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It's a question for the ages: how many Pringles can they put in the sleeping man's mouth before he wakes up?

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

<title>You Still Here? Thursday, February 1, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

You Still Here? Thursday, February 1, 2024

 It's a question for the ages: how many Pringles can they put in the sleeping man's mouth before he wakes up?

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Jackie Dorothy.

Jackie Dorothy

Agriculture

Jack Baird, who runs sheep and cattle on over 30,000 acres near Thermopolis, calls cheatgrass "a little thief" because it robs moisture from native grasses on the sections of land he uses for grazing.

Fellow rancher Chip Axtell of Hot Springs County estimates at least 20% of his own rangeland and farm have been taken over by cheatgrass, which is only green in the early spring and late fall. This limits where he can graze his cattle and is especially damaging during a drought.

“Cheatgrass grabs up all the moisture, so the native grasses get pushed out,” Axtell said. “If you keep stressing the land further with grazing or drought, it just becomes the predominant grass that's around.”

More than $32 million has been lost in agricultural land and wildlife habitat last year due to cheatgrass, a fast-growing invasive weed known. It is an ecological nightmare for wildlife and land managers.

estimate if cheatgrass continues to spread, annual losses could exceed $109.8 million.

Cheatgrass, also known as downy brome, literally creates a drought state on the landscape even when Wyoming is not in a drought. Since the 1800s, this invasive weed has been choking out native grasses and “cheating” them out of the nutrients and soil.

“It is actually a pretty pathetic grass with a minimal root system,” Nancy Fleming, the Wind River Bighorn Basin District's invasive annual grass coordinator, told Cowboy State Daily. “But it’s seed production is tremendous.”

One cheatgrass plant can produce 200 seeds viable for up to 11 years. Thousands will sit in a seed bank in the first few inches of soil, just waiting to germinate.

“The cheatgrass takeover has been going on for over a century,” Axtell said. “It grows wherever there's a disturbance in the ground such as a two-track, or any digging. The cheatgrass comes in because the seeds get started in that disturbed ground.”

 Axtell said he has been battling cheatgrass his entire life and tries not to graze all the grass in order to leave the native grass healthy and keep the cheatgrass at bay.

 “There's no silver bullet when it comes to invasive annual grasses, particularly cheat grass,” Fleming said. “Cheatgrass is something that we're managing. It's not something that we will eradicate.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Evil Enemy"}]

Cheatgrass is an invasive annual grass that's not native to North America. It came from Europe and Eurasia in the mid- to late 1800s as a contaminant in seed and straw, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

“It's been noted in every state in the lower 48 but it's causing more destruction in the Western States because of our climate,” Fleming said.

Cheatgrass grows in the winter and sprouts its roots under the snow. It is the first plant to green up in the spring. As an annual, it dies off each year and has a different growing cycle that Wyoming’s native perennial grass.

Cheatgrass’ sole purpose is to produce as much seed as possible before dying off every June. Then in becomes another type of menace: Fuel for fire. 

 “It takes one lightning strike to get a fire started,” Fleming said. “That fuel load created by dead cheatgrass helps spread the fire quickly through this country.”

 that cheatgrass has disrupted the fire cycle in sagebrush habitat and other western ecosystems, leading to more frequent and more intense burns. Those fires subsequently destroy native grasses and sage.

“Invasives come back the next year and so the fire doesn't affect them,” Fleming said. “As a result, we see this reoccurring, increased fire cycle that is not typical for this area.”

Fleming said fires typically burn every 30 years in grass and sage ecosystems, but thanks to cheatgrass they are occurring every five years or sooner.

 burned more than 126,000 acres outside of Thermopolis. Several organizations are monitoring the land to beat back the expected surge of cheatgrass. The fire started from a lightning strike on Axtell’s ranch and spread to neighboring ranches.

“Cheatgrass has the first opportunity to get the moisture and get started,” Axtell said. “With this fire, they're really watching to see where it's going to come back.”

Axtell said a grant for more than $8 million has been allocated to fight cheatgrass in the burn area. He is hopeful that by being proactive they will keep the cheatgrass to a minimum.   

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Benefits of Cheatgrass"}]

“When it's green, cheat grass actually has some decent protein and a forge quality to it,” Fleming said. “But it's only green from April to maybe June which is a very short window.”

Baird admits that because the cheat grass can be beneficial, he has mixed emotions about the expense of eradicating it.  

“If you get a good fall rain, it might stay green under the snow until December or January,” he said. “Those cows are getting green feed and getting protein naturally from the cheatgrass.”

Baird said cheatgrass can be up to 18% protein in the early season, but cattle will have little of the grass to graze. The good grass, according to Baird, might only be 6% protein in the winter, but even when it dries it still has good feed value. 

Cheatgrass, on the other hand, has no feed value once in dries in the spring.

 Although experts say they can only manage the weed, not eradicate it, they are seeing successes.  

“The best tools that we have for long-term management is herbicides,” Fleming said. “We have been using products like Rejuvra to treat invasive annual grasses on a large-landscape scale.”

The goal is to target seed sources. Plants would not only grow but viable seed would also be eliminated.

Baird had five acres sprayed with the herbicide and noticed the cheatgrass was not as productive. However, the herbicide's expense makes the treatment prohibitive on much of his 30,000 acres of grazing leases and private property. It is close to $50 an acre to treat, he said.

So far, Fleming said, studies have shown if an area is treated twice, much of the cheatgrass will be eliminated and native grasses can regain their lost foothold.

“What we're finding is that when you treat, your perennial grass production nearly doubles in the treated areas and your annual grass does nothing,” Fleming said.

 By eliminating cheatgrass, Fleming said studies show the perennial grass has access to nutrients and water.

“Our grass feels good again,” Fleming said. “It's not in a drought state anymore nor being suppressed. It's actually being vigorous, more productive.”

Fleming said that these more resilient, productive, perennial species would then be more competitive when cheatgrass re-enters the landscape.

 Landowners have access to the herbicide at local weed and pest offices and can apply for grants to apply the chemical.

“Rejuvra is fairly new, and it's kind of a proven chemical, so we probably will get on a program now,” Axtell said. “Before, there was no guarantee that what you were going to use with Plateau or other chemicals was really going to give you that great of control.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Work In Progress"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Axtell said that as more people treat for cheatgrass, it will help."}]

“You would no longer have neighbors who aren't treating while you're still battling cheatgrass coming in from around you,” Axtell said. “It's helpful that the chemical is so good at what it does.”

For those who are concerned about using an herbicide, more labor-intensive options are available, although these techniques have not been as effective. Axtell said they have tried these techniques themselves but have seen little effect against cheatgrass.

“We try not to graze in the spring and graze in the fall and let those natives propagate and come back,” Axtell said. “We've tried grazing with goats. We've tried real early spring grazing with high intensity and then getting off to try to graze out the cheatgrass.

“It just seems like once it's there, it's really hard to re-establish some natives.”

Baird said current drought conditions have actually naturally helped in the battle against the cheatgrass.

“Down on my BLM allotment, where it was basically a monoculture of cheatgrass, there was absolutely nothing green there at all,” Baird said. “The cheatgrass didn't have the moisture, so the deep-rooted native grasses took hold before the cheatgrass even had a chance to germinate.”

Fleming said she has visited other states where the cheatgrass had destroyed wildlife habitats and agricultural lands, and said it was heartbreaking.

“I work really closely with the BLM, and every single year, we're spraying a large section of public land for invasive grasses,” Fleming said, “The idea is, hopefully, we can start connecting larger chunks of property together by working with private landowners on larger projects.”

Cheatgrass and fire Game and Fish 8 8 26

<title>Cheatgrass An Nightmare For Wyoming Rangeland, Costing $110 Million In Losses | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Cheatgrass has become a nightmare for Wyoming ranchers, costing an estimated $110 million in annual losses. Hot Springs rancher Chip Axtell estimates 20% of his own rangeland has been taken over by cheatgrass. “It grabs up all the moisture," he said.

Cheatgrass An Nightmare For Wyoming Rangeland, Costing $110 Million In Losses

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

Andrew Rossi

Wyoming Life

Food

If you find a giant puffball mushroom in Wyoming, you can slice and spice it up for a fungi feast. It's like a slice of bread, two feet across.

Tyler Sease was foraging near the Happy Jack Recreation Area near Laramie when he found the mother of all mushrooms. It was a western giant puffball about as big as two basketballs put together.

Sease could have made a great meal with that massive mushroom, but he probably needed to spice it up a bit. Puffballs cook nicely, but the flavor can leave something to be desired.

“They are edible, but I find them pretty bland,” said Jake States, a retired professor, Lander resident, and mushroom expert. “I sauté them with garlic.”

Western giant puffballs are one of the more common edible mushrooms in Wyoming. Anyone fancying a fungi feast can go out and find one – it might even be as big as Sease’s.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Western Flair"}]

Calvatia booniana, the western giant puffball, is common throughout the fields and forests of Wyoming.  According to States, the shape and size of Sease’s mushroom is enough to identify it.

“Although the puffballs in general have a rounded shape, these large ones are really unique,” he said. “The western giant puffball is irregularly shaped, whereas the eastern giant puffball is almost perfectly round.”

Based on the photo, States believed the mushroom Sease found might have been two fruiting bodies, called gastrocarps or “stomach bodies,” that grew together.

[{"type":"text","text":"That’s not uncommon for puffballs."}]

“The gastrocarps can fuse together, but on the other hand, it is characteristically irregularly rounded or blobby-shaped, and so it could be a single fruit body.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Fairy Rings"}]

States said the best places to find western giant puffballs are low-elevation grasslands or subalpine meadows. He’s found they’re common in sagebrush communities, growing together in what’s called a fairy ring.  

“Fairy rings are a circle of fruiting bodies,” he said. “They’re formed by underground mycelium, the feeding vegetative bodies of the fungus, that kill off the surface vegetation and produce reproductive structures in those circles. There are quite a number of mushrooms that form these rings.”

[{"type":"text","text":"“Fairy ring” comes from European folklore."}]

Many western European traditions ascribed the circular rings of mushrooms to the dancing of fairies, pixies, elves, or witches. The Dutch believe the rings marked the spot where the Devil placed his milk churn.

While that’s been debunked by science, there is something supernaturally frustrating about giant puffballs. According to States, they defy modernity.

“We have been unable to produce large puffballs in culture,” he said. “All these mushroom cultivators would dearly love to do so, but we haven't done it yet.”

Puffballs have historically been used to dress wounds, either sliced or powdered, by cultures around the world. They contain a styptic, a substance that stops bleeding and seals injured blood vessels.

“The genus Calvasia has a chemical compound called calvacin, a natural anti-tumor mucoprotein,” said States. “They’re trying to isolate that and get into the pharmaceutical entourage.”

Many scientists would love to further explore and reap the benefits of giant puffballs, but that has yet to be accomplished in a laboratory setting. It is stated that they have mycorrhiza, which means fungus-root associations, that aren’t fully understood.

Bioprospecting is the concept of developing new chemicals, inventions, and technologies by studying the natural adaptations of flora and fauna. It’s something States knows all about.

“I discovered the mold form of a mushroom called Aspergillus laporus,” he said. “That’s the one being studied so much now for its production of natural lysergic acid diethylamine, or LSD. Who knew?”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Death Or Delicacy?"}]

Giant puffballs, including the western giant puffball, are edible. However, nobody should take a bite without dissecting it first.

Giant puffballs can look similar to poisonous earthballs. Many species of the mushroom genus Amanita, including the deadly destroying angel, don’t grow as large as puffballs but can resemble them in their immature growth stages.

States said the easiest way to determine if your two-foot-wide mushroom is edible is to carve it up, which you’d probably do anyway.

“The tissues will be perfectly white as you cut through them,” he said. “As long as that tissue is white, it's edible.”

One group of puffballs has toxic spores, but they’re easy to identify by their purple color.

A safe, savory slice of western puffball mushroom will look like a slice of white bread, except that it’s two feet across. From there, it can be served however one would like.

Regardless, nobody who finds a western giant puffball should immediately pop a piece into their mouths. It’s always best to check and cook before consuming.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Common Craving"}]

If anyone wants a taste of western giant puffball, or maybe serve one for Thanksgiving in lieu of turkey, they’re not hard to find in Wyoming. States encounters them frequently while exploring Lander.

“I'm here in Sinks Canyon, in the transition zone of the sagebrush foothills into the conifer forest, so I find them regularly every season,” he said.

[{"type":"text","text":"There’s another thing to be wary of when eating giant puffballs."}]

Some people have reported the mushroom as having a laxative effect. Giant puffballs aren’t closely related to Asia’s shiitake mushrooms, but the end result might have a gastrointestinal impact worthy of the name.

Giant puffballs are edible, but there are tastier fungi to forage in Wyoming. That’s why States doesn’t have them on his menu.

“It has a mushroom-type flavor, but I find them bland,” States said. “Some people like anything that tastes fungusy, but I think there are so many more mushrooms that are much better, so I don't mess with (puffballs) at all.”

Happy Jack Reservoir puffball 2 8 8 216

<title>Wyoming Man Finds Mother Of All Puffball Mushrooms At Happy Jack — And It's Edible | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Wyoming man found a giant puffball mushroom the size of two basketballs near the Happy Jack Recreation Area last week. Mushroom expert Jack States says the edible puffball is best when sautéd with garlic but cautions it could have a laxative effect.

Wyoming Man Finds Mother Of All Puffball Mushrooms At Happy Jack — And It's Edible

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Wildlife

As hunting season settles over the mountains surrounding Snyder Basin in Sublette County, the moose begin drifting toward a Wyoming woman's ranch. Sometimes alone, and sometimes with calves.

[{"type":"text","text":"To Pamela Chrisman, their arrival isn't surprising."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"It's been happening for nearly 40 years."}]

"They'd come in here and hide from the hunters," Chrisman explained. "This is kind of a safe haven for all those guys."

What began with one hungry old cow moose slowly blossomed into one of Wyoming's most remarkable wildlife stories — a bond built not through training or taming, but through decades of building trust.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Fish Creek Ranch "}]

Chrisman was born in Big Piney and has spent nearly her entire life ranching beneath Snyder Basin, where cattle, horses and wildlife have always been part of daily life.

[{"type":"text","text":"She was about 21 years old when she moved onto the remote ranch."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"There was no bathroom, no telephone, no running water,\" she recalled."}]

Winters meant trips to the outhouse through deep snow. Eventually, her mother helped install a well, and the two spoke each night over a CB radio.

[{"type":"text","text":"The isolation never bothered Chrisman."}]

She grew up following her father while he worked cattle and said she always felt at home outdoors.

[{"type":"text","text":"Animals had always occupied a special place in her life."}]

She remembered adopting a steer as a girl, loving her horses, dogs and cats, and riding horseback home after her school bus became stranded in the snow.

Long before the moose arrived, caring for animals was simply part of who she was.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Grandma Mouse"}]

"Sometime in the 1980s", Chrisman says an aging cow moose wandered onto the ranch and began eating hay alongside her horses.

[{"type":"text","text":"The old moose was gaunt."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"She was really, really gray,\" Chrisman recalled."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Instead of chasing the animal away, she let it eat."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"She affectionately named the old cow \"Grandma Mouse.\""}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The name stuck, and so did the moose."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Grandma Mouse kept returning."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Then she brought offspring."}]

Chrisman watched as one generation followed another. There was Merry Mouse, Miss Mouse, Baby Mouse and an old bull she simply called Old Boy. Each had its own personality.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"They have different temperaments,\" she said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Building Trust"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"At first, the moose simply shared pasture with Chrisman's horses."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The horses accepted them."}]

"They'd go in and stand next to her in the corral," Chrisman said. "She could eat with them."

[{"type":"text","text":"Over time, something even more unusual happened."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The moose began trusting Chrisman herself."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"She developed a routine."}]

"I just gave them a hoop or a holler and shook the bucket," she said. "There they come."

Eventually, the relationship became close enough that Chrisman posed for photographs hugging the animals and even briefly sitting atop one especially gentle cow named Miss Mouse.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I could actually get on her,\" she said. \"They just liked me.\""}]

[{"type":"text","text":"She never tried turning the experience into a roadside attraction."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"In fact, she discouraged visitors."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The moose accepted her, but they remained wary of everyone else."}]

"I wouldn't let them up there," Chrisman said. "You better stand back, because they're just not really impressed about having quite a few people around."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'They Know Where To Come' "}]

To many people who spend time in Wyoming's backcountry, getting close to a moose is reason for concern, not celebration.

competing in an ultramarathon through the Wyoming wilderness, and nearly all agreed on the animal they feared most. 

[{"type":"text","text":"It wasn't bears."}]

Massive, territorial and fiercely protective of calves, moose have earned a reputation as one of Wyoming's most unpredictable wild animals.

[{"type":"text","text":"That is what makes Chrisman's story so extraordinary."}]

To outsiders, the idea that generations of wild moose would willingly return to the same ranch — and trust the same woman — might sound almost impossible.

But John Lund, regional wildlife supervisor for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department's Pinedale Region, said the behavior makes biological sense.

"It's not uncommon," Lund said of multiple generations returning to the same property, especially when an area provides high-quality habitat and protection from people, predators and other disturbances.

Lund said wildlife managers believe moose, much like deer and elk, likely learn seasonal locations from their mothers.

He also said big-game animals quickly learn where hunting pressure is low and return to those places year after year.

While moose hunting is much more limited than elk hunting, he believes the same principle applies.

[{"type":"text","text":"For Chrisman, that's exactly what she has witnessed."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"They know where to come,\" she said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"R-E-S-P-E-C-T "}]

At one time, Chrisman estimated as many as 10 moose regularly visited the ranch.

[{"type":"text","text":"Today, about four or five still stop by."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Grandma Mouse is gone."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"So are Merry Mouse, Miss Mouse and Old Boy."}]

But each winter, Chrisman still puts out an alfalfa bale and a few pellets.

[{"type":"text","text":"She still watches the hills."}]

Descendants of those first visitors still find their way back beneath Snyder Basin.

Lund said becoming comfortable around one person "isn't unheard of," though he cautioned that moose are still wild animals. Cows can become aggressive while protecting calves, bulls often become dangerous during the fall rut, and any moose that feels cornered or threatened could attack.

[{"type":"text","text":"Chrisman agrees that respect has always been the key."}]

"They aren't as mean as people put them up to be," she said. "But you've got to respect them and give them enough room."

[{"type":"text","text":"She never tried to make the moose into pets."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"She simply offered them a place where they were safe."}]

Moose lady Pam2 8 8 26

<title>Meet The Moose Whisperer: For 40 Years, Wild Moose Return To Her Big Piney Ranch | Cowboy State Daily</title>

For nearly 40 years, generations of wild moose have returned to Fish Creek Ranch near Big Piney, Wyoming, where they trust Pamela Chrisman so much she can walk up and pet them. "This is kind of a safe haven for all those guys," she said.

Meet The Moose Whisperer: For 40 Years, Wild Moose Return To Her Big Piney Ranch

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's business and tourism reporter, Renée Jean

Renée Jean

Wine country in America usually evokes a mental image of a rolling, manicured hill with velvet ropes and a snobbish sommelier somewhere in California. 

In Wyoming, with its high prairie wind and winters that can plunge to 30 degrees below zero, it’s more likely to elicit laughter or some sage advice — such as, “Don’t try this at home, kiddos.”

The odds are definitely not in the wine grape grower’s favor. It’s windy, it’s cold, and there’s a short-short growing season, which tightens even more at elevation.

 who decide to give it a try — and succeed.

Mustang Mountain Winery near Lovell, for example, and Table Mountain Vineyards near Huntley in southeast Wyoming are among the few pioneers who not only successfully grow grapes but turned them into a profitable winery. 

Christopher Volzke and his wife, Angie, with Unlocked Vines, are latest to join this small club with a cold-pressed winery in Casper.

It hasn’t been an easy road. Volzke has lost track of the number of times people have told him he probably wouldn’t be able to grow winery grapes in Wyoming. 

But he’s a farm kid from north-central South Dakota. So, stubbornness — perseverance in polite company — comes naturally. 

“I think my wife and I both consider ourselves a bit of serial hobbyists,” he said with a chuckle. “I think we like to find challenges and see if we can make things happen where otherwise maybe there hasn’t been a lot of action.”

Growing up on a fifth-generation ranch made him confident, despite what everyone told him, that he could get grapes to grow in Wyoming. 

“You just have to be selective on what you’re growing,” he said. “You have to approach it in a different way than if we were on the coast of California.”

That meant amending thick clay soils as well as engineering a next-level trellis system to keep his vines healthy and intact despite Wyoming’s infamous wind.

Wyoming has some positives to offer, Volzke said. Those hot days and cool nights — a dramatic diurnal shift — protect the acidity wines need to keep them from becoming too flabby or jammy. 

“It’s one of the reasons you don’t really see wine grapes in Florida,” he said.

Growing up on a fifth-generation ranch made Christopher Volzke confident, despite what everyone told him, that he could get grapes to grow in Wyoming. Not only was he right, but he and his wife, Angie, won a silver medal for their wine from Winemaker Magazine.

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