David Madison

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

Renée Jean

Jimmy orr

Jimmy Orr

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily editor Justin George

Justin George

Outdoors

Public Lands

Up until this past May, much of Hell’s Half Acre had been fenced off behind “No Trespassing” signs for roughly two decades, doing little to take advantage of an attraction that is so alien and surreal it once was the scene of another planet in the cult classic 1997 science fiction film “Starship Troopers.”

, which added a new viewing platform, boardwalk, and other improvements, county geolocation data for May and June show visitation running about 30% higher than before the upgrades. 

The facelift helped set the stage for what Visit Casper says is a first — 

 in National Geographic magazine touting the city and it’s nearby alien landscape as a vacation destination. 

The feature story highlighted the 320-acre badlands as an intriguing travel stop on the way to Yellowstone, then went on to describe Casper as a convenient overnight or weekend base for adventure. 

Independence Rock, Casper Mountain, and the area’s blue-ribbon fishery were among activities highlighted in the article.

It’s another notch in the tourism belt for Casper, which has been working hard to position the city as more than just a quick fuel-and-food stop on the way to Yellowstone. 

“Boy, they really packed it all in,” Visit Casper CEO Annette Pitts told Cowboy State Daily after hearing what was in the story. “We had a lot of conversations, but I did not expect they’d actually include all of it. 

"That’s fantastic. This is a real win, and we’re thrilled.”

Casper’s Growing List Of Travel Accolades

National Geographic’s article is not the first time in recent history that Casper has earned unexpected travel accolades. 

 as a “breathtaking Western region” over pricey Jackson Hole. Other cities making that short list were Colorado, Branson in Missouri, and Greater Palm Springs in California.

The article cast Casper as an “authentic Western experience minus the crowds of Jackson Hole and Yellowstone National Park” with activities like hiking, kayaking and fly-fishing in a stunning mountain landscape.

While Casper doesn’t try to portray itself as another Jackson Hole, nor as an alternative destination, Pitts said she believes Casper has a lot to offer vacationing tourists seeking an affordable alternative in the Cowboy State.

“There are a lot of incredible things to do in the Casper area,” she said. “Hell’s Half Acre really should be part of an overall itinerary. It’s incredible. You can drive out there, have a picnic, and enjoy time with family or friends. 

"I definitely encourage that. But you don’t want to drive for just one thing. You want to have a nice, rounded experience.”

The stories by Good Housekeeping and National Geographic aren't accidents, Visit Casper’s Tia Troy told Cowboy State Daily. She has been actively pitching ideas to national media, trying to get people to look beyond Jackson Hole.

Hell’s Half Acre is an Eocene-age Wind River Formation shaped over millions of years into hoodoos, gullies, and sheer cliffs. 

Fossils of early horses, primates, and other mammals have helped tell a story of a once subtropical Wyoming with trees and crocodiles.

The site was part of a 960-acre tract of land donated to Natrona County from the federal government in 1942. About 320 acres of the site are an exposed Wind River Formation with deep ravines, caves, and wind-shaped earth and rock.

That badlands appearance is what attracted Starship Troopers to choose it as t

he set for the fictional alien world Klendathu

But the area was attracting human attention long before that. Archeological evidence suggests indigenous peoples were using the rim at the site as a buffalo jump and hunting ground dating back thousands of years.

Europeans who settled the area called it various things, like Devil’s Kitchen, the Pits of Hades, and the Baby Grand Canyon. 

Legend has it that a cowhand showed up one day and, looking at the alkali and bogs and rough badlands terrain before him, declared that he had just found Hell’s Half Acre. 

It’s not the only legend about how the place got its name. Another says that the name was a mistake in an advertising campaign to bring more tourists to the roadside attraction.

Thousands of postcards were ordered with “Devil’s Kitchen” on them, but when the postcards arrived, they instead said “Hell’s Half Acre.”

With limited funding available for the effort, the group decided to keep the postcards, and the name stuck.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Future Geotourism Hub"}]

Once upon a time, Hell’s Half Acre brought upwards of $4 million to the Natrona County area from tourism.

With the popularity of film trails, it’s thought the area could once again drive significant tourism revenue to Natrona County. 

Visit Casper’s film liaison Kelly Eastes has told Cowboy State Daily the site has already been added to various apps that help road trippers find film locations.

There’s also talk of creating geotourism opportunities, including guided tours to the bottom of Hell’s Half Acre.

The site with its soft mudstones and silt built up over millions of years is ever-changing. Wind and rain and time are forever shaving away the surface sculpting things anew.

Existing caves and pinnacles thus disappear in time and then new features are revealed — an endlessly fascinating world that never runs out of new secrets and stories to tell.

Hells Half Acre via Alamy

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

<title>National Geographic Profiles Wyoming’s Famous Hell’s Half Acre | Cowboy State Daily</title>

National Geographic has raised the profile of Wyoming’s famous Hell’s Half Acre by featuring the alien landscape in its latest issue. It comes at a time when much of Hell’s Half Acre that had been inaccessible to the public for roughly 20 years is open again.

National Geographic Profiles Wyoming’s Famous Hell’s Half Acre

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Wildlife

The number of grizzlies needed to consider the species “recovered” in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem seemingly remains an open question.

However, grizzly advocate Pete Bengeyfield, who has been watching and photographing the bears for decades, said even he has to admit there are probably enough of them to consider the species “recovered,” even if he still opposes having the bears delisted from Endangered Species Act protection and hunted.

There are an estimated 1,000 or so grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone region of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. And roughly the same number of grizzlies in Montana’s Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department and elected officials in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho think that’s plenty of grizzlies, perhaps even too many.

Gov. Mark Gordon and Wyoming’s congressional delegation praised the Department of the Interior’s announcement this week of a proposal to hand 

The proposal must go through a public comment period before it’s finalized — and wouldn’t amount to a full delisting of grizzlies.

Game and Fish still wouldn’t be allowed to open a Wyoming grizzly hunting season, which top department brass has said they intend to do if and when full delisting happens.

Wyoming Republican U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman indicated that she will continue to push to have grizzlies delisted through legislation.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Numbers Tell The Story"}]

Bengeyfield lives in Dillon, Montana, as a U.S. Forest Service hydrologist. He moved to southwest Montana in 1984 and started photographing grizzlies.

At the time, “there were maybe 200 bears” in the Yellowstone ecosystem, he said.

He retired from the Forest Service about 15 years ago, which gave him more time to dedicate to following and photographing grizzlies, and he's become an outspoken advocate for the bears.

Grizzly watching and photography was a completely different game in the mid-1980s, Bengeyfield said.

Then, he had to search far and wide to find bears.

“When I started, there were no bears in the Tetons at all. Well, maybe up in the mountains, but you didn’t see them down around Jackson at all,” he told Cowboy State Daily.

Now bears are plentiful, he said. They’re increasingly showing up in places where they were seldom, if ever, seen before, Bengeyfield said.

That includes, for example, the Gravelly Range mountains in southwest Montana, he said, adding that there’s no denying the size of the population.

“The numbers, I think, tell the story. If there really are 1,000 bears in the Yellowstone ecosystem now, I think that’s plenty to say they’re recovered,” he said. “I think bear advocates, and I consider myself to be one, are going to have a hard time justifying that we have ‘non-recovered’ numbers.

It’s also been widely argued that habitat connectivity between the Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide bear populations matters just as much, if not more, than the sheer number of bears.

“I think the arguments about connectivity to the Glacier (National Park) population and all of that, they’re real arguments,

 Bengeyfield said. "I’m not disputing that at all.” 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Can The States Be Trusted?"}]

After posting his thoughts on social media, Bengeyfield said he’s received numerous comments.

One person suggested that grizzlies be allowed to repopulate their entire historical range, he said. That would include most of the Great Plains and nearly as far south as the U.S.-Mexico border.

As appealing as that might sound, it’s “silly” in light of how much has changed since grizzlies roamed their entire range, he said.

Bengeyfield said he feels stuck on the horns of a dilemma in terms of what might be the next best step for grizzlies.

Regarding the Department of the Interior’s move to hand grizzly management over to the states, he said he’s not exactly enthusiastic about it.

“I think when you deal with the states, especially in Montana, the local view of the grizzlies — and not the view of the majority of the people, but of the people in power — is that they don’t want grizzlies at all,

More bears on the landscape, along with more people than he’s ever seen before, has increased the risk of human-bear conflicts, Bengeyfield said.

In that sense, he said that “the recovery effort has almost been too successful. They’ve recovered so many bears, and there are so many more people, the bear-people interactions are just going to increase."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Numbers Are Not Enough"}]

Former Wyoming Game and Fish director and current U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik has stated that the number of grizzlies indicates full recovery.

His successor at Game and Fish, Director Angi Bruce, has openly argued the same.

Delisting supporters point out that 500 grizzlies was the original target number for the Yellowstone Ecosystem, and that

Grizzly conservationist Louisa Willcox told Cowboy State Daily that she thinks the “500” number is tied to a 1993 grizzly recovery plan that was flawed to begin with.

Also, population estimates alone can’t be the only measure of whether the species is recovered in the Lower 48, she added.

“The numbers have to be tied to habitat,” she said.

That means not only habitat in its current state, but how it might look in the future.

For instance, grizzlies are now dependent upon berries and cutworm moths for peak summer foods, and those are at high altitudes, Willcox said.

But scientific models indicate those food sources might start to run out, she said.

“What happens when the moths run out?” she said.

That could very well mean bears moving to lower altitudes during the summer. And more people are at lower altitudes, meaning more chances for human-bear conflicts, Willcox said.

“There’s no magic number” of grizzlies that would mark full recovery, she said.

Instead, as she sees it, there needs to be a complete revision of the 1993 grizzly recovery plan. And all interested parties should be involved, she said.

And FWS should lead that effort, Willcox said.

But as she sees it, at least so far, the agency hasn’t shown a willingness to do that.

Big ole griz7 18 26

<title>Even If Grizzlies Have ‘Recovered,’ Advocates Still Don’t Want The Bears Delisted | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Grizzly advocate Pete Bengeyfield, who has been watching and photographing the bears for decades, said even he has to admit there are probably enough of them to consider the species “recovered." However, he still opposes having the bears delisted.

Even If Grizzlies Have ‘Recovered,’ Advocates Still Don’t Want The Bears Delisted

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

Crime & Courts

Courts

The Wyoming Supreme Court has rejected all the appeal arguments that a former award-winning Casper foster dad made in an attempt to overturn his 128-to-178-year sentence for sexually abusing children.

Steven Marler, 51, was not deprived of a fair trial in April 2025, says a unanimous majority opinion by Wyoming Supreme Court Justice Robert Jarosh issued Friday.

Natrona County District Court Judge Kerri Johnson sentenced Marler last August, four months after an 11-day jury trial in which many of his foster and adopted children 

Testimony ranged from actual crime evidence, such as sexual penetration and touching of the female children in Marler’s care, to tangential evidence the judge allowed after a special analysis. 

That included claims that Marler required the girls to give him “daddy tax” reciprocal massages, that he showered with at least one of the girls, that he subjected the children to intense discipline, and that the children were often deprived of food.

The jury convicted him of sexually abusing two adopted daughters as well as physically abusing them and four other children in his care.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"At Trial"}]

At trial, a former foster daughter of Marler described how he sexually assaulted her in the family’s master bedroom, and one of his adopted sons described hearing “moaning” from the girls’ bedroom.

Along with the allegations of sexual abuse, the adopted son also told the jury about being kicked off a metal roof of the family’s Casper Mountain home by his father for “moving too slow” after clearing snow.

One foster daughter told Natrona County Assistant District Attorney Brandon Rosty that she was in the home with her older sisters between the spring of 2013 and 2014. She described the day when Marler brought her into his bedroom and placed her on the bed.

She testified that he asked her to take off her clothes, and she refused.

[{"type":"text","text":"“Once I would not, Steve removed my pants,” she said. "}]

Marler also removed her underclothes and then sexually assaulted her with his fingers before removing his own clothing and sexually assaulted her again, she said.

“I was laying on my back on the bed and he was standing up,” the girl said, adding that the incident left her in a lot of pain.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The ‘Other Acts’ Testimony"}]

In his appeal, Marler argued that Johnson abused her discretion by letting multiple witnesses testify to “other acts” — that is, evidence that doesn’t go directly to charged crimes. 

He also argued that Johnson abused her discretion by not letting his attorney question one of the daughters about a time she lied to a jail deputy, while also detailing abuse by Marler to an investigator.

Marler further argued that Johnson abused her discretion by not letting his attorney play a full interview between him and an investigator, of which the prosecutor had played a portion; that the prosecutor was wrong to question one of the victims about her father’s suicide; and that all these alleged errors combined deprived him of a fair trial.

[{"type":"text","text":"The high court agreed with none of that."}]

“Other acts” evidence can only enter a trial after a judge finds fair reasons for it, the high court noted.

One of the state’s witnesses described grooming as a “constellation of tactics that perpetrators will use to gradually, incrementally have sexual contact, sexual activity with a child,” and said grooming can also include efforts to compel silence.

Johnson chose to admit the grooming evidence after an analysis involving four factors. The factors are whether the evidence is being offered for a proper purpose, it’s relevant, its probative value outweighs its potential to prejudice the defendant, and the trial court must warn the jury about the evidence’s limited purpose upon request.

Johnson read the disclaimer about the evidence multiple times during trial, but not before every daughter’s and son’s testimony.

That didn’t amount to an abuse of discretion, the high court concluded. She had read it multiple times.

“There is simply no reasonable probability that repeating the same limiting instruction more often would have altered the verdict,” says Jarosh’s opinion.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Hand It Over Then"}]

As for the incident in which Johnson limited the prosecutor from asking one of the girls about lying to a jail deputy — she’d claimed to have a child — Johnson also didn’t abuse her discretion there, the Supreme Court ruled.

Defendants have a constitutional right to confront witnesses and to present a complete defense. But judges can still rein in that confrontation to exclude evidence that is only marginally relevant.

This evidence was relevant because the jury had already heard ample testimony about whether the girl was credible, says the opinion.

Johnson also didn’t abuse her discretion by preventing Marler’s attorney from playing the remainder of a recording of Marler’s police interview, after the prosecutor had used a portion of that interview to challenge Marler’s credibility.

Marler’s attorney hadn’t provided the full recording to Johnson ahead of that mid-trial dispute, the high court noted.

“Without an offer of proof, we will not speculate about what the evidence would have shown,” the opinion says.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Prosecutor Did OK Here"}]

The prosecutor did not commit misconduct by asking one of the girls about her father’s suicide, says the opinion.

That line of questioning bore upon one of Marler’s statements, that he had laid down with the girl to pray with her about her father’s suicide. 

The girl said that “praying was a constant thing in the household for everybody,” but Marler never prayed with her in her bedroom, court documents say.

Since all these alleged errors weren’t actually constitutional errors, Marler doesn’t get a new trial over what he’d called a pileup of errors.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"More Testimony"}]

In trial testimony, adopted sons of the Marlers testified that the girls were clearly Marler’s “favorites,” and they saw him go into the girls’ bedroom. 

There also were times that the girls, two in particular, were taken to the master bedroom when Steven Marler’s wife, Kristen, was away from the home during evening hours or on visits to Las Vegas.

An adopted son who has since changed his name testified that one girl would get treats the next day after spending time with Marler and that there were times he could hear “moaning, crying, talking” coming from the girls’ room when Marler was inside with them.

He also told the court he was young when he was placed in the home and adopted a couple of years later.

Another brother testified about the Marlers buying sacks of potatoes and being given a potato for breakfast, one with meat for lunch and another for supper. 

He said they had 15 minutes to eat or they would be punished either by spankings or “circuits,” which involved doing 100 pushups, sit-ups, mountain climbers and jumping jacks. 

Spankings could be with a piece of firewood, piece of rubber mud flap or a belt, he said.

He described doing chores that included cleaning the house, getting firewood and shoveling snow in the winter from the sidewalks and roofs of the home and garage. He said a tractor with a bucket would be put up against the metal roof and certain children and Marler would climb on the roof to clear the snow.

The boy described an incident shoveling snow on the roof between 2019 and 2021. He said Marler was on the roof to break the ice and he was shoveling snow. They had finished and he was moving slowly to get off the roof.

He said Marler told him: “Move faster, you’re going too f***ing slow.” When the boy said he was worried about slipping, Marler kicked him in the back.

“I slid down the roof and there was jagged metal on the roof and sliced my left leg,” he said, adding he still has a scar and that Marler gave him some antiseptic and gauze for the wound.

Another adopted son who’s now an adult took the stand and confirmed the incident, stating he was “right behind him” and saw Marler kick him off the roof.

Seven Marler Marler and His Attorneys 4 10 25 copy 87 25

<title>Supreme Court Upholds 128-178-Year Sentence For Sexually Abusive Casper Foster Dad | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The Wyoming Supreme Court on Friday rejected all the appeals a former award-winning Casper foster dad made to overturn his 128-to-178-year sentence for sexually abusing children. Multiple former foster and adopted children testified against him at trial.

Supreme Court Upholds 128-178-Year Sentence For Sexually Abusive Casper Foster Dad

Zakary Sonntag

Wyoming Life

Around Wyoming

PINEDALE — The people in this small western Wyoming town are suspiciously friendly. 

At least that's the impression you get from your one-and-only local acquaintance, a man named Marlon, who you know for the simple fact that he answered the phone at the Log Cabin Motel when you called to ask for a room.

He’s the kind of guy who gives bad news while sounding chipper.

“We’re completely booked up for the rest of the week. And you know what else? None of the hotels in town have any more rooms,” he said with the buoyant tone of a father revealing a baby name. 

The reason is the Green River Rendezvous, a multi-day celebration of the historic mountain men rendezvous that took place around the Rocky Mountain West between 1825 and 1840.

For Marlon, though, it’s better thought of as “Pinedale’s Super Bowl.” The Rendezvous Rodeo in particular is something you simply cannot miss, he said. 

You're in Pinedale on other business, but Marlon made a strong case.

“It’s fantastic. You’re going to love it, and you can totally hang out with us,” he said.

Your first thought is that you should never trust motel managers who hand out their personal numbers after a five minute conversation. 

The second thought is that this Marlon guy is freakin' awesome. 

He directs your stay to a nearby campground, then shoots you a text from his personal phone. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"“Let me know when you get into town.\""}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Rendezvous Rodeo"}]

Rendezvous Rodeo is the Goldilocks of Wyoming’s summer rodeo circuit. It’s big enough to draw serious talent and formidable roughstock, but not so large to have outgrown its uniquely local feel.

It's a venue where most can find a spectator spot close enough to smell the must of a bull in the chute, or reverse park on the railing and watch in a camp chair from the bed of your truck.

The Western cookout cuisine is locally sourced, traditionally made, and prepared before your eyes in a wood-fired caldron of beef tallow — where simmer onions, potatoes, corn, and baskets of Idaho trout. 

Then there’s the brisket, of course, made on 17 hours of woodsmoke.

“It’s simple, but it's good to boot. It’s being done the way it's been done for 100 years,” said owner of the Pitch Fork Fondue restaurant, Matt David, whose family homesteaded in the Pinedale area in the early 1900s.

Western traditions are strong here because they’re learned early, as with the kiddos lassoing tree stumps across the rodeo grounds.

“That’s just how it is here, the cowboy culture, they grow up doing all this stuff from the time they can walk,” said a woman named Lynn, referring to a pint-sized roper barely taller than his father’s boot.

You don’t have to be born into this culture to appreciate it, which you discover when you finally meet Marlon face-to-face.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"From All Around the World"}]

In wayfarer sunglasses and a resort-style shirt with palm tree print, Marlon’s look is more beachcomber than cowboy. Which makes sense, because he’s a native Floridian by way of Cuba — even if he no longer sees himself that way.

“This is my home now, and I never want to leave because I love the people,” he said, matching words with action. "They’re welcoming, everybody looks after each other. Community is the whole point of Pinedale.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"“Let me introduce you to my friends.”"}]

His friends come from even farther away; places like the Dominican Republic, Turkey, and Jamaica. Most are here as part of an employer-sponsored work program, and if Marlon has his way, they’ll not want to leave either. 

He gestured to the arena, where a cowgirl rounded a barrel and kicked a plume of dust our direction, then said, “A lot of people around the world don’t get to see these things. I want them to see that it’s amazing, and have a real Wyoming experience.”  

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Some of his friends aren’t yet sold."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Biggest Difference"}]

With steer roping as a backdrop, you fall into conversation with a woman named Delia from Romania, who takes issue with how the rodeo animals are treated. 

“In Romania, cows are only for milking. And these cows are so cute, but they treat them so rough. I don’t like it,” she said.

Marlon, with his infectious perspective, flipped her opinion like a steer. Not only are the cows unharmed, he told her — over and over — they’re also having more fun than the ropers.

Whether she accepted this logic or not, Delia seemed to enjoy the rodeo, nosing the arena gate for a closer look. Although the biggest cultural difference is not the treatment of animals, it’s the treatment of people.

“In Pinedale, everyone is so nice. They ask, ‘How are you? Happy to meet you. Do you need anything?’” she said. “In Bucharest, that will never happen. You will never hear that from anyone.”

At that moment, it strikes you that Marlon’s eclectic group is something of a metaphor for the Green River Rendezvous, where disparate groups of trappers, traders, and Native Americans gathered to exchange goods as well as culture.

Clint Gilchrist, executive director of the Museum of the Mountain Man in Pinedale, said the 19th century meetups were more diverse still. 

“At those rendezvous, there were a lot of Frenchmen, Mexicans, Americans, Scottish people, African American ex-slaves, Eastern Indians like the Delaware and Iroquois came out. Even some Cherokee,” said Gilchrist.

“There’d be several thousand people, and they were all different nationalities. It was a very big cultural mix of people,” he added. 

The Green River Rendezvous is a multi-day celebration of the historic mountain men rendezvous that took place between 1825 and 1840. Its rodeo is the Goldilocks of the summer rodeo circuit — big enough to draw serious talent but maintains a uniquely local feel.

CSD Staff

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