excited for a forever home to continue the conservation advocacy work we do in Wyoming. We will welcome other organizations and groups in our community to use this space for meetings.

However, as an organization that operates statewide, we know that our home is bigger and broader than just Lander and just our staff and board — our home is Wyoming and all the people, places, and things that encompass it. There are landscapes we’ve bonded with and worked to protect and wildlife sightings we seek in the change of seasons. There is a familiarity with the first flowers that bloom on our favorite trails in the spring, or a deepening awareness of when the first frost usually hits our gardens. There’s the way summer feels on our skin, the sound of birds migrating south.

In this broad way, we hope that using the word “home” puts us on a common ground of understanding when we say “our Wyoming” is the enduring theme for our annual calendar contest.

Each year, we look to the calendar to tell a story about the home we’ve all chosen to make, create, keep, and defend in this state, and the ways in which we intentionally build that home. The bricks, beams, and foundations all look very different from person to person, and we always enjoy seeing the ways in which our members experience Wyoming — how you construct the scaffolding of your values in this state. The tradition of the calendar continues this year and we hope that you’ll help us strengthen the story of Our Wyoming by sharing photos of the ways in which you experience this place you call home — whether that’s been for millennia through your ancestors, for the length of your life, for a few days, or even hours. We love seeing you and friends out enjoying our state and city parks, or a place you’ve sought for solitude and silence, or the majesty of our free-roaming wildlife, or future generations of outdoor lovers (kids!) immersed in a scene.

WHAT’S NEW THIS YEAR

What is different this year about the calendar contest is that we’ve coupled it with both photographer prizes as well as the chance to be featured in an exhibition at the Cheyenne Creativity Center this fall!

All photographers who are featured in the calendar will receive a cash prize and will have their photographs printed and hung in an exhibit that will run through November 2023. Honorable mentions will also have their photos hung in the exhibit. More details are below and will be provided upon request and during the announcement of the winners. Good luck, we’re looking forward to seeing your photos of #OurWyoming!

TERMS & CONDITIONS

Entries must be submitted between July 15, 2023, and before midnight on September 15, 2023, either via email (claire@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org) or Instagram, using the hashtag #OurWyoming. By entering, all contestants agree to release their photo to the Wyoming Outdoor Council for publication in our calendar and supporting social media. The Outdoor Council, along with guest judge Desirée Brothe, the public art coordinator of the Cheyenne Creativity Center, will select the winning photos, which will be published in the 2023 calendar. Thanks to support from First Interstate Bank in Cheyenne, selected artists will receive a modest cash award for photos included in the calendar, and honorable mentions. All photographers chosen to be in the calendar and honorable mentions will also have their work exhibited throughout November at the Cheyenne Creativity Center. WOC will be responsible for the printing and display of work at no cost to artists. An exhibit reception will take place on November 3 during Cheyenne’s First Friday Artwalk. All submitted photos are subject to use both in the calendar and the exhibit; however, if you would not like to participate in the exhibit, please email claire@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org. 

Your entry to the contest constitutes your agreement to allow your entered photographs, as well as your name and the place the photograph was taken, to be published in the Wyoming Outdoor Council’s 2023 calendar and on the Outdoor Council’s website, in emails, and social media channels to promote the annual photo contest. It also constitutes your agreement to allow your winning photograph to be in the exhibit in Cheyenne unless otherwise communicated. Reproduction of entries will include the necessary photographer credit. Contest entrants retain ownership and all other rights to future use of the photographs they enter. Use of the entered photos in any other fashion or in any other publications will only occur with permission from the entrant.

Marking a new milestone in the Outdoor Council’s 56-year history

Posted on by Paul Howard

A message from Paul Howard, president of the Board of Directors.

April 28, 2023

Dear friends,

Today is an inspiring time to be part of the Wyoming Outdoor Council. While we still embody the hardscrabble spirit of our founder Tom Bell and those early days as a home-grown Wyoming conservation group, we’ve also matured as an organization.

We have a strong base of passionate and engaged members, a dedicated group of staff, and a committed board of directors. Most importantly, we continue to bring people together to protect this place we love. Public lands, wildlife, clean air, and clean water have a voice in Wyoming thanks to you.

Much of the Outdoor Council’s progress during the last six years has come under the guidance and leadership of Lisa McGee, our executive director. It’s my bittersweet responsibility to announce that Lisa has decided to step away from WOC later this year.

From intern to executive director, Lisa has been a constant at the Outdoor Council for the last 18 years. Lisa first joined the staff in 2005 as a staff attorney to lead our National Forest work. Over the next decade, she and our partners secured lasting protections for the Wyoming Range and parts of the Shoshone National Forest. She took the helm as director in 2017, the year WOC celebrated our 50th anniversary. She and our board of directors set some ambitious goals around this milestone, most of which we’ll realize by the year’s end.

As Lisa told me, “So few people have the good fortune to work for and grow professionally within an organization whose mission they so deeply believe in. I’m honored to have contributed to the Outdoor Council’s mission over these many years. It’s been a joy, and I know the best is yet to come for Wyoming’s conservation community.”

While her departure will be felt by all of us, Lisa is leaving the organization on solid footing. Our conservation advocates are driving meaningful change to protect the Red Desert and big game migration corridors, support Indigenous-led conservation efforts, and help Wyoming communities respond to climate change. We’ve committed to becoming a more equitable organization where all people and perspectives are respected. We’ve strengthened our fundraising capacity and are about to break ground on our “forever home” in Lander.

I’m grateful that another of Lisa’s lasting contributions will be a well-thought-out transition to her eventual replacement. Lisa will be staying with us through the end of September and we, the board, hope to have a new executive director in place this fall. The board will be conducting an exhaustive search to find a candidate who can fill Lisa’s shoes — no easy task.

Please join me and the entire Wyoming Outdoor Council board of directors in wishing Lisa good fortune with her next endeavors and thanking her for her leadership, service, and friendship through all of these years.

Sincerely,

Paul Howard

President, Wyoming Outdoor Council Board of Directors

Cheyenne, Wyoming

Message from the director: A renewed commitment for 2023

Posted on by Lisa McGee

As the year draws to a close, I hope you’ll join me to reflect on some of the good work we accomplished together in 2022.

We were your source for up-to-date information on issues you cared about at the Wyoming Legislature.

We drafted a conservation vision for the Red Desert and worked to make Indigenous leaders and perspectives central to this work.

We co-hosted a statewide climate summit in Lander with more than 200 attendees and supported new federal rules aimed at reducing methane pollution.

We advanced the idea of a conservation leasing program for state lands in Wyoming.

We defended clean drinking water in the Snake River, Casper, and Madison aquifers.

We strategized about better ways to address new threats to big game migration corridors.

A week ago, an Outdoor Council member reached out to me after renewing her membership. She shared a decades-old, but still vivid, memory about her first time in the Red Desert, and closed the email by saying, “Thank you all for keeping up the vigilance and creativity to keep Wyoming whole.”

Every day we work to protect the Wyoming you love. Like you, we envision a state with clean air and water, open space, thriving wildlife, wildlands, healthy communities, informed and engaged citizens, and a high quality of life for all.

This vision matters. It’s the reason WOC was founded, and it’s the reason for our work today. Your support for this vision matters. It ensures that we have a fighting chance in our collective efforts to keep Wyoming whole.

May this holiday season find you healthy and rested, grateful for the gifts Wyoming’s outdoors offers each of us, and with a renewed commitment to give back to the lands that inspire and sustain us.

Making your voice heard: An intern’s insight into giving testimony

Posted on by Guest Author

The following blog post was written by Shane Heavin, our 2022 summer migration policy and outreach intern.

What would it feel like to stand in front of the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission and ask them to spend $2 million to create access to public lands that are landlocked by private land? As an intern for the Wyoming Outdoor Council, I did just that. And I’m here to tell you it’s not as scary as it sounds.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department recently made a deal with Uinta Livestock Grazing Partnership, Belle Butte Grazing Partnership, and Bear River Land and Grazing to lease approximately 91,760 acres of private lands bordering roughly 110,000 acres of public lands. The payout will be $400,000 per year for five years and will also lock in public access to the private land for an additional 25 years, ensuring 30 years of public access to public lands inside the Bear River Divide Hunter Management Area. WOC favors this deal as it provides access to public lands, and public lands are what WOC is all about. The Outdoor Council’s long history of public lands advocacy is why I spoke to the commission in support of the Bear River HMA project.

Game and Fish makes it simple to give public comments at a meeting, and there are two ways to sign up to testify. The first is to fill out an electronic form regarding the topic you want to discuss while attending the meeting via Zoom. The second way is to fill out the same document on paper while signing in to attend the meeting in person. You do not have to tell the Game and Fish Commission whether you agree or disagree with the WGFD on the subject or specifically what you want to say, just that you have an opinion you want them to hear.

My supervisor, WOC’s program director, Kristen Gunther, introduced me to WGFD personnel Sean Bibbey, who is knowledgeable about this topic and has put tremendous work into making the Bear River project a reality. I was allowed to ask questions about the undertaking and given complete information about the Bear River HMA project. This made it easy to better understand the issue and write an informed testimony to present to the commission.

The last pieces of the puzzle to effectively speaking to an authoritative group are moral support and building relationships. Moral support and building relationships are among the most significant factors in effectively addressing an audience. Kristen introduced me to several employees of the WGFD and other experts so that I could learn as much as possible about the Bear River HMA project. Kristen also helped me edit my testimony to ensure it was clear and competent. Again, the point of the testimony is not to agree or disagree with WGFD’s position but to effectively convey the interests of the Wyoming Outdoor Council. 

Kristen provided moral support by going with me to meet key members of the Bear River HMA project and was present when I testified in front of the Game and Fish Commission in support of the Bear River HMA. Kristen’s moral support also allowed me to build relationships with WGFD staff that will last well into the future. The fantastic thing about these relationships is that the people you have formed them with will also provide moral support once established. Relationships are like a snowballing effect into moral support. I am not saying that people will always agree with you, but they will want the best for you and sometimes point out things you do not see or understand that may change your point of view.

In this case, attending preceding WGFD events and meetings was a critical part of relationship building. Speaking with WGFD personnel about the subject you are interested in shows them that you are willing to put in the work to research the topic and listen to their point of view. For example, I attended all three days of July’s Game and Fish Commission meeting. Daily attendance allowed me to become more familiar with the commission members and also allowed me to meet some of the commissioners before I had to speak in front of them.

“Speaking with WGFD personnel about the subject you are interested in shows them that you are willing to put in the work to research the topic and listen to their point of view.”

— SHANE HEAVIN, migration policy and outreach intern

Studying the Bear River HMA project materials, speaking with the WGFD about the project, attending many Game and Fish meetings, and having Kristen’s support gave me the confidence I needed to convey WOC’s interest to the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission. 

And so, on July 19, I gave testimony to the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission. I  thanked the WGFD, Uinta Livestock Grazing Partnership, Belle Butte Grazing Partnership, and Bear River Land and Grazing for the work they did on this project. I also asked them to approve WGFD’s request to spend $2 million to ensure public access to public lands inside the Bear River HMA. Whether or not my testimony had any effect on the outcome, I do not know. What I do know is that the Wyoming Outdoor Council gave me the confidence I needed to testify and that my voice was heard. If my voice can be heard, so can yours. 

By the way, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission unanimously passed the request to lease public access to the Bear River HMA.

Story behind the photo: MICHAEL LEE

Posted on by Claire Cella

Join Michael and other photographers by submitting your own shot of Wyoming for the Outdoor Council’s 2023 Calendar Contest. You can enter your photos via Instagram or email. To submit your photo(s) via Instagram, you must have a public Instagram account so that we’re able to view your submission. Upload your photo(s) and add the hashtag #OurWyoming.

To submit your photo(s) via email, send your photo(s) to claire@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org.

For more information about the contest, visit our calendar contest page.

When Michael Lee told me the story behind the cover photo of last year’s calendar, he admitted that it sounded like a story that could have had an awful ending. We’re all glad it didn’t—and that, rather, it ended with a photograph that captured  a sweeping vista of the valley below and the Little Bighorn River. 

Lee, a professional photographer, and his wife, who live in a suburb north of Chicago, have been visiting Wyoming for years. This particular shot was taken in 2020, although the story started four years earlier in 2016. 

That year, Lee and his wife were driving around the Bighorn National Forest in the fall, just before hunting season was to begin. “As a photographer, I’m always looking for things to photograph,” he says. “We had been driving down a dirt road quite a ways. It was late in the afternoon and we were just waiting for the light to change. We had pulled over at a spot in the road where there was a view of an elk herd in the valley below. My wife was making popcorn on our propane stove.”

That’s when a big pickup truck pulled up next to them and a father and son duo stepped out. The four got to chit chatting and the father and son introduced themselves as the Buchanan’s from Casper who were scouting for wildlife because they had drawn a tag to hunt there. That’s when the father turned to them and said, “Well, if you like this view, we’ll have to show you another one you’ll like even better.”

Without a second thought, or consulting his wife, Lee said yes. As Lee climbed into the back of the Buchanan’s cab first, at the insistence of his wife, the father turned around to reassure them that “the guns were in the backseat with them.”

The four drove down the dirt road for another 10 minutes before they pulled over again, adjacent to a dense forest. The father beckoned into the woods and said, “It’s this way.” 

Lee laughs, “It sounds like the plot is thickening, doesn’t it? But we walked for about 100 yards, and emerged from the trees to the very view you see on the cover of the calendar.”

The four lingered for awhile at the vista, talking and getting to know one another, before they headed back to the pickup, unscathed. 

The picture on the cover was taken two years ago when the Lee’s returned to Wyoming on their annual trip, and decided to try to find the spot again, even though neither of them had marked it on a map. There is a name for the place, Lee says, but he doesn’t know it. He calls it Buchanan’s Bluff.

The experience—”Just a couple of Wyomingites offering to show us something cool”—was more proof for Lee that Wyomingites are pretty trustworthy and friendly. He’s even stayed in touch with the Buchanan’s over the years, swapping emails every once and awhile. 

“I’ve got a few Wyomingites in my rolodex,” he says. “You never know when you want to stop in and have a good meal.”

“I’ve got a few Wyomingites in my rolodex,” he says. “You never know when you want to stop in and have a good meal.”

— Michael Lee

The Lee’s return to Wyoming, or at least the West, every year. Lee’s been to Wyoming more than any other place, and has probably been to more places in Wyoming than in his own state, he admits. Although he loves the people that he encounters when he travels in Wyoming, he admits that Wyoming is special for its lack of people—which is a sharp contrast to his day-to-day life in Chicago.

He also loves the diversity of the Wyoming landscape. How in many parts of it appears so empty, yet those places are so rich with life and beauty. From the rugged mountains to the dry windy desert, to the warm welcoming people. Wyoming is a place that has not seen the kind of dense industrial development that he is used to in Chicago and his home state of Wisconsin.

He first fell in love with the West as a kid when his dad took him on a road trip in 1978. But he fell in love all over again, more recently, in 2001, when he took a few months off following a stint in New York City. He  visited a friend in Dallas and then continued west with a tent and a camera. “I had no idea what I was doing,” he says, as he traveled through New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming for two and a half months, just driving, taking pictures, being really dirty. “I loved every second of it.” 

He hasn’t let go of that feeling. He and his wife even backpacked in Wyoming for their honeymoon. When I asked him why he doesn’t just live here, he said the realities of life keep him in Chicago. It is there that he has the closeness of family and a community and  more professional opportunities  as a photographer. The jobs he is able to take there are consistent, interesting, and fun. This work and life in Chicago, affords him the ability to make a special visit to Wyoming once a year and completely shut his phone off. 

He doesn’t, however, shut his camera off, rather, he likes to use it as a way to give back to the places that he frequently visits and wants to support. “All of these places need all the help they can get,” he says. “And anyone who visits should, and could, do a little extra to take care of the place, like donating. But anyone can do that, and what I can do is a little different—provide photographs that organizations can use to raise awareness or get more people to open their checkbooks. That’s something these organizations don’t usually have a budget for.” He’s happy to be able to contribute to these causes in a special way. “It doesn’t cost me anything, and if my photograph can help raise awareness or convince a politician to vote a certain way or support a certain action, well, that’s just icing on the cake.”

Want to share that perfect shot? Our photo contest is open NOW!

Posted on by Claire Cella

Want to share that perfect shot? Our photo contest is open NOW!

For those of you familiar with our annual calendar photography contest, this announcement is coming a little earlier than usual. That’s because we’re mixing it up this year! The contest is usually in full swing by the height of summer, when everyone — residents and visitors alike — are out enjoying Wyoming’s rugged ridgelines, fishing those alpine lakes and streams, and enjoying friends and family around campfires and under starry skies. And because of that, we tend to get a lot of photos of summer’s sights.

Which, don’t get us wrong, we love, but what about winter in Wyoming? Or those first signs of spring — which are happening right now in parts of the state? What about that now-ness that comes from taking a picture and sharing it immediately? That presence?

This photo of snow-dusted pasque flowers by Karin Ebertz appeared in the 2022 calendar.
Barbara McMahill submitted this photo for last year’s contest.

That’s why we’re opening up the contest today! We want to see our Wyoming as it is just was, and as it is now. So send us your photos — from your last backcountry ski day or your first sighting of an Indian paintbrush underfoot. Every month, we plan to feature a submitted photo on our social media channels and in our email newsletter, in addition to the potential to see your photo in the calendar.

Submit your favorite photos by emailing me (claire@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org) or sharing them on Instagram with the hashtag #OurWyoming. Entries for the contest will close on July 15, but we hope you’ll keep the pictures coming all year long. We’ll be sure to remind you from time to time!

Looking forward to seeing your photos of our wonderful, wild Wyoming, in all its forms.

TERMS & CONDITIONS
Entries must be submitted between April 15, 2022, and before midnight on July 15, 2022, either via email (claire@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org) or Instagram, using the hashtag #OurWyoming. By entering, all contestants agree to release their photo to the Wyoming Outdoor Council for publication purposes. The Outdoor Council will select the winning photos, which will be published in the 2023 calendar. All submitted photos are subject to use.

Your entry to the contest constitutes your agreement to allow your entered photographs, as well as your name and the place the photograph was taken, to be published in the Wyoming Outdoor Council’s 2023 calendar and on the Outdoor Council’s website, in emails, and social media channels to promote the annual photo contest. Reproduction of entries will include the necessary photographer credit.

Photograph entries constitute permission to use the images in this manner with credit to the photographer without monetary compensation. Contest entrants retain ownership and all other rights to future use of the photographs they enter. Use of the entered photos in any other fashion or in any other publications will only occur with permission from the entrant.