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

Renée Jean

Business & Tourism

Business

CHEYENNE — The developer behind a massive 5,600-worker man camp that was going to locate just south of Cheyenne in the High Plains Business Park has pulled back on the project, at least for now.

The company had been under contract to buy land near Orchard Valley for the Iron Guard Workforce Housing campus but has withdrawn its application and is no longer under contract for that site. 

“Due to several variables outside of our control, we are unable to finalize the conditional use permit at this time in this location,” said an emailed statement from project representative Casey Palma to Cowboy State Daily. 

Palma said the application, which had been on the Laramie County Commission’s June 16 agenda, has been removed. Residents will be notified if that changes. 

“Our hope is that putting the application on hold will save everyone time and effort, versus multiple consecutive postponements,” Palma said. “(That) will allow Iron Guard to provide a housing campus that best meets the needs of the community.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"The project isn’t dead, Palma added."}]

Several other potential sites have also been under consideration, Palma indicated, “with regard to access, serviceability, and appropriate interface to surrounding neighborhoods.”

A campus to house data center workers is “desperately needed in Laramie County,” Palma added. “We look forward to bringing this campus to support Cheyenne’s economic development.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Neighborhood Outcry"}]

The postponement comes amid weeks of heated debate over the proposed man camp which, by size alone, data from the Wyoming Economic Analysis Division indicates would be 

 of the state's incorporated cities or towns.

The man camp’s future neighbors have questioned the location, fearing it would lead to increased crime and lower property values. 

“Man camps in similar locations have led to an increase in property crime, DUI’s, drug crimes and violent crimes,” Harmony Meadows resident Heather Madrid wrote in a letter to Laramie County planners. “There are many schools in this area.”

She also questioned having such a large surge in population in an area that she characterized as already “underserved and under-resourced.”

Madrid told Cowboy State Daily the project’s postponement is “great news for the surrounding communities.”

“It will probably be built somewhere else,” she said. “Hopefully, it’s not near neighborhoods that have already born the brunt of all this and are historically underserved, under-resourced, and under-represented. It shouldn’t be near any neighborhoods.”

Madrid added she understands not building a man camp would have further impact to the housing markets, but added the need for one is “reflective of rapid, unsustainable growth.”

“To be clear, I am not against the workers,” she said. “They are not to blame, whether they’re local or not. The blame lies with the public officials who have failed to plan properly and refuse to adjust unless it’s an adjustment that benefits developers and operators. They apparently can’t read the room, or don’t care to.”

Others fear such a large man camp in that location would overwhelm services in the area. South-side resident Elizabeth Marvin told Laramie County planners there’s just one grocery store on that side of town. 

“We don’t have the infrastructure to support that many more people,” she said. “We don’t have the resources.”

Maureen Clifton, meanwhile, told Laramie County planners that utilities in that area are already overwhelmed. 

Her basement has flooded with sewage twice since she moved in a few months ago, a problem she doesn’t see getting better if a 5,600-worker man camp gets built in the area.

“An 800-unit man camp is not good for any part of town,” Clifton wrote in a letter to Laramie County planners. “It’s not a coincidence that this is not proposed on the north side of town, where numerous more services exist.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Housing Crisis Ahead"}]

The Iron Guard Workforce Housing Campus has been pitched as necessary to help Laramie County and Cheyenne capture the economic benefits of major data center investments, while shielding local neighborhoods and housing markets from negative side effects.

“We need housing yesterday,” Laramie County Planning and Development Director Justin Arnold said. “I’m worried about the cashier at Safeway on South Greeley Highway when his lease comes up for rent — and then he gets priced out by someone making $100,000.”

Consolidating the thousands of out-of-town electricians, pipe fitters, equipment operators and other skilled trades that will be needed for data center projects, along with F.E. Warren Air Force Base's nuclear missile upgrade, is one way to help alleviate the pressure on existing housing stock and keep costs of living more stable for long-time residents, Iron Guard and Cheyenne officials have said.

Local real estate market data show there are fewer than 300 homes listed for sale in all of Laramie County in early June — 289 homes for a population of about 100,000. That’s well below the more usual 450 to 550 listings Cheyenne has when it’s a more balanced market. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Taking A Breath"}]

The campus would have been just outside Cheyenne city limits on the south side in an area already surrounded by industrial and data-center development. 

The area is identified in long-range transportation plans for future collector and arterial roads.

Withdrawal from the Orchard Valley site prompted a mixed reaction in social media groups like Cheyenne Community Connections on Facebook.

Some were pleased the man camp had been stopped in the proposed location, expressing hope it won't get built at all, while others pointed out that no man camp means hotels and short-term rentals will fill up just as tourism season arrives. 

Wyoming Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Dale Steenbergen told Cowboy State Daily he thinks it’s good that the developer and officials are “taking a breath” to consider “how we can do this better and people feel comfortable with it,” including how workforce housing interacts with local lodging markets and neighborhoods. 

“We’ve got a lot of these projects going,” he said. “They’re all going to require workers. So I think everybody’s just trying to figure out how to get them to fit in our communities the best.”

Man camp and Cheyenne sign 6 12 26

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

<title>Developer Puts Massive 5,600-Worker Cheyenne Man Camp On Hold, Looks For New Site | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A proposed 5,600-worker man camp south of Cheyenne that would have been larger than 84 Wyoming cities and towns has been put on hold after weeks of community backlash. The developer says it's still “desperately needed” and is looking for a new site.

Developer Puts Massive 5,600-Worker Cheyenne Man Camp On Hold, Looks For New Site

Coy Knobel

Don Day Weather

Sunny in Wyoming on Friday. Chance for rain overnight in the north central and northeast. Highs from the low 70s to low 90s. Lows from the low 30s to low 50s.

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

Sunny today with a high near 84 and wind gusts as high as 24 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 45 and wind gusts as high as 24 mph.

Sunny today with a high near 86 and wind gusts as high as 22 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 46 and wind gusts as high as 25 mph.

 Sunny today with a high near 86 and wind gusts as high as 22 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 48 and wind gusts as high as 29 mph.

 Sunny today with a high near 74 and wind from 11-16 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a low near 41.

  Sunny and breezy today with a high near 81 and wind gusts as high as 30 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 45 and wind gusts as high as 30 mph.

Sunny and breezy today with a high near 73 and wind gusts as high as 29 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 40 and wind gusts as high as 28 mph.

Sunny and breezy today with a high near 72 and wind gusts as high as 28 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 35 and wind gusts as high as 28 mph.

 Sunny today with a high near 76 and wind gusts as high as 22 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a low near 39 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph.

  Sunny and breezy today with a high near 73 and wind gusts as high as 26 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 34 and wind gusts as high as 26 mph.

 Sunny and breezy today with a high near 70 and wind gusts as high as 33 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 38 and wind gusts as high as 33 mph.

  Sunny today with a high near 74 and wind gusts as high as 24 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a low near 37 and wind gusts as high as 23 mph.

Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park

:  Sunny today with a high near 65 and wind gusts as high as 22 mph. Partly cloudy overnight with a low near 33 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph.

Sunny today with a high near 84 and increasing clouds and breezy overnight with a low near 48 and wind gusts as high as 28 mph.

:  Sunny and breezy today with a high near 79 and wind gusts as high as 26 mph. Increasing clouds and breezy overnight with a chance of rain, a low near 45 and wind gusts as high as 43 mph.

  Sunny today with a high near 79 and wind gusts as high as 22 mph. Mostly cloudy and windy overnight with a chance of rain, a low near 47 and wind gusts as high as 39 mph.

  Sunny and breezy today with a high near 75 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph. Breezy, rain likely overnight with a low near 45 and wind gusts as high as 26 mph.

  Sunny today with a high near 75 and rain overnight with a low near 42.

:  Sunny today with a high near 73 and rain near certain overnight with a low near 42.

Sunny today with a high near 78 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph. Increasing clouds overnight with rain likely after midnight, a low near 42 and wind gusts as high as 28 mph.

  Sunny today with a high near 79 and wind gusts as high as 17 mph. Partly cloudy overnight with a low near 48 and wind gusts as high as 25 mph.

:  Sunny today with a high near 80 and wind gusts as high as 17 mph. Increasing clouds overnight with a chance of rain after midnight, a low near 45 and wind gusts as high as 25 mph.

  Red flag fire warning until 8 p.m. tonight. Sunny, hot and breezy today with a high near 91 and wind gusts as high as 30 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a low near 52 and wind gusts as high as 25 mph.

  Red flag fire warning until 8 p.m. tonight. Sunny today with a high near 82 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 44 and wind gusts as high as 25 mph.

  Sunny today with a high near 82 and increasing clouds and breezy overnight with a slight chance of rain after 5 a.m., a low near 44 and wind gusts as high as 28 mph.

  Red flag fire warning until 8 p.m. tonight. Sunny and breezy today with a high near 85 and wind gusts as high as 30 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 49 and wind gusts as high as 30 mph.

  Sunny and breezy today with a high near 78 and wind gusts as high as 40 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 45 and wind gusts as high as 30 mph.

  Sunny and breezy today with a high near 80 and wind gusts as high as 40 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 42 and wind gusts as high as 35 mph.

  Sunny and breezy today with a high near 77 and wind gusts as high as 40 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 46 and wind gusts as high as 35 mph.

  Sunny and breezy today with a high near 80 and wind gusts as high as 35 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 44 and wind gusts as high as 35 mph.

  Sunny and breezy today with a high near 77 and wind gusts as high as 40 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 44 and wind gusts as high as 40 mph.

Daycap small 6 12 26

<title>Don Day's Wyoming Weather Forecast: Friday, June 12, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Don Day's Wyoming Weather Forecast: Friday, June 12, 2026

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

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Politics

counties on Thursday that a 4% cap on yearly increases in residential property taxes is unconstitutional, and the counties shouldn’t let taxpayers have that exemption.

The State Equalization Board will refuse to certify this year’s property tax assessment figures if counties keep that cap on them, the report says.

The board’s two-person majority — Chair Jayne Mockler and Vice-Chair Marty Hardscog — wrote in the Thursday report that the 4% increase cap for residential property taxes has arbitrary impacts across the state. 

It also disproportionately insulates high-end homes, and disfavors homeowners in more sluggish market areas, the report asserts.

But the report’s main point, and conclusion from the past two years’ tax data, is that the 4% cap violates the Wyoming Constitution’s call for equal and uniform property taxes within each class of property.

The board hasn’t yet issued an order requiring Wyoming’s county assessors to rework their pending tax bills without the cap.

But it expects to do so in the coming weeks after working with counties, Mockler told Cowboy State Daily in a Thursday phone interview.

“We issued this report today that says if that cap doesn’t come off, Marty and I can’t vote to certify residential property taxes. Because they’re not uniform,” said Mockler. “It’ll be followed with an order ... (and) our goal is ultimately to remove the cap.”  

Mockler noted that the board isn’t targeting the other, narrower exemptions with this report — like the 25% property tax cut passed in 2025 or the long-term homeowner exemption.

More than half of the state’s residential property tax values fall under the 4% increase cap, the report says.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"But We Don’t Get A Tax Free Year"}]

This kind of push from the state board is unprecedented, Converse County Assessor Dixie Huxtable told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday.

But Wyomingites shouldn’t expect a tax-free year over the maneuver, she said.

“Everyone’s in agreement there will be residential property taxes for 2026,” she said. “This … is just a step in the process of getting different values the board feels is appropriate.”

The pending mandate leaves Wyoming counties somewhere between following the 4% cap requirement in state law and following another state law that tells assessors to obey the state board, she said.  

“You’re asking us to go against the law? Under the law we have to apply the 4% cap and you’re saying we can’t,” she reflected from the report.

[{"type":"text","text":"“It’s so bizarre it’s funny,” Huxtable added. "}]

She said she was digesting the report Thursday afternoon, and had just been to a phone meeting with the board officials, assessors, and county attorneys.

Two days earlier on Tuesday, Huxtable had just urged the Legislature’s Joint Revenue Committee to approach more changes to the state’s property tax law with caution, because assessors are always trying to keep up with the many changes lawmakers have brought in recent years.

Assessors are at the mercy of state law and are working hard to follow it, she’d said.  

Reflecting on the board’s Thursday report, Huxtable told Cowboy State Daily that assessors are now trying to gain clarification on what to do in the coming weeks.

“We’re on standby,” she said, adding that from her meeting with the board, her impression is, “They’d be tickled pink to go to court” on this issue.

Wyoming Attorney General Keith Kautz said Thursday that he doesn’t know of any litigation on this currently, “but if there is a challenge, we will support what the Legislature did.”

Rep. Barry Crago, R-Buffalo, who has since become a state senator, was the sponsor on the main bill the board’s Thursday report derides as unconstitutional.

Crago did not return a Thursday afternoon voicemail request for comment by publication.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Different Homes, Different Taxes"}]

The board’s report points to inconsistencies across the Wyoming property tax structure.

People who upgrade their homes by changing the footprint of those homes lose the cap exemption to a reset that year, while people who upgrade only the interior do not, says the report.

It says some homes have had their tax bills so thoroughly capped, they’re paying less than half of the state-mandated property tax rate.

“The caps, by design, generate highly disparate tax consequences for 

It accuses the law of discriminating arbitrarily between different homeowners across Wyoming.

“The demarcation between taxpayers receiving a tax windfall, versus those who do not, serves no rational basis,” the document adds.

Rep. Liz Storer, D-Jackson, told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday that she had voted for the 4% tax cap during the tax hikes of 2024. But she views the law as more of a short-term fix. 

"It was a tourniquet; it was a short-term fix," she said. "But if you leave the tourniquet on, you damage the body." 

Storer's home region of Teton County accounts for huge property tax revenues in Wyoming. She has tried over the years to get lawmakers to stop applying property tax breaks to people's secondary homes. 

Of the $860.2 million in exemptions the 4% cap is expected to cause this year, Teton County accounts for $507.9 million, says a Department of Revenue memo Storer sent to Cowboy State Daily. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Lawsuit That Wasn’t"}]

The board warned lawmakers before the 4% cap bill’s passage that board members believed it’s unconstitutional.

 “the die was cast,” says the report.

The board examined the residential assessment values and looked for inverted valuations, that is where higher-valued properties were assessed at lower taxable values than other, similarly situated properties.

The board during the 2025 tax calculation process had just two members, Mockler and Hardscog. They voted that year to certify the tax values, but said that those values were probably invalid. Still, they wanted to gather one more year of data to be sure, the report says.

They also planned to release a Nov. 13, 2025, order requiring assessors to stop giving the exemption.

Gov. Mark Gordon’s office asked the board not to issue that order, the report says.

In November and early December, the governor’s office and Wyoming Attorney General’s Office met with Hardscog and Mockler to talk about filing an action asking a court to judge the issue.

The governor’s office and AG’s office agreed the state board should file that court action, the report says.

The litigation was slated to be filed Jan. 20. Gordon’s office asked for multiple delays, at first to communicate the lawsuit with legislative leaders. 

When Gordon’s office asked for another delay two days later, Hardscog and Mockler said they wouldn’t certify the property tax values after the June tax calculation process, “without a working resolution of their constitutional concerns,” says the report.

Property tax chyenne 1 6 11 26

<title>Wyoming Tax Board Says 4% Cap On Property Tax Is Unconstitutional, Won't Accept It | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Wyoming’s state-level property tax board told counties on Thursday that a 4% cap on yearly increases in residential property taxes is unconstitutional and it will refuse to certify this year's property tax assessment figures if the cap remains.

Wyoming Tax Board Says 4% Cap On Property Tax Is Unconstitutional, Won't Accept It

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily political columnist, Rod Miller.

Rod Miller

Opinion

CSD Columnists

I returned to the ID ranch where I grew up. My family (the blood) joined me, as did Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken (the heat). 

Here’s what went down in a country widely considered to be the original site of the Garden of Eden.

First – why the sheriff? Alex Bakken wears the same badge that my great-grandfather, I.C. Miller wore as territorial sheriff in Carbon County. So I’ve kept an eye on Sheriff Bakken, and I’ve been impressed with how he handles himself wearing that badge. 

I’m sure my patriarch would agree, had they ever met.

I called Alex and asked if he would like to see the ranch that I.C. put together. Alex had bow-hunted in the Seminoe Mountains, but hadn’t seen the rest of the outfit, or the headquarters with the massive 140-year-old stone buildings. He is also an avid history buff and jumped at the chance.

Since my third-born son, Kirk, was visiting from the City of Angels, this would be a great opportunity to gather the clan so they could revisit the place they had spent their childhood years. My former wife, Linda joined us, and had the chance to see the ID again, where she had spent years in the solitude, wind and rattlesnakes, 40 miles from town, raising our sons. 

I owe Linda an un-repayable debt for her maternal excellence. This sojourn was an installment.

I also invited family friend and videographer extraordinaire, Mike Vanata, to join us. I owe Vanata a debt for doing several thousand bucks worth of primo video work for my 2018 run for Congress and, when the campaign ran out of money, accepting my beloved AK-47 as payment. 

Another road trip with Vanata was a side benefit to this particular journey back in time.

My second-born, Isaac had to stay back in Cheyenne to take Pippi the Wonder Dog to the vet for a canine emergency, so he missed out. But Pippi lives! 

Vic, my youngest son, served as Chief of Security for the pilgrimage through Outlaw country, and kept us safe from the brigands that, 150 years earlier, he would have led. 

The youngest Miller, grandson Dayton, came with my eldest son Tommy, to share the driving chores, peel a bronc and catch his first fish. For a 4-year-old, Dayton pulled his weight and then some. 

Rounding out the party of backtrackers were my brother, Mark, and cousin, Bill Shaffer, who grew up with me on the ID. We share indelible memories of that place that cannot be put into words.

We met at Su Casa, in Sinclair (the best Mexican food north of the Nueces River) for lunch, where Vanata proceeded to mortify everyone by ordering a chicken fried steak (but that’s a topic for a future column), and then we drove north on Memory Lane to the ID headquarters. 

Given our statewide drought, I expected to see the countryside clad in a pale beige duster, but she must have known we were coming, because she wore her prettiest green sundress. The ID looks splendid!

Inside the big stone barn, it’s always cool in summer. The heavy door still bears the carved initials of long-dead cowboys and old brands. Outside in the corral, Dayton got his first horseback ride. His mount was a sleek bay mare named Clementine. They bonded in that sacred and mysterious ritual known only to kids and horses.

Sheriff Bakken got a good look at where his predecessor lived, and he seemed to enjoy it.

Then we drove up to the base of Bradley Peak, to the high divide between the Hurt Creek and Deweese Creek drainages, so I could show my kids where I expect them to scatter my ashes at the appropriate time. 

Sure, I had planned earlier for my sons divvy up my cremains and sneak them into the pepper shakers in Taco Johns all over the Big Empty. They all said they’d do it, but the Bradley Peak plan seems a bit healthier all around.

Dayton then caught his first fish, a mini-brookie, in the same place on Hurt Creek that his dad caught his first fish. That seems symmetrical and correct to me. It’s the gold in the brown and gold of Wyoming.

Kirk, a runner, skipped fishing to run five miles back toward headquarters to frolic in the wind-shifting dunes that will, in time, bury my first home.

With these living folks I retraced my steps through the country of my ghosts. The ticks and snakes spared us out of respect. 

The youngest of my bloodline experienced his first horsey ride and first fish. The new sheriff met our old country. 

It was a good day on the backtrail. And I’m tickled to be back in the Cowboy State Daily stable!

Rod Miller can be reached at: RodsMillerWyo@yahoo.com

Rod miller headshot scaled

<title>Rod Miller: Backtracking Part Two - Blood and Heat At The ID Ranch | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Columnist Rod Miller writes: "So I took my family (the blood) and Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken (the heat), to the old ranch country where I expect my kids to scatter my ashes. Here’s what went down."

Rod Miller: Backtracking Part Two - Blood and Heat At The ID Ranch

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Outdoors

Wildlife

Canada’s favorite bear, a 700-pound behemoth called 

, has lived a storied life, brawling with other males and surviving getting hit by a train.

His latest stunt was ditching an electronic tracking collar that wildlife agents had just put on him, and nobody’s seen him for a while.

“In true Boss fashion, he somehow got that collar off,” Canadian wildlife photographer Jason Leo Bantle told Cowboy State Daily.

Bantle lives near Banff National Park in Alberta, which The Boss calls home.

He’s one of The Boss bear's biggest fans and has taken countless photographs of the huge bear, which is thought to be about 29 years old.

He hasn’t seen The Boss yet this spring/summer, but he’s not worried. Bantle figures that after ditching his tracking collar, The Boss wandered off to find a feast, or maybe some mates.

“He cruises up and down the valley, looking for girlfriends,” Bantle said.

The Boss is thought to have fathered half of the bears in Banff.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Off Within A Week"}]

The Boss was among three male grizzlies captured and outfitted with collars by wildlife agents on May 13, according to reports.

Within a week, The Boss had slipped out of or ripped off his collar, and his whereabouts remain a mystery.

The Boss has been collared before, but this time around, apparently, “he had enough of humans playing with him," Bantle said.

He added that the last time he saw and photographed The Boss was last fall, before Banff’s bears went into hibernation.

The bear’s fans think it’s hysterical that he ditched his collar, Bantle said.

“People are really laughing about it up here,” he said.

The Boss has earned a new nickname, “Houdini,” after the legendary escape artist Harry Houdini, Bantle said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"What A Life"}]

The Boss is formally known to researchers as Grizzly 122. His chief rival in Banff is Grizzly 136, called Split Lip.

One side of Grizzly 136’s mouth is ripped into what looks like a permanent snarl, which earned him the name Split Lip. He suffered the wound in a fight with The Boss.

A rail line runs through Banff, and at least five grizzlies have been struck and killed by trains.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Not the Boss, though."}]

Canada’s favorite grizzly, a 700-pound monster called The Boss, has lived a storied life, brawling with other males and surviving getting hit by a train. His latest stunt was removing an electronic tracking collar that wildlife agents had just put on him.

Devona Lou Terry, 74