It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Monday, April 13th. I’m Mac Watson.
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This year marks the 100th anniversary of the legendary Triangle X Ranch in Grand Teton National Park, now led by a fourth generation of the Turner family. Cowboy State Daily’s Zak Sonntag reports that the family is entering a moment they just never get used to: renegotiating the lease with the Park Service.
“So the questions are, can they continue to operate as they have been, which is in a very old school way. They don't offer Wi Fi there. They do very traditional dude ranch activities. They take people 12 miles into the back country on horses, and it's all happening at a time when most of the park concessions are becoming more corporate, more modern, more uniform. the way the negotiations look are something like, Okay, we know you need to make a profit so that you can be operative, but also you're on public land, and we're not going to let you just charge whatever you want. And if you start doing better, we're actually going to increase the rate that you have to share with the Park Service.”
John H. Turner, a fourth generation, tells Cowboy State Daily that he sees ranch life as a springboard to wider success. Turners have become private pilots, real estate mavens, and lawyers.
Read the full story HERE.
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More than 50 years after a Utah teenager was killed, advanced DNA tech has confirmed she’s another victim of infamous serial killer Ted Bundy. Cowboy State Daily’s Jen Kocher reports that it’s a breakthrough that could solve other cold cases, including in Wyoming.
“There wasn't a full DNA profile of Ted Bundy in a national database, and up until this particular profile was done by the Utah prime lab. There was not one complete DNA profile of Ted Bundy. There were partials, and you'd have to go through the lab in Florida where they were kept. So it was really cumbersome to try to connect the dots to Ted Bundy. However, that has all changed. So now, anybody any state, any jurisdiction, who has a case that might be Ted Bundy, can now test against this DNA. So it's a huge breakthrough.”
The Utah County Sheriff’s Office announced at a press conference last week that Bundy was responsible for killing 17-year-old Laura Ann Aime in 1974, a crime that went unsolved for 52 years.
Read the full story HERE.
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After more than 40 years on display, the big-game taxidermy collection at the Safari Club restaurant in Thermopolis will be shipped to auction next week. Cowboy State Daily’s Jackie Dorothy reports that a potential value hasn’t been put on the hundreds of mounts, some of which can’t be sold in the U.S.
“These specimens were collected over a long period of time, about 60 years of hunting by Jim Mills, and he started in the 1960s when it was legal to take the big five, to take the rhinoceros, the elephant, the leopard, and all of these rare specimens and bring them to America. This collection really has been an icon here in Thermopolis.”
The inventory in the Safari Club has not been done yet on Mills' extensive collection to determine how many pieces are heading to auction, nor has an estimated value yet been established.
Read the full story HERE
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Flaming Gorge is preparing to be drained by up to a third to make up for the “horrible” Colorado River levels. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that Wyoming and other Upper Basin states could be left dry in response to desperate downriver water shortages.
“This isn't set in stone yet, but it's looking pretty bad this year that they're going to have to take up to roughly a third of the water out of Flaming Gorge reservoir, because that connects down through the system all the way to Lake Powell. That isn't as simple as it sounds, because that can affect a lot of things, like I talked to a marina manager there at Flaming Gorge. And of course, Flaming Gorge is famous across the region, if not the entire country, for its kokanee salmon fishing. And he said, If they take as much water as they're talking about, it will destroy the spawning for the kokanee salmon. And we'll be right back to square one.”
Tony Valdez, owner of Buckboard Marina at Flaming Gorge, tells Cowboy State Daily that the last time Flaming Gorge was hit hard with drawdowns was in 2022. However, the winter of 2022-2023 saw massive snowfall across much of Wyoming, which softened the blow.
Read the full story HERE.
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I’ll be back with more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this.
Cowboy State Daily news continues now…
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Decades after “Lord of The Winds” mountaineer Finis Mitchell roamed the Wind River Range, hikers still find his handwritten notes in small plastic tubes. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that Star Valley photographer Ammon Jeffs found a Mitchell note while hiking on Sheep's Mountain.
“One of the things he did that I don't think a lot of people know, is he left these little notes at places where he had a particularly good view. He left these little notes inviting whoever found it to write to him and he would send them Kodachrome Transparencies of the view that he had taken. I did receive an email too from someone saying that he also left coins out there in the Wind River Mountains. And so who knows where those are, or if anyone has found them.”
By the time he died, Mitchell had taken close to 120,000 photos in the Wind River Range, using them often in free, educational slideshows where he promoted responsible management of the wilderness he so loved.
Read the full story HERE.
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Sublette County is larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined and has more than 1,500 miles of roads. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports that the entire county doesn’t have a stoplight and people like it that way.
“There's been this pride in the county that there is no stoplight, and there have been discussions about having a stoplight, discussions of whether a stoplight is needed. And you know, usually when those talks come up, it is vehemently opposed by at least one faction of the community, the people who, in the words of one commenter, don't want Sublette County to be Californ-icated that comment came in a city survey as they were doing an upgrade project.”
Pinedale, the county seat with a population of about 2,050, is historically recognized as one of the most isolated towns in the nation. In 1912, it was pinpointed as being the farthest incorporated town from a railroad.
Read the full story HERE.
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Jeff Henry, who has worked at Yellowstone for more than 48 years, said temperatures this winter were frequently 30 degrees above normal. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that meant rain instead of snow at Old Faithful on Christmas.
“There were several days where temperatures were above 20 even 30 degrees, and any snow that fell melted before it hit the ground. So what does that all mean for the upcoming summer season? While we're still in the seat, we're still in Wyoming's rainiest season, we get most of our precipitation in April, May and June, and usually March as well. We can anticipate some significant changes in Yellowstone, a lot of the creeks where people fish might be closed because they're too warm, and they might close early in the season. And there also be an extreme fire danger.”
Author and historian Jeff Henry just finished his 48th season as a winter keeper in Yellowstone National Park. His job is to ensure the buildings at Old Faithful and other locations don’t collapse under the weight of several feet of snow.
Read the full story HERE.
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The 9-mile hike into Lonesome Lake in the Wind River Range mountains takes hikers to the stunning Cirque of Towers. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that some veteran hikers say social media has turned it into a mob scene and it's getting “loved to death.”
“The problem is, like all these other places in this day and age, where all you got to do is snap a picture of your phone and put it up on your account, running and raving about it. And the one guy I talked to, who's a Pinedale native, who's been going there for 30 years, he said he has to go up there sometimes and pick up garbage and poop that people just leave laying around. And he's really worried that the water in the lake itself has become contaminated with human feces. So it's just, it's one of those things, hey, it's great that more people are enjoying the outdoors, but it also kind of stinks that most people that more people are enjoying the outdoors.”
The 9-mile hike into Lonesome Lake at the southern end of the Wind River Range Mountains is a workout, but hikers say it’s well worth the effort, ending at the foot of the magnificent Cirque of Towers.
Read the full story HERE.
And that’s today’s news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on Cowboy State Daily Dot Com - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for watching - I’m Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.
