Opinion
Joan Barron: Hall of Fame Reporter
Joan Barron is being inducted into the Wyoming Press Association Hall of Fame, at the group's annual convention this week.
Dave SimpsonJanuary 23, 2020
Ignorant Food Zealots Reject Agriculture
Hollywoods Golden Globe Awards ceremony made the news for its climate-change awareness with much ado about its meat-free dinner.
Cat UrbigkitJanuary 20, 2020
Travel Troubles
For all the international travel Ive been fortunate to experience, Ive had amazingly good luck. But that luck had to run out, and my trip to Canada last week was the time.
Cat UrbigkitJanuary 13, 2020
Golden Globes: Taking Our Licks From Hollywood
PEACOCKS: The annual award show season always good for a horse laugh out here in Deepest Frozen-Tundra Flyover Country - kicked off last week with the Golden Globe Awards.
Dave SimpsonJanuary 11, 2020
The Value of Rural Subdivisions
Rural subdivisions suffer from love/hate status. While many residents hate to see fragmentation of rural land, many other people dream of living on a few acres outside of town.
Cat UrbigkitJanuary 06, 2020
Resolve to Childish Rules
With the ringing-in of a new year, its that time when we feel the need to make resolutions, most of which are quickly broken. I know, I know; this time its going to be different. Really? Ive of the mind that rather than making new resolutions, we adults need to revisit and relearn some of the vital lessons of childhood.
Cat UrbigkitDecember 30, 2019
O’ Holy Night
Its the holiest of days and nights, with believers of different faiths around the world sharing in celebrations. While our family honors the birth of Jesus Christ in a manger, others will observe Hanukkah, Posadas Navidenas, Ashura, Kwanzaa, and other religious holidays.
Cat UrbigkitDecember 23, 2019
Tracking Wild
From collars or eartag transmitters placed on big game animals and large carnivores like wolves and bears, to backpack harnesses or neck bands installed on a variety of bird species, and the surgical insertion of devices into fish, the amount of wildlife tracking conducted every year in Wyoming is astounding.
Cat UrbigkitDecember 16, 2019
Chronic Wolf Depredation
I recently attended a meeting of fellow sheep and cattle producers who raise livestock in the part of Sublette County that is outside Wyomings trophy zone for wolves.
Cat UrbigkitDecember 09, 2019
On Bone Broth, and Coexistence
The morning after Thanksgiving our house was once again filled with the smell of cooking turkey. But this time it was because we were boiling the carcass remains from the previous days feast. The bones are placed in the garbage once the broth is complete, but we pour the bone broth with chunks of meat in canning jars for reheating and pouring over the kibble of our working livestock guardian dogs on cold winter mornings. Bones from a beef roast, leg of lamb, or leftover bird carcass all provide for delicious bone broth that can be used to make soup, but we like providing a nutrition boost for hard-working dogs and females raising pups.
Cat UrbigkitDecember 02, 2019
Linguistic Weapons
As National Public Radios Sam Sanders noted, Words that begin with a very specific meaning, used by a very specific group of people, over time become shorthand for our politics, and eventually move from shorthand to linguistic weapon.
Cat UrbigkitNovember 25, 2019
This Is Rural America
A recent Twitter rant by a University of California Berkeley PhD student philosopher that claimed rural Americans are bad people who have made bad life decisions and should live uncomfortable lives and should have to pay more for rejecting efficient city life brought predictable condemnation. The man later deleted the tweet with a comment that my tone is way crasser and meaner than I like to think I am but he never actually backed down from his rural condemnation. But this bruhaha got me thinking about rural life in America, and what that actually means.
Cat UrbigkitNovember 18, 2019
My Dog Is Not A Fur Baby
Americans are animal lovers, so much that 95 percent of pet owners view their pets as family members. According to a survey from the American Pet Products Association, less than 15 percent of dogs in America sleep outside at night, and more than 70 percent of dogs are allowed to sleep in a persons bed, according to another survey. In American society, dogs have become fur babies and humans now identify as pet parents which is either a wonderful thing, or a bad thing, depending on your perspective. Animals are no longer simply our companions; theyve become children in interspecies families.
Cat UrbigkitNovember 11, 2019
The Fallacy of Gold-Standard Predator Research
As a frequent reader of new research on livestock production and carnivore conflicts, I am often reminded of the divide between researchers and practitioners. Papers will explain that research was conducted on sheep, without necessary information about those sheep, which practitioners (livestock producers) know will influence outcomes. For instance, we need to know not just the number of sheep involved, but breed, sex, age, breeding status, etc. because these cohorts may react differently in a given scenario.
Cat UrbigkitNovember 04, 2019
Outdoor Recreation & Tourism: A Look at the Numbers
A new report from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis(BEA) shows that outdoor recreation contributes 4.4. percent of Wyomings gross domestic product. Thats something to celebrate, with Wyomings percentage among the highest in the nation, behind only Hawaii, Montana, and Maine.
Cat UrbigkitOctober 28, 2019
Grizzly Recovery Reflected in Upper Green Conflict
The Bridger-Teton National Forests announcement of its decision to reauthorize cattle grazing in the Upper Green River region 30 miles north of Pinedale was met with the predictable hysteria of anti-grazing activists who claim the plan institutionalizes overgrazing and negligent livestock management on national forest lands. These activists are pushing to rid public lands of livestock and cite conflicts between grizzly bears and cattle in the Upper Green to justify their position. Its no matter that the truth undermines their outrageous claims.
Cat UrbigkitOctober 21, 2019
Get real: Dumping Disneyland for nature
With more than 80 percent of the American public residing in urban areas, I understand the importance of connecting people to nature. But rather than have the American public remain ignorant about the natural world and its wild animals, we need to work to educate the public of the reality of human-wildlife conflicts so that we can seek to minimize these conflicts.
Cat UrbigkitOctober 14, 2019
Dear Hunters
I am happy that youre out having adventures, and hopefully getting some tasty meat for the freezer. I know that you look forward to hunting season all year long, and its a big part of why you are in this great state, whether as a resident or a visitor. And I appreciate that so far this year, all but one of you have honored our ranch gates by leaving them as you find them.
Cat UrbigkitOctober 07, 2019
The World’s Gone Crazy Cotillion
Every now and then, my brain hits playback on the Waylon Jennings song The Worlds Gone Crazy (Cotillion) written by Jennings and Shel Silverstein. Last week the song was stuck in my head, as the lyrics are apropos to much current news.
Cat UrbigkitSeptember 30, 2019
The Nature of Conflict: Managing Wildlife Damage
I spent last week in our nation's capital, one of 20 citizens from around the country gathered to serve on the national advisory committee for USDA Wildlife Services. The committees job is to provide recommendations to Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Purdue, on policies and program issues necessary to manage damage caused by depredating wildlife to safeguard our nation's resources and safeguard public health and safety. Since Wildlife Services is tasked with resolving wildlife conflicts, much of what we discussed was about conflict.
Cat UrbigkitSeptember 23, 2019
Not To Be Critical, But Let’s Try Critical Thinking: From fast fashion to landlocked public lands, the devil is in the details.
Im a news hound, and when I come across a topic that interests me, I try to read about that topic from a variety of news sources in attempt to see a range of perspectives. I read news from major media in the United States, Europe, Russia, and Turkey on a regular basis. Every few days I hear or read statements that give me pause. I am routinely perplexed at reporters allowing these statements to go unchallenged not even questioning the veracity of the claims being made.
Cat UrbigkitSeptember 16, 2019
Are “Guard Coyotes” A Thing?
Predator-prey systems (including predator-livestock conflicts) are complicated, multi-faceted, and site-specific, but an Oregon Extension publication has provided a broad solution for those of us in animal agriculture, virtually eliminating the need for lethal control of predators: Keeping well-behaved breeding pairs of coyotes in place in their territories to exclude other coyotes that may kill sheep. Thus, keeping these guard coyotes and guard wolves in place serves to protect our livestock.
Cat UrbigkitSeptember 09, 2019
Range Writing: Meet the Sugar Ray Leonard of raptors
In all my half-century of life, Ive never encountered a kestrel without being happy about it. Just seeing a kestrel perched on a wire gives me a thrill it always has, and I suppose it always will.
Cat UrbigkitSeptember 02, 2019
Bear Attacks Increasing Worldwide
A French composer on a trip to Canadas Northwest Territories to record the sounds of nature was attacked in his tent in the middle of the night and killed by a grizzly bear earlier this month. Such an unprovoked attack is rare, according to wildlife officials, although large carnivore attacks on humans are on the increase worldwide. Grizzly bear attacks on humans in Wyoming are part of that worldwide trend.
Cat UrbigkitAugust 26, 2019