Photo by Scott Copeland THE FEDERAL ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY has significant concerns about Wyoming’s proposed plan to reduce haze generated by polluters such as coal-fired power plants and trona mining operations. The EPA sent a letter to Wyoming’s Department of Environmental Quality at the end of October, which indicates that Wyoming’s latest revision of a […]
FIELD NOTES
Sage-grouse ‘core’ areas might be bird’s best bet
Photo by Jeff Vanuga THE LOOMING THREAT that the greater sage-grouse might be listed as an endangered species spurred Wyoming to adopt a new approach to protect the celebrated bird. As a result, the Cowboy State has emerged as the regional leader in re-thinking sage-grouse policies, focusing its conservation efforts on sage-grouse “core” habitat areas. […]
EPA opposes Wyoming’s coal-bed methane water policy
ON THE HEELS OF a recent independent report that called a proposed Wyoming water policy “scientifically indefensible,” the federal government on Tuesday voiced its own opposition to the policy—suggesting that if the rules were officially adopted by the state, Wyoming would not be in compliance with the federal Clean Water Act. The proposed rules in […]
The Kemmerer Surprise
A FEDERAL LAND MANAGEMENT PLAN for southwestern Wyoming — which most observers assumed would be completed during the final days of President George W. Bush’s administration — has yet to be published. And correspondence sent to the Wyoming Outdoor Council this week confirms the Bureau of Land Management’s Kemmerer resource management plan is still in […]
Outdoor Council works to protect McCullough Peaks
CODY-AREA RESIDENTS are concerned that a popular hiking, hunting, and mountain biking spot east of town could become industrialized with oil and gas development, if the federal Bureau of Land Management doesn’t do more to safeguard the area’s natural heritage. The BLM approved a wildcat drilling operation in June—the so-called Rocktober project—in the picturesque McCullough […]
Members visit current and proposed wind farms
WYOMING OUTDOOR COUNCIL MEMBERS and friends got together for a bicycle ride in the Shirley Basin this weekend and visited the Rocky Mountain Power 7 Mile Hill Wind Farm, as well as the newly approved Dunlap Phase I & II wind farm, which Rocky Mountain Power will begin constructing this fall. Laurie Milford, executive director […]
An update from Richard on the Shirley Basin ride
WE’RE EXCITED ABOUT OUR UPCOMING road bike ride in the Shirley Basin, one of our Heritage Landscapes. We hope you can join us! Friday, Sept. 18: There will be an optional camping opportunity in the Shirley Mountains. Saturday, Sept. 19: We will meet at 9 a.m. at the Virginian Hotel and Cafe in Medicine Bow. […]
Join us for a bicycle ride in the Shirley Basin!
THE WYOMING OUTDOOR COUNCIL invites you to join us on a one day bicycle ride in the Shirley Basin on Saturday, September 19. We will get to see one of Wyoming’s most beautiful areas – truly a Heritage Landscape. We plan to ride 50 miles with several stops along the way which will give […]
Origins of the Outdoor Council: Tom Bell, founder
THE FOUNDER OF THE WYOMING OUTDOOR COUNCIL, Tom Bell, said he started the group because, by the mid-1960s, he could no longer ignore the threats facing his “beloved homeland.” His vision, he said, was to bring together various organizations throughout the state to speak as one voice on conservation issues. “The first meeting was held […]