Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"Now let's all watch a dog and his new stick..."}]

Smile 8 24 23

Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>Daily Smile: Thursday, August 24, 2023 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Now let's all watch a dog and his new stick...

Daily Smile: Thursday, August 24, 2023

 Now let's all watch a dog and his new stick...

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Wildlife

Rich Guenzel’s pet peeve could be the fault of Spanish conquistadors.

As he sees it, when Spanish explorers came to the West centuries ago, they encountered speedy, tan-and-white critters, the likes of which they’d never seen.

“The nearest comparison they had, and that was just gross morphology, were animals from Africa and Asia, called antelope,” Guenzel told Cowboy State Daily.

So, the Spaniards started calling those new-to-them animals “antelope,” and it stuck.

To this day, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department lists them as “antelope” in the agency's official hunting regulations and on hunting tags.

That's despite the agency’s biologists consistently referring to them, properly, as pronghorn, said Guenzel, who worked for Game and Fish from 1986-2011.

Guenzel, who retired as the agency’s Laramie District wildlife biologist, is passionate about them being called by the right name.

So much so he's come up with a “pronghorn swear jar.”

Anytime someone calls pronghorn “antelope” in his presence, they're asked to put a dollar in the jar – with the money going toward pronghorn conservation.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Legislative Matter?"}]

Guenzel said that the pronghorn swear jar is mostly a humorous approach to education. He hasn’t actually collected any money yet.

Moreover, Game and Fish can’t be blamed for calling them antelope on paper. It’s written into Wyoming wildlife regulation statutes.

To the best of his knowledge, the term “antelope” was written into the pertinent Wyoming statute in the early 1970s.

And that probably happened because at the time, the “popular usage” of the term prevailed, Guenzel said.

Game and Fish has no authority to change the wording of statutes, he said. Only the Legislature can do that.

Guenzel and Steve Martin of Rock Springs, the Wyoming director of the North American Pronghorn Association, said they’d like to see that happen. Possibly as soon as the Legislature’s 2027 session.

“We’re looking to see if there are any legislators willing to sponsor a bill to get the language in the statute change to “pronghorn,” Martin told Cowboy State Daily.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘I Didn’t Know’"}]

Martin said he supports Guenzel’s pronghorn swear jar campaign, even if it’s mostly symbolic.

“I agree with him 100%, I would love to officially change the name,” Martin said.

He said he recently went on a tour of a wildlife water-development project with Guenzel and other conservationists and officials.

“On that tour, he basically let everybody know, challenged them all, that if they said ‘antelope’ instead of ‘pronghorn’ they were going to have to put a dollar toward the pronghorn conservation fund,” he said.

Guenzel’s approach was good-natured and light-hearted, but it got the point across, Martin said.

“I correct folks all the time. Even I called them ‘antelope’ for many years because I didn’t know better. But that’s why people do it, the public doesn’t know,” he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Distant Cousin Of Giraffes"}]

So, why is it such a big deal to call Wyoming’s iconic speedsters of the badlands pronghorn instead of antelope?

“The point is to educate people about the uniqueness of the animal itself,” Guenzel said.

The term “antelope” isn’t remotely accurate, he added.

Moreover, not only are pronghorn unrelated to actual antelope, they have no direct ties to any living animal, Guenzel said.

At one time multiple pronghorn species roamed North America. All except the species we see today died out tens of thousands of years ago, he said.

That Wyoming has more of the last species of pronghorn than any other state should be a point of great pride, Guenzel said.

“If you’re calling one of our critters an ‘antelope,’ you’re spreading misinformation,” he said.

For many years, pronghorns’ possible genetic ties to any other living species baffled scientists, he said.

Genetic testing was a “game-changer” for species research, he said.

And testing has revealed pronghorn have a distant relationship with giraffes, Guenzel said. Meaning at some point, giraffes and pronghorn must have had a common ancestor.

That tracks because “not all giraffes (past species of giraffes) had long necks,” he said.

Guenzel said if nothing else the pronghorn swear jar and his other efforts will remind Wyoming hunters of the uniqueness of the animals they’re pursuing.

“If you draw a tag and harvest one of these animals, the ‘antelope hunting tag’ allowed you to do that legally. But the animal you’re taking home and sticking in your freezer is a pronghorn,” he said.

Pronghorn swear jar 7 5 26

<title>Say 'Antelope' In Front Of Wyoming Pronghorn Activist, It'll Cost You $1 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Conservationist Rich Guenzel understands why many people, including Wyoming Game and Fish, wrongly call one of the state's signature animals "antelope," but it's his pet peeve. It bugs him so much he has a “pronghorn swear jar” and makes people pay $1.

Say 'Antelope' In Front Of Wyoming Pronghorn Activist, It'll Cost You $1

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's Feature Reporter, Andrew Rossi.

Andrew Rossi

Public Safety

Cody resident and photographer Laura Redmond had her camera ready for the 2026 Cody Fireworks show. It didn’t disappoint.

A fast-spreading fire that burned throughout the fireworks show proved just as entertaining.

“I was near “The Scout” statue behind the Buffalo Bill Center of the West,” Redmond said. “As soon as the fireworks started, tiny spots immediately started, then more started, and they all merged together.”

The fire sparked by the first fireworks grew throughout the show. By the end, the rockets’ red glare was replaced by an eerie orange glow on the overhanging clouds of smoke.

Redmond and other locals weren’t concerned. International visitors who came to see the fireworks were deeply concerned, she said.

“We all assured them that it happens every year,” Redmond said. “Everybody settled down and watched the firemen do their work. Some people were there watching the firefighters longer for that than they were for watching the fireworks.”

The entire fire was extinguished that night by the Cody Volunteer Fire Department. 

[{"type":"text","text":"There was only one downside for Redmond."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“The flames blew out all my photos,” she said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"American As Apple Pie"}]

Cody wasn’t the only Wyoming community to set itself on fire with fireworks.

Thermopolis’ show also started a small blaze near the fireworks launch site on top of T-Hill, visible to everyone watching the show in the town and parks below.

The Thermopolis Volunteer Fire Department assured residents they had the situation under control after "a fire started by some of the best fireworks (they'd) ever seen." Cowboy State Daily was unable to reach the department for comment by the time of publication. 

Thermopolis Fire Chief Dale Andreen said that it’s “pretty common to get a fire from fireworks. That’s a big reason fireworks are banned everywhere and are outlawed the rest of the year, too.”

He said the fire that started near the town’s launch site Friday wasn’t much at all.

“Just a small patch, just six or eight juniper trees and some sagebrush,” he told Cowboy State Daily on Monday. “Wouldn’t have been about a 10th of an acre, I would say."

Thermopolis resident Debra Davenport was watching the fireworks show from her driveway. She was getting ready to call it a night when the grand finale sparked the fire around 11 p.m.

“They set off a really big sequence that set off the fire right below where they were launched,” Davenport said. “I know they had a lot more fireworks than they usually do.”

Davenport said the fireworks were more widespread across the top of T-Hill, clearly for a larger-than-average show to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States.

[{"type":"text","text":"“It was a lot more than normal,” she said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Banned Or Burned"}]

Douglas, Gillette, Riverton and other communities took proactive measures to prevent fireworks fires. They banned private fireworks and/or canceled their annual shows due to excessively dry landscapes and extreme fire danger.

Meanwhile, small fires were spotted throughout Wyoming leading up to Independence Day and were still burning when the fireworks started.

A section of Pine Bluffs was set on fire before any fireworks started. Meanwhile, a grassfire quickly engulfed a hillside behind the Studio City Mesa movie theater in Casper, threatening several homes.

“Quite frankly, I was surprised there weren't more bans over this holiday weekend,” Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day said. “For as dry as it’s been since last fall, there was a very high chance that any fireworks were going to set something off.”

However, Day is never surprised to hear about fireworks fires around Independence Day. By this point in the summer, it’s usually dry enough for a small thing to spark a potential inferno.

“Fireworks burn so hot that there's always that concern,” he said. “The last time I wasn’t concerned about the fire risk was in 2023. I know it seems like that never happened, but that was one of the wettest years on record.”

Redmond was expecting some flames from Cody’s fireworks. The Cody Volunteer Fire Department expected the same.

“It happens almost every year,” she said. “I feel like the Cody Fire Department is one of the best out there. They had spotters on both sides of the Shoshone River and plenty of personnel in place to make sure everyone stayed safe. They know what they're doing, and they were very prepared for it.”

Davenport, however, had a different view of the spectacle and the fireworks fire in Thermopolis.

“Everyone was concerned about starting a fire before the show, and after so many people in Colorado and Utah have lost everything because of fires, I felt sad and a little disrespectful.”

More than 55 fireworks shows in Colorado were canceled due to fire danger. Utah governor Spencer Cox issued an executive order temporarily banning fireworks statewide in late June, calling it “a matter of life and death.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Worse Before It Gets Better"}]

Now that bombs aren’t bursting in air, one might think the worst fire danger of the season has come and gone. They’d be wrong.

Day and other meteorologists are monitoring “an interesting paradox” that could make July a dynamic month across the western U.S.

“We're going to have really big heat waves, especially in the eastern and northeastern parts of the state, starting this weekend,” Day said. “We're going to be seeing triple digits in the Bighorn Basin, northeastern plains, and out near the Nebraska border.”

It might seem counterintuitive to think triple-digit temperatures could bring a windfall of rain to Wyoming and many other western states. That’s what seems poised to happen, at least potentially, in the latter half of July, Day said.

“This is the paradox,” he said. “The heat wave that's going to develop may ultimately be the kicker, the thing that tips the scale to finally get some subtropical moisture back into the western United States.”

Day said the heat wave will result from a high-pressure ridge moving into the central U.S. That could increase the chances of precipitation across all of Wyoming and beyond.

According to Day, nothing’s guaranteed, but extremely high temperatures in Wyoming could create the exact conditions needed for more moisture.

“When you build the heat in the plains, you pump subtropical moisture out of Mexico and Central America farther north and into the west,” he said. “We may have to go through four or five days of really hot temperatures and very little rain before the better rain chances come in.”

While the heatwave is coming, it’s too distant to say whether it’ll be enough to pump moisture to Wyoming. Regardless, one will only follow the other.

“It's going to get worse before it gets better, but part of it getting worse is going to help initiate the type of pattern we've been waiting for,” Day said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Simple Sparks"}]

One reason Redmond wasn’t concerned about a serious fireworks fire was the staging area. Cody launches its fireworks on the north bank of the Shoshone River, opposite the Cody Stampede Rodeo grounds, in a spot that naturally stops any spread.

“The river is their break on one side, and a road is the break on the other side,” she said. “They only have to watch it from two sides. It was just a very pleasant evening, and they did a good job putting the fireworks on the fires out.”

July and August are usually the worst of Wyoming’s fire season. The real hazards are everyday occurrences, not a weekend of intense pyrotechnics.

“In these circumstances, simple things start fires,” Day said. “It’s a hot muffler on a four-wheeler off-roading for the weekend. It’s a chainsaw cutting firewood. It’s dragging chains behind a trailer and throwing a cigarette butt out the window. Things get started so easily.”

Day didn’t want to “jinx anything,” but his outlook on wetter weather in the second half of July was “more optimistic than I have been this summer, so far.”

“The pattern shows the potential for more frequent chances of thunderstorms that produce that rain that we want,” he said. “That could really help us in the second half of July into the month of August. We might finally see something go our way for a change.”

Fourth fires composite 7 6 26

<title>Fires Break Out In At Least Two Wyoming Towns During July 4 Firework Shows | Cowboy State Daily</title>

At least two Wyoming cities got bonus shows for July 4 when fireworks started wildfires near launch sites. In both Cody and Thermopolis fires began during the shows but citizens weren't concerned. "It happens every year," Cody resident Laura Redmond said.

Fires Break Out In At Least Two Wyoming Towns During July 4 Firework Shows

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Crime & Courts

A Glenrock family's Fourth of July celebration ended in chaos when a firework exploded in the middle of a crowd of spectators, seriously injuring a young boy and prompting an emergency helicopter flight to a Denver hospital.

Now, the boy's family is pleading for witnesses to come forward as they search for answers about what happened.

"Accident or not, we want to know the truth” the boy’s mother, Katrina Pergande, said in a Sunday post shared to a Glenrock community Facebook page.

On Monday, the mother told Cowboy State Daily she also wants to make people more aware of how careless people can be when it comes to fireworks.  

Pergande said her family was attending the annual Fourth of July fireworks celebration at the South Recreation Complex at around 9:30 p.m. Friday when a firework entered the area where they were gathered.

She said multiple members of her family, including herself and several of her children, suffered burns. 

Bu her son Lavon sustained the most serious injuries after the firework struck his eye and exploded.

He was transported by ambulance from Glenrock to Casper before being airlifted to Children's Hospital Colorado in Denver, she said.

"His end of the Fourth was cut short and had to be rushed to the hospital," Pergande wrote.

In Glenrock, the town doesn’t put on an organized, professional fireworks show. Instead, the fire department holds a fireworks event at the ball fields allowing people to set off their own.

Admission is $10 per car with a cap at 400 cars. No alcohol is allowed as well.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Eyewitness Describes Chaos"}]

John Rosenfeld of Casper, a former emergency medical technician who attended the event, said he was sitting on metal bleachers between two ball fields when he noticed something unusual.

"I saw it come across the ground," Rosenfeld said about observing the errant firework. "It came from the middle section of the left field, and I did see it explode in the middle of the crowd of people."

He said panic spread through the crowd almost immediately. 

Rosenfeld described people running from the area while at least one person cried out. Before he could reach the scene, firefighters had already responded.

"Big props to the Glenrock Fire Department," he said. "They were there before even I could get up and do anything."

Rosenfeld said responders quickly removed the injured person from the area. At the time, he didn't realize that was a child.

"I asked a couple of people that were in the area if they were all right, and that seemed to be the only injury that I saw," he said, adding that, "I don't think anyone shot it at the group of people. 

"I do think it was a complete accident that just happened to go that direction."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Family Seeking Witnesses"}]

Pergande is asking anyone who attended the fireworks celebration and witnessed the incident — or captured photos or video — to contact the Glenrock Police Department or reach out to her directly.

She said her family had been seated on the left field near the second-to-last row of fireworks stands when the incident happened.

"With so many people at this event, I truly feel that someone saw this happen or knows something that can help us find the person responsible," she wrote.

In a later update, Pergande said Lavon was receiving steroid treatments every few hours while doctors worked to reduce inflammation that was preventing them from fully examining his eye.

 she started to help cover medical costs that Lavon suffered multiple injuries “and burns on his eyelid and had significant trauma to his actual eye."

She said physicians expect to determine whether surgery would be an option after additional evaluation.

"Our sweet boy was just enjoying his night, smiling and loving his time with his family," Pergande wrote.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Not Just 'Pretty Sparks'"}]

Having responded to fireworks injuries during his career, Rosenfeld said incidents like this show how dangerous fireworks can be when they're not handled properly.

"A lot of people are not aware of fireworks," he said. "They think it's all just pretty sparks and don't really comprehend that it's an explosive device and can remove fingers and body parts.”

Glenrock Chief of Police Colter Felton said that there is an open investigation into the boy reportedly being "struck in the face by a firework."

Because there's an active investigation, the chief told Cowboy State Daily in a Monday email that he can't comment on some details, including about the possible source of the firework or who may have discharged it.

"I can confirm that the juvenile male was injured in the left eye and that he was transported by ambulance to the emergency room in Casper," he said, adding that anyone with information, photos or videos should contact the Glenrock Police Department.

"I would like to remind the public that fireworks are dangerous and unpredictable, and that those using them should exercise caution, not only for themselves but for the people and property around them as well," Felton said. "I pray for a quick and full recovery for the injured young man and his family."

Glenrock fireworks boy hurt 7 6 26

<title>Glenrock Boy Airlifted To Denver Hospital After Getting Hit In Eye By Fireworks | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Glenrock boy was airlifted to a Denver hospital on the Fourth of July after getting hit in the eye with an errant firework when it exploded in a crowd at a local park. A witness said he watched it "explode in the middle of the crowd of people.”

Glenrock Boy Airlifted To Denver Hospital After Getting Hit In Eye By Fireworks

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily State Government and Politics reporter, Leo Wolfson.

Leo Wolfson For Cowboy State Daily

Outdoors

Looking up at Colorado's Aspen Snowmass Ski Resort, you'll see large, white tarps covering a mysterious mass two to three stories high. No, the circus isn't in town — it's a matter of snow security.

As unusually warm, long fall seasons become more frequent — like 

 — ski areas across the West and around the world are seeking new ways to guarantee they can open on time. 

One solution is pushing together snow left over from the previous winter, storing it in enormous piles, and reusing it the following season.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Harvesting the Snow"}]

Known as "snow harvesting" or "snow farming," the practice is now catching on at resorts across Idaho, Montana, Utah and Colorado. 

By securing snow piles under thermal mats, blankets, tarps or even hay bales, resorts keep their snow in a giant cooler of sorts, shielded from the heat, sun and rain. 

That means they no longer have to anxiously watch the thermometer for temperatures cold enough to make snow, or wait on natural flakes from the sky.

Antti Lauslahti, CEO of the snow-storage company Snow Secure, believes these efforts will follow the same path as snowmaking equipment did in the 1970s. Most mountains were impressed by the technology at the time, he said, but skeptical that anyone actually needed to make snow.

"Then they started to do it for just the early season, and little by little it just took off," he said.

Lauslahti said Big Sky Resort in Montana — a favorite of many northern Wyoming residents — is running a small-scale test of Snow Secure technology to use on its slopes next season. 

Snow Secure makes white polystyrene thermal mats that fold out like an accordion and can stretch as long as a football field while keeping snow insulated, much like the insulation in a house, at near freezing temperatures.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The New Snowmaking"}]

In recent years, warm weather has repeatedly kept ski areas from meeting their traditional opening dates, sometimes pushing openings past Christmas or forcing seasons to be canceled altogether. 

Early season skiing is one of the industry's most profitable stretches, when public enthusiasm runs highest — especially among casual skiers. The Christmas holidays alone can account for 20% of a mountain's annual revenue, Lauslahti said.

"The beginning of the season is becoming more unpredictable," he said. "A bad start means you lose season-pass sales. If there's at least a minimum amount open in the early season, people accept it better."

Bogus Basin in Idaho and Aspen Snowmass have both recently invested in Snow Secure's mats to guarantee a solid snow base for next season. 

In Aspen, the mats now cover piles on Buttermilk and Snowmass mountains — the equivalent of 3.5 million gallons of water, mostly man-made snow left over from the previous season. 

Beyond saving the snow itself, the practice preserves the money already spent making it and can cut the cost of snowmaking for the season ahead.

Having snow ready to go also gives mountains flexibility to time their snowmaking for the most efficient conditions. 

Snowmaking machines work better the colder it gets, so instead of blowing snow in marginal early-season conditions out of desperation, resorts can draw on their stored supply for a usable base. 

Others are preemptively making a deep base of snow during winter's coldest stretches, either to extend their seasons into May or to save it for the next one.

"It's economically really, really viable," Lauslahti said. "It's really fast, really cost efficient. You need snowmaking, you need groomers, but the point is, you have a new tool."

Lauslahti noted that Levi, a Finnish mountain that traditionally hosts the season's first FIS World Cup race each November, relied entirely on snow stored inside the Snow Secure mats to host the event this past season. 

The mountain itself opened a few years back on Oct. 6 thanks to their snow-storage efforts.

Chris Miller, senior vice president of sustainability at Aspen Snowmass, told the Aspen Times saving snow expands the resort's climate-resilient toolbox for navigating volatile weather.

Snowmass Mountain's relatively low base elevation of 7,870 feet leaves it especially vulnerable to warm, dry early-season spells. 

As host of the Winter X Games, Snowmass produces enormous amounts of snow each fall to build the massive terrain-park features the globally televised event requires. By piling up and covering the leftover snow for the following year, the mountain saves significant money.

Soldier Hollow Nordic Center in Utah has joined the trend too, preserving a 15,000-square-foot mound under the Snow Secure mats. 

At just 5,600 feet of elevation, the venue is slated to host cross-country events for the 2034 Winter Olympics, though that may not happen naturally if Utah sees another winter as poor as this past one.

Luke Bodensteiner, Soldier Hollow's general manager, told NBC News he views the effort as a contingency plan, and hopes that snow farming plus new snowmakers could make Soldier Hollow the first Nordic venue in the country to open this coming fall.

"If we get the results that we think … in the summer of 2033, we'll probably have three to four of these piles going around the venue," he told NBC.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Heat Resilient"}]

Back in Aspen when interviewed last month, Miller said temperatures beneath the Snow Secure blankets were registering at 32.6 degrees. 

Even when outdoor temperatures top 100 degrees, the insulated barriers keep the snow between 35 and 37, Lauslahti said, and can limit melting to about 20% of the original mass over an entire summer.

The mats were put to the test last summer at Bogus Basin, a mid-sized ski area outside Boise, where temperatures outside the piles hit 119 degrees. The snow held up fine, and despite recording its warmest November on record, the resort still managed to open that month.

Snow Secure isn't just for the biggest resorts with the biggest budgets. Lauslahti argues the tarps offer even more value at smaller areas with shorter runs, where every saved inch counts — pointing to a small Wisconsin resort that’s invested in the product. "The first chairlift isn't so long, so you don't need so much material," he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Other Snow-Storage Efforts"}]

Copper Mountain in Colorado stores snow for its summertime private Woodward camps and public hike park. At each season's end, the mountain pushes 

thousands of cubic yards of leftover snow

 from its runs, terrain parks and superpipe into huge piles; months later, it spreads the snow back out into a short run with a roughly 25-foot base, letting the public ski all summer.

Trollhaugen in Wisconsin insulates its snow with 

hay bales and a large tarp weighed down by car tires

 for a terrain-park event it hosts each fall.

Snow farming Ruka 15 Snow Secure 7 5 26

As temperatures soar in the summer, ski resorts in the Rocky Mountain West are "farming" snow, storing it under giant thermal mats as insurance for the upcoming season. Snow stays close to freezing in the summer even in triple-digit temperatures.

Daily Smile: Thursday, August 24, 2023

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