Mark Heinz
Mark Heinz covers the outdoors and wildlife for Cowboy State Daily.
He previously worked or freelanced for numerous newspapers and magazines across Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, covering all manner of news and feature stories. He has a strong background in topics related to wildlife, hunting, and wildlands conservation. He's written extensively since the 1990s about the controversies surrounding wolves, grizzly bears and mustangs.
He also enjoys people-centric stories with quirky edge of humor and has written several such pieces for Cowboy State Daily.
Mark lives in Laramie with his wife, Kendy, and the youngest of their five children.
Latest from Mark Heinz
In Brief: Wildlife Groups Mad After Snubbed By Committee
Wildlife advocates said they were snubbed and not allowed to comment during a legislative meeting earlier this week. A co-chair of a Wyoming Legislature joint committee says it was just a technical glitch.
Mark HeinzJuly 13, 2024
Animal Activists Sue To Put Wolves Back On Endangered List In Wyoming
Environmental and animal welfare groups are suing to having wolves relisted as an endangered species in Wyoming. A retired federal wildlife manager in Cody says that probably won’t happen.
Mark HeinzJuly 12, 2024
Hunter Uses Handgun To Finish Off Angry, Charging 1,000-Pound Kodiak Bear
When Tyce Erickson was charged by an enraged 1,000-pound Kodiak bear, he dropped it with three shots from his Smith & Wesson handgun. He swears by the gun and told Cowboy State Daily he’ll pack it in Wyoming for his upcoming elk hunt.
Mark HeinzJuly 08, 2024
Ammo Vending Machines Are A Thing: Would They Work In Wyoming?
Folks in Alabama and Oklahoma can now buy ammunition from vending machines in grocery stores. Wyomingites might not be ready for such a thing, especially if it cuts into sales for small businesses.
Mark HeinzJuly 08, 2024
Wyoming Game Wardens Target Bear Breaking Into Cabins In Snowies
A cabin owner in the Snowy Range is hopeful that a bear that has been breaking into cabins will leave the area because if game wardens catch it, they'll likely have to kill it. "That's the policy because it's a danger to humans," he said.
Mark HeinzJuly 05, 2024
Jackson Council Passes Resolution Recognizing 'The Rights Of Nature’
A new resolution from the Jackson Town Council proclaims that nature has rights. But the town's ecosystem stewardship administrator said it's not legally binding and trees, soil and rivers won't have the same legal standing as humans.
Mark HeinzJuly 05, 2024
New Wyoming Game And Fish Director Announced On Friday, First Woman In Position
Gov. Mark Gordon announced Friday that Angi Bruce will be the new director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, She’s the first woman to head the agency and inherits a department that is financially stable but has plenty of challenges.
Mark HeinzJuly 05, 2024
Comedian Highlights The Differences Between Colorado And Wyoming On Fireworks
To show the difference between Colorado and Wyoming on July 4, Fort Collins comedian Taylor Calmus made a video where he wears Birkenstocks and lights sparklers for Colorado. For Wyoming, he wears a cowboy hat, cowboy boots, and explodes everything short of an atomic bomb.
Mark HeinzJuly 03, 2024
In Brief: Pilot Accidentally Turns Off Fuel Switch, Flips Plane In Albany County
A pilot accidentally turned off the fuel switch mid-flight on his plane on Wednesday morning and crash landed in rural Albany County. He suffered minor injuries.
Mark HeinzJuly 03, 2024
Reporter’s Notebook: ‘Star Spangled Banner’ On A Chainsaw A CSD Tradition
What started out as a way for outdoors writer to annoy his neighbors has become a patriotic Cowboy State Daily tradition. Mark Heinz comes in with his 2024 chainsaw rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner.”
Mark HeinzJuly 03, 2024
Black Bears Moving Further East, Now Pushing To Black Hills & Northeast Wyoming
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department say there's been an uptick of black bear activity in northeast Wyoming. One bear that had been tagged in the Laramie Mountain Range had traveled more than 175 miles before it was shot near Newcastle.
Mark HeinzJuly 03, 2024
Like In Wyoming, Pelicans Gobble Down Prized Yellowstone Trout In Idaho
Much like what they've been doing at some premier trout fishing lakes west of Laramie, pelicans are eating up the Yellowstone cutthroat trout population at the Blackfoot Reservoir in Idaho. They have permission to haze and kill the pelicans too.
Mark HeinzJuly 03, 2024
Grizzly Baby Boom In Yellowstone: Unprecedented 18 Cubs In Park’s North Section
An area in northern Yellowstone National Park appears to be having a grizzly bear baby boom. Grizzly photographers, who have been in the area for decades, have counted an unprecedented 18 new cubs in a location where there’s usually fewer than a half-dozen.
Mark HeinzJuly 02, 2024
Wyoming Won't Be Ditching Traditional Fireworks For Drones On July 4
More cities -- such as Boulder, Colorado -- are ditching their traditional Fourth of July fireworks blowouts for elaborate, computer-choreographed drone light shows. Not in Wyoming though. We still like to watch stuff explode.
Mark HeinzJuly 02, 2024
Only Known Video Shows Rare White Bison’s First Moments; Hasn’t Been Seen Since
A retired biologist took the only known video of a rare white bison calf born in Yellowstone on June 4 and he shared it with Cowboy State Daily on Sunday. Nobody has seen the white bison since.
Mark HeinzJuly 01, 2024
Wild Horse Advocates Mad At Feds’ Plan To Cut Wyoming Herd From 3,000 To 300
The North Lander Mustang herd is one of Wyoming’s largest, with more than 3,000 horses. Starting Monday, the federal government will start reducing the herd by 90%, and horse advocates are incensed.
Mark HeinzJune 29, 2024
Gun Club Gets OK To Shoot Pelicans Eating All The Prized Trout In Wyoming Lake
Hungry pelicans had nearly picked clean 9-Mile Lake in southern Wyoming of its prized trout, so the gun club that owns the lake got permission to shoot some of them to bring the fishing back.
Mark HeinzJune 28, 2024
Wyoming Bristles At Surgeon General’s Claim Guns A Public Health Crisis
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy declared this week that gun violence is a public health crisis and called for an assault weapons ban. Wyoming gun owners bristled at the notion and said he doesn’t know what he’s talking about it.
Mark HeinzJune 28, 2024
Laramie Cemetery Warns Public About Aggressive Deer That Attacks Dogs
Warning signs at Greenhill Cemetery in Laramie are putting visitors and their canine companions on notice: There’s an aggressive deer hanging around and she is attacking people’s dogs.
Mark HeinzJune 27, 2024
Campbell, Park Counties Are Finalists For $10M Shooting Complex
Campbell County and Park County beat out seven other communities vying for a multi-million-dollar state shooting complex, it was announced Tuesday. Now one of them must beat the other.
Mark HeinzJune 27, 2024
Wyoming-Organized DC Rally Demands Ban On Running Down Wolves With Snowmobiles
While some in Wyoming defend running wolves and other predators down with snowmobiles, aka "wolf whacking," a group of Wyoming wildlife advocates rallied in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday demanding it be banned.
Mark HeinzJune 26, 2024