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[{"type":"text","text":"Men are simple....."}]

Bonus vid 2 10 28 24

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

<title>Bonus Video 2: Monday, October 28, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Men are simple.....

Bonus Video 2: Monday, October 28, 2024

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

Andrew Rossi

Outdoors

Public Lands

Almost a week after a semitruck carrying 

 flipped over in Yellowstone National Park and destroyed hundreds of hives, bees are still swarming around the area.

Thousands of bees are still homeless and visibly trying to survive in large groups on “bee trees” along U.S. Highway 191. 

Jim Holstein with Yellowstone Tour Guides has been passing through the area where the accident occurred. He took a photograph of one of the bee trees, where thousands of bees had completely covered a small lodgepole in a vast, buzzing swarm.

“They were still there on Monday,” Holstein told Cowboy State Daily. “It’s in the park between Big Sky and West Yellowstone. All the hives have been cleaned up, but there are quite a few bees left.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Bee Trees"}]

Cheyenne beekeeper Michael Jordan is familiar with bee trees. They’re an indication that a colony of bees is actively house-hunting.

“It’s what's called a swarming mechanism,” he said. “The queen leaves and takes about half or more of the colony and moves to a new safe location.”

Jordan said this is common behavior for honeybees when a hive gets overpopulated. The existing queen will take nurse bees and guard bees to sustain herself in a temporary location while scouts search for a permanent 

“The scouts will search until they find a permanent location,” he said. “In the meantime, you'll have groups and colonies hanging in the trees as they regroup.”

A new permanent home could be a hole in a tree, a cave, or “anywhere that’s out of the water and elements,” said Jordan. 

Bee trees are meant to be staging locations so the scouts can lead the hive to their new home.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Sugar High"}]

When the scout bees find a suitable location for a permanent hive, their next priority is

“Right now, they’re looking for a sugar source,” Jordan said. “Bees need sugar to produce wax from their glands. Once they produce the wax and form it, they'll actively engineer foam in what we call a pendulum manner to make honeycombs.”

Bees instinctively know how to build hives, and their goal is to start propagating as soon as possible after a hive-destroying incident.

Once they find a suitable spot with plenty of sugar in the vicinity, maybe a rock formation or building near a flower-filled meadow, the queen will follow the scouts to the new hive. Instinctively, all the bees on the bee tree will follow her.

Jordan didn't think there would be any bee trees for tourists to see by Wednesday.

“Those clusters will be gone within 24 to 48 hours if they find a good location,” he said. “After that, there’s nothing you can do to recover them, because tracking them is very hard.

The fact that bee trees can still be seen along U.S. Highway 191 six days after the June 16 crash might indicate the bees are having trouble finding an ideal place for a new home. But it definitely means the colonies can be safely recovered.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Get Those Bees, Please"}]

Within 24 hours of the semitruck incident, people were at the scene removing the damaged honey boxes and trying to recover whatever remained of the bee colonies that had been residing in them.

Jordan said the first 48 hours are crucial in a bee recovery situation like that.

“If you can’t get new hives set up in 48 hours, the queens will migrate and leave a pheromone trail that the bees accommodating her in that hive will follow,” he said. “That’s what the bee trees are: thousands of bees accumulating around the queen.”

That means there’s a small window to safely save these bees before they become permanent Yellowstone residents.

Jordan’s strategy would be to place a mobile swarm trap. It’s basically a column of PVC pipes with buckets attached to either end. The height can be adjusted to get as close as possible to the colony clusters.

“If the bees accumulate in the buckets as a temporary hive, you can relocate them to an apiary and manage them there,” he said. “You can even hold a bucket up to the colony and shake them inside. That’s how you can naturally collect and remove a colony.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"No Bears — Yet"}]

Commercial vehicles like semitrucks are banned in Yellowstone, but U.S. Highway 191 is an exception. It hugs the western boundary of the park and is an important 55-mile thoroughfare between West Yellowstone and Big Sky, 

"They've enacted a temporary 35 mph speed limit on the section where the bees are," Holstein said. "People have to keep their windows up, and there's no stopping until crews can get the remaining bees rounded up."

When the bee trees disappear, it means the bees have found a suitable spot to rebuild their hive. Finding and removing the colony would be difficult, if not impossible, especially in the dangerous wilderness of Yellowstone.

[{"type":"text","text":"After all, who loves honey more than bears?"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“I haven’t seen any bears,” Holstein said. “Yet.”"}]

Jordan was more concerned about the people who lost their honey boxes and bee colonies. He knew how much money they had lost and must have spent trying to salvage whatever they could from the accident.

“From the way it looks. I’d think about 40-50% of what’s there is salvageable, maybe,” he said. “Each honey box can cost around $500 and generate around $2,000 in honey. 

"There could be two or three owners who lost their livelihood in that accident. That’s at least one whole company that has to rebuild.”

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<title>Millions Of Bees Swarm On Trees In Yellowstone After Hives Smashed In Semi Crash | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Almost a week after a semitruck carrying millions of bees flipped over in Yellowstone National Park and destroyed hundreds of hives, bees are still swarming on trees in the area. “It’s what's called a swarming mechanism,” said a Wyoming beekeeper.

Millions Of Bees Swarm On Trees In Yellowstone After Hives Smashed In Semi Crash

Employee kate meadows cropped

Kate Meadows

Energy

Wyoming's uranium industry is accelerating after decades of limited exploration and production, driven by growing demand for nuclear energy, national security concerns and an effort to reduce America's reliance on foreign fuel supplies.

"There's a lot of interest in uranium in Wyoming right now," said Travis Deti, executive director of the Wyoming Mining Association.

Much of that activity is centered in the Powder River Basin in northeast Wyoming, where companies ranging from established producers to smaller exploration firms are drilling again in what Deti believes is the beginning of another uranium boom.

"Our companies that have been on the ground for a while are producing again after a little down period," Deti said. "Domestic uranium production is really positioned well."

Among the companies expanding their footprint is American Uranium Ltd., which is in its fourth season of drilling near Casper.

"It's encouraging to see these companies getting back into business," said American Uranium CEO Bruce Lane.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Growing Need For Domestic Uranium"}]

For decades, the United States has imported most of the uranium used to fuel its nuclear reactors.

"We've been reliant on foreign actors that are not necessarily our friends," Deti said.

Nuclear energy still supplies about 20% of the nation's electricity, and the United States operates more nuclear reactors than any other country in the world, according to the U.S. Energy Information Association.

According to Lane, those reactors consume between 50 million and 55 million pounds of uranium annually, with the overwhelming majority coming from overseas suppliers.

"We've been off the playing field for a long time," Deti said. "It's time to get back on and build up our capacity to power our plants."

Congressional efforts to rebuild domestic nuclear fuel supplies, coupled with a ban on uranium imports from Russia, have accelerated interest in American production — along with a renewed push to develop advanced nuclear plants in Wyoming and the U.S.

Lane said the supply gap extends beyond the United States. Worldwide uranium mines produce about 140 million pounds annually, while demand is approaching 200 million pounds.

"The uranium industry has been on its knees all over the world," Lane said.

At the same time, roughly 80 nuclear reactors are under construction globally, many of them in China, he added. Each new reactor requires about 1.5 million pounds of uranium for its initial fuel load and about 500,000 pounds annually thereafter.

Uranium has strategic importance beyond commercial electricity generation. It is used by the federal government for defense applications like fueling naval reactors, while the military is exploring small, modular nuclear reactor technologies.

"I think everyone is realizing how vital it is for national security," Lane said.

American Uranium Drilling Again In Powder River Basin

American Uranium has permits to drill 121 holes as part of its exploration program in the Powder River Basin. More than half have already been completed.

Lane traveled from Australia to Wyoming last week to visit the project and discuss the future of domestic uranium production with policymakers in Washington, D.C.

The company expects to complete its current drilling campaign within the next three weeks and plans to release an updated resource estimate in July.

"Our objective is to expand the project and improve confidence in the resource," Lane said.

The results will help determine future production scenarios, economic forecasts and a timeline for permitting and construction of in-situ production.

If development proceeds as planned, Lane said the company could be producing Wyoming uranium by 2029 or 2030.

Engineers are also conducting hydrogeological studies to better understand the aquifer that hosts the uranium deposit.

Unlike historical open-pit uranium mines, Wyoming producers primarily use in-situ recovery, or ISR, mining. The process involves circulating a mild alkaline solution through uranium-bearing groundwater hundreds of feet below the surface, dissolving the uranium and pumping it to the surface for processing.

Resin beads capture the uranium from the water. The uranium is then stripped from the resin and dried into uranium concentrate, commonly known as yellowcake.

"All we're doing is treating the water, a bit like water softening," Lane said. "It's a very clean process."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"An Industry That Nearly Disappeared"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Wyoming was once at the center of a thriving uranium industry."}]

Lane said domestic production reached roughly 44 million pounds annually during the 1980s. About 27% of that, or about 12 million pounds, came from Wyoming.

But the industry collapsed as large volumes of inexpensive uranium entered world markets following agreements between the United States and Russia after the end of the Cold War.

American producers struggled to compete against those lower prices, and exploration largely stalled. Now, under current geopolitical pressures, domestic production is beginning to rebound.

Lane said U.S. uranium output is expected to reach 4 million to 5 million pounds this year, up from about 2.5 million pounds in 2025.

[{"type":"text","text":"Wyoming accounts for a significant share of that production, Deti added."}]

Momentum also increased after uranium was 

 by federal officials in late 2025, a move Wyoming's uranium industry had long advocated for.

Deti said Wyoming's extensive uranium resources and favorable regulatory environment position the state to remain a leading national producer.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Data Centers Could Add To Demand"}]

Supporters of uranium development also point to another fast-growing source of electricity demand: data centers.

The United States is expected to experience a sharp increase in power consumption over the coming years as companies build facilities to support artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"We've got to get that power from somewhere,\" Deti said."}]

Natural gas remains the easiest near-term option for many developers, Lane said, but some technology companies are increasingly examining nuclear energy because it provides carbon-free, around-the-clock power.

Small modular reactors are viewed by many in the industry as particularly well suited for data centers because they can provide reliable electricity over long periods without the intermittency challenges associated with some renewable energy sources.

"The American data center buildout is real," Deti said. "We are in a race with the Chinese and other nations."

Wyoming, he added, is uniquely positioned because it produces many of the fuels needed to generate electricity, including coal, natural gas and uranium.

"With the projected significant growth in AI data centers, you really need every reliable source that you can get," Deti said.

For Wyoming, Lane sees uranium as another chapter in the state's long history of energy development.

Taxes generated by energy projects help support schools, hospitals and infrastructure.

"Uranium is one mixed phase of energy development that can really benefit the state," Lane said.

"We're going to need the fuel, and the fuel starts with Wyoming uranium," he said. "We have a tremendous opportunity."

American Uranium Ltd 3 6 22 26

<title>Wyoming Uranium Surges As Nuclear Demand, National Security Concerns Align | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Demand for nuclear fuel, a ban on imports from Russia and booming data center-driven electricity needs are sending uranium producers back into Wyoming. "We need the fuel, and the fuel starts with Wyoming uranium," said mining association chief Travis Deti

Wyoming Uranium Surges As Nuclear Demand, National Security Concerns Align

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

Renée Jean

Waterfalls shoot straight out of volcanic cliffsides, flinging themselves into canyons almost no one ever visits. 

Far from the boardwalks and pullouts, meanwhile, something that looks very much like a starfish seems to nap where no starfish should even be, sunning itself in a crystal-clear thermal pool in Yellowstone National Park. 

It’s all part of a hidden Yellowstone that most people never get to see — the Yellowstone that Bozeman filmmaker Stephen Quayle has spent five decades chasing with a camera and has finally stitched into a new film, 

“Only 5% of Yellowstone is visible by the roads or by the boardwalks around the geysers,” Quayle told Cowboy State Daily. 

Another thin, 10% slice belongs to the hardy few willing to trek for miles into grizzly bear and wolf territory. 

But from a helicopter, “the most gorgeous” waterfalls and the most intriguing geothermal pools can be seen in stunning aerial views. 

Photographing from the air takes a million-dollar camera lens, Quayle said, one that can take high-resolution images from at least 2,000 feet away. 

That’s the minimum height recommended by the FAA for flying over places like national parks. Any lower could violate federal laws if an aircraft disturbs wildlife or park visitors.

“That way we can present to people the Yellowstone that really is,” he said. “And it’s breathtakingly wonderful. It is not just a wonder of the world, it is 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Fateful Party Weekend"}]

Quayle’s relationship with Yellowstone began when he was a college student with time on his hands and weekends to burn in glorious summer road trips. 

Yellowstone was perfect for that when you’re a young man from Bozeman, Quayle said. 

“I went there because that’s where everybody used to go and party,” he admitted. “And from Bozeman, they drive down to the inner West Yellowstone, but I would take a diversion. That doesn’t mean I didn’t partake of some of the wild stuff in those days. 

"But the bottom line is that it was so close, and in those days you could go from one feature to the next and never see another car,” Quayle added.

The more he photographed Yellowstone, the more he wanted to go back. It felt like becoming lost in another world, one that seemed to rearrange itself every time he visited.

At first, Quayle stuck to closeups. Think bacterial mats, colorful mineral formations, tiny, iridescent insects — all reflecting his interest at the time in abstract art.

“Most photographers would take a leaf,” he said. “I would take the veins in the leaf.”

But over time, Quayle saw that Yellowstone was like this gigantic living creature, breathing, pulsing, moving around. 

That could never be captured with microshots of leaf veins and abstract rock patterns. 

For the real Yellowstone, Quayle realized he had to do something to widen his scope. 

On a map, Yellowstone National Park looks vast, but knowable. 

You can drive in and easily hit the biggest, most popular features — Old Faithful, Grand Prismatic, the Canyon — and drive back out with a phone full of photos and a comfortable sense that you’ve now seen Yellowstone.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"It’s a beautiful illusion. "}]

For one thing, Yellowstone is among the most dynamic landscapes on earth. Fire and water are shaping and reshaping its landscapes all the time. 

The park is also vast —  3,500 square miles — and the majority is too dangerous and too inaccessible for most people’s hiking abilities. 

“It’s a matter of practicality,” Quayle said. “Because some of these waterfalls come out of the side of a mountain and you’ve got wolves in the park and you’ve got grizzlies in the park … and the wolves are not, ‘oh they’re so cute,’ and it’s not Yogi Bear time.”

Some areas are even untouchable when it comes to horseback, Quayle added, and the park also has rules on where people can go by horseback, which helps protect fragile areas. 

Quayle himself didn’t even realize at first just how much he’d been missing. Until one day he got the idea to take a helicopter ride and look down on this creation. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Yellowstone became a whole new world. "}]

Geyser basins became vast, veined paintings. Rivers resolved into networks tying distant waterfalls together. Thermal scars appeared in forest clearings that had no signs, no names, no crowds.

“It’s like a whole different world,” he said. “You literally wouldn’t know you were on planet Earth.”

The view from 2,000 feet is ultimately the one that captured and held Quayle’s attention the best. 

Waterfalls spilling over volcanic rocks like crystal threads of light into dark and lonely slot canyons and broad amphitheaters that had been carved by wind and water and time. 

There were blue-and-white ribbons twisting over black volcanic rock, framed by forests and meadows that melted into the mists of morning. Scenes like this often felt less like sightseeing, and more like eavesdropping on a secret earth, as if he, himself, was an alien. 

One time he saw what looked like a perfect, starfish-like form sunning itself in a crystal clear thermal pool.

“Imagine a starfish, a perfect starfish, in water that’s too hot to have any life,” he said. “How do you get that kind of design in geothermal pools?”

Quayle said he’s shared the images with researchers, who are still evaluating them.

Quayle has combined the footage taken from the air with snapshots he’s taken at Yellowstone National Park over a 50-year period, creating a feature-length film he calls “Yellowstone: Above & Below.” 

His goal with the film is to help people access even the most inaccessible places in the park, as well as raise funds to help support the park. 

Ten percent of the film’s proceeds will be donated to the park’s official nonprofit, Yellowstone Forever, to help fund conservation, education and stewardship of the park.

“Yellowstone is alive,” the film’s narrator says over sweeping aerial shots. “Every breath of steam, every shifting terrace is part of an ancient story written in stone and fire.”

Creating the film has taken Quayle a lifetime, including about four or five years worth of helicopter rides.

“We were in a helicopter for sometimes six and eight hours a day,” he said, a ride that was paid for by the hour. “I mean, it’s a lot of time in the air, but there’s no other way to see it all, to reference it.”

To capture the views, Quayle rented a gyro-stabilized camera system with a long-range lens once used for military surveillance. He also hired Hollywood cameraman Nel Boshoff to operate it.

The camera is so precise, Quayle said, it can focus on an elk 2 miles ahead and then zoom in on its eyelashes. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Where Science Meets Spirit"}]

Ask Quayle why he keeps coming back to Yellowstone after 50 years, and his answer lies somewhere between science and spirit.

From above, the branching runoff channels remind him of blood vessels in a human body, and everywhere he sees beauty born from volcanic violence.

“It’s a place of wonder and warning,” he says in the film. “It is fragile, and yet holds the strength of worlds beneath its surface.”

For most visitors, Yellowstone will always mean the 5% everyone else sees — Old Faithful, the canyon, a glimpse of bison in the valley. 

The remaining 95% — Quayle’s waterfalls in hidden canyons, starfish patterns at the bottom of a boiling pool, and backcountry geysers with no signs or names — are like something from a dream, revealed by one man’s uncommon obsession. 

If the images leave viewers feeling like they’ve gotten as close to the edge of creation as they ever will from a living-room couch, that’s fine with Quayle. That feeling is everything about Yellowstone that he’s ever wanted to say.

Contact Renee Jean at renee@cowboystatedaily.com

Quayle yellowstone alternative 6 21 26

<title>The Yellowstone You’ll Never See: Filmmaker Spends 50 Years Capturing Its Secrets | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Most tourists see just 5% of Yellowstone from roads and boardwalks. Bozeman filmmaker Stephen Quayle has spent 50 years filming the places most never reach. “It’s like a whole different world,” he said. “You literally wouldn’t know you’re on planet Earth.”

The Yellowstone You’ll Never See: Filmmaker Spends 50 Years Capturing Its Secrets

Bill Sniffin

Opinion

CSD Columnists

A week ago, Friday, I was sitting in my daughter’s backyard in a Dallas suburb. It was 94 degrees, thick with humidity, and still clinging to the dampness of a brief shower. The kind of heat that just wraps around you and won’t let go.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Then came Sunday morning."}]

We woke up at our home in Lander to a crisp 44 degrees. A 50-degree swing in less than 48 hours. Now that is what I call a welcome home.

My wife Nancy and I love going to Dallas. It has been very good to us, especially because of the outstanding medical facilities there. And, of course, our daughter Amber spoils us shamelessly, which doesn’t hurt one bit.

But there is something special, something almost medicinal, about returning to Wyoming. The cool temperatures, the low humidity, the steady breeze that reminds you you’re alive. You don’t appreciate that until you’ve spent a few days in a Texas summer.

A couple of years ago, we hosted our Dallas granddaughter’s wedding in our backyard. Nearly 100 Texans made the trip, and it was fun just listening to their reactions. The evening temperature hovered around 72 degrees, and several of them described it as “outside air conditioning.” They weren’t kidding. The humidity was about 20 percent. It was one of those perfect Wyoming evenings. Something we take for granted but probably shouldn’t.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Travel Tips"}]

We’ve made that trip to Texas enough times now to know the drill, and it can be a bit of an adventure.

We fly United, and for reasons known only to the airline gods, they often land their Dallas flight at the A concourse in Denver. United’s main hub there is the B concourse. It is a long, long ways away. And wouldn’t you know it, our little regional jet back to Riverton is always parked at the far end, usually around B90.

That means a trek of more than a mile and a half.

Nancy requires a wheelchair, and with my bad hip acting up, this time I did, too. The gentlemen pushing the wheelchairs had their work cut out for them. It is no small haul through that airport. I tipped them $20 each, and it was money well spent. There is no way we could have made that connection on foot in the time we had.

Interestingly, both men were from Africa, one from Ethiopia and the other from Mauritania. They had been in the United States for five and seven years and spoke excellent English. I’ve noticed over time that most of the wheelchair attendants seem to come from that part of the world. They work hard, they are courteous, and they keep things moving.

Whenever Nancy flies, we’ve come to rely on these folks. They make what could be a very stressful situation manageable.

Airports are also great places for Wyoming reunions.

We ran into Dr. Sandy Mossbrook, formerly of Riverton. She is the widow of Wyoming.com founder Steve Mossbrook. Sandy has recently sold her Wyoming home and is now living in California, but she had rented a place in Lander to spend the July 4 holiday with family.

Then there was author Sam Lightner of Lander, just returning from some mountain climbing in Scotland. He looked like a man who had crossed a few time zones, bleary-eyed but still going strong. He had been scaling some world class rock walls with Mike Lilygren of Lander.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"And then there was the cowboy hat."}]

We were having lunch in the Dallas airport next to an older fellow wearing a hat that just didn’t quite look Texan. Sure enough, he turned out to be Chuck Bidonde from Buffalo, traveling with his wife Sandra and her little dog.

They had been in Texas for a week watching their grandson compete in bareback riding at the Texas State High School Rodeo. Small world: he knew Jim Hicks, of course. Wyoming connections are never far away.

Hicks told me: “Chuck is a genuine hand. His dad was Basque and tended bar at one of my favorite watering holes back in the day when 2am bedtime was reasonable a couple of times a week.”

They were on our flight to Denver but then headed on to Gillette, with a drive home to Buffalo waiting for them.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"That’s Wyoming travel for you."}]

When it works, our air service is pretty remarkable. The planes are fast, comfortable, and a real lifeline for a rural state like ours. But it does not come cheap.

Here in Fremont County, voters will soon decide on a three-quarter cent sales tax to help fund revenue guarantees for that air service, along with ambulance and local bus service. These are not glamorous things, but they are essential. In a place like Wyoming, connections, both medical and transportation, can make all the difference.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Wyoming Summer"}]

There is an old joke that Wyoming has four seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter, and Construction.

Well, folks, we are now officially in construction season.

Orange cones are blooming like wildflowers, and highway crews are making up for lost time. But given the unusually mild winter we just experienced, perhaps some of these projects got a head start. One can hope.

In the meantime, we will take our cool mornings, our breezy afternoons, and those perfect summer evenings that feel like nature’s version of air conditioning.

Columnist Bill Sniffin reminds: “Traveling by air from Wyoming is always an adventure. It has been a truism that even when you die and go to heaven, you still have to go through Denver first.”

Bonus Video 2: Monday, October 28, 2024

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