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Snow on the way (posted 10/7/08)
Major change in the weather
National Weather Service
A major change to colder and snowy weather is headed for much of central and western Wyoming Thursday night through Saturday.
A cold storm system over the Gulf of Alaska is forecast to drop into the Great Basin Wednesday into Thursday and then stall out over the southern Idaho, northern Utah area Friday into Saturday. At the same time, old air will plunge southward out of Canada providing for strong upslope east of the divide, especially Thursday night through Saturday. Snow will likely develop in the mountains by Thursday night, possibly becoming heavy at times and continuing through Saturday. The most significant mountain snowfall will likely be over the Wind River Mountains, east slope of the Absarokas, Owl Creek and Bridger Mountains, southern Big Horns and Casper Mountain.
The lower elevations of central and southwest Wyoming will also have the potential for significant snowfall Friday and Saturday. The first piece of this system will bring an increasing chance of rain showers to these areas Thursday. Colder air and increasing upslope flow will develop Thursday night and Friday with rain changing over to snow.
The Cody foothills will likely see rain change over to snow by sunrise Friday and possibly the Lander foothills. It also appears that other areas such as the Wind River Basin and lower elevations of Johnson County will also see rain change over to snow during the day Friday including Riverton and Buffalo. Casper will see a cold rain or rain and snow mixture Friday, possibly changing over to all snow by afternoon. All areas will see snow Friday night and quite possibly through the day Saturday.
Snowfall amounts are still uncertain but the potential for 6 to 12 inches of snow does exist across the lower elevations east of the Divide and in the Upper Green River Basin. The east slope of the Wind River Mountains, the Owl Creek and Bridger Mountains, the southern end of the Absaroka Mountains, the southern Big Horns and Casper Mountain may see over a foot of snow.
Hunters, travellers and others with outdoor interests should pay close attention to the weather forecast over the next couple days. The mild, early fall weather is about to come to a screeching halt. Listen to NOAA weather radio or your favorite media outlet for the latest forecasts and winter statements.
FOR:
Yellowstone National Park
Absaroka Mountains
Cody Foothills
North Big Horn Basin
Southwest Big Horn Basin
Southeast Big Horn Basin
Owl Creek and Bridger Mountains
Bighorn Mountains West
Bighorn Mountains Southeast
Northeast Johnson County
Southeast Johnson County
Teton and Gros Ventre Mountains
Jackson Hole
Wind River Mountains West
Wind River Mountains East
Upper Wind River Basin
Wind River Basin
Lander Foothills
Green Mountains and Rattlesnake Range
Natrona County Lower Elevations
Casper Mountain
Star Valley
Salt River and Wyoming Ranges
Upper Green River Basin Foothills
Upper Green River Basin
South Lincoln County
Rock Springs and Green River
Flaming Gorge
East Sweetwater County
Related Links:
www.weather.gov/riverton National Weather Service - Riverton
Ozone Public Information Forum Oct. 7 in Pinedale (posted 10/6/08)
Air quality and potential health effects to be discussed
A public information forum to learn more about ozone air quality and the potential health effects of ozone will take place at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 7 in the Pinedale High School Auditorium. The public forum is being convened by the University of Wyoming's Ruckelshaus Institute and Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources. The event is being sponsored by the Sublette County Commissioners and organized by Sublette Community Partnership Coordinator Laurie Latta. This information forum was requested by a number of stakeholder groups, including the Sublette County Commissioners, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, a number of citizen and interest groups, and industry.
Four nationally-known experts will be featured in the forum:
-- Atmospheric Chemistry of Ozone, by Dr. Derek Montague, Department of Atmospheric Science, University of Wyoming.
-- Human Health Effects of Ozone, by Dr. Fred J. Miller of Fred J. Miller and Associates LLC and Adjunct Medical Research Professor, Duke University School of Medicine.
-- National Regulatory Policy on Ozone, by Dr. Rogene Henderson, chair of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Clean Air Science Advisory Committee Ozone Review Panel, and senior scientist emeritus, Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, Albuquerque, N.M.
-- Regulatory Implementation of Ozone Standards, by Mr. Peter Hess, deputy air pollution officer (retired), Bay Area Air Quality Management District, San Francisco, Calif.
Members of the public will also have the opportunity to participate in the forum during a question and answer period scheduled with the experts.
Click on this link for detailed biographies of the presenters: Ozone Forum Speaker Biographies
Wyoming FFA Foundation and EnCana announce partnership (posted 10/6/08)
EnCana media release
EnCana Oil and Gas (USA) Inc., in a partnership with the Wyoming Future Farmers of America (FFA) Foundation, presented $34,000 to FFA chapters for chapter grant programs, educational expenses, scholarships and the annual convention.
"This partnership is a huge step for the Wyoming FFA Foundation in reaching our goal of providing FFA members an environment of premier leadership, personal growth and career success," said Wyoming FFA Foundation President Court Schilt.
Of the total amount granted, $20,000 went to the chapter grant program to strengthen project development and increase FFA enrollment. The purpose of this program is to assist chapters in increasing educational opportunities for agriculture students and FFA members.
This partnership also establishes a scholarship fund for graduating FFA members attending a Wyoming institution of higher education. Scholarships will be awarded to members who demonstrate academic achievement, strong involvement in the community and FFA activities and intent to pursue a degree for a career related to agriculture that mutually benefits the energy industry.
EnCana has also provided funding for the Wyoming FFA Association’s annual Career Development Event and Leadership Conference. Held each April in Cheyenne, Wyo. as part of the Wyoming FFA Convention, this is the culminating event for all Wyoming FFA members. It provides career development opportunities ranging from livestock evaluation to sales and service, and members compete in workshops and learn leadership development and individual growth.
"EnCana’s partnership with the Wyoming FFA Foundation gives us the opportunity to positively shape the future of Wyoming both educationally and economically," said Eddie Carpenter, EnCana Wind River Basin operations leader and FFA board member. "Agriculture and natural resources are the foundation of our society and we want to make sure our youth learn the importance of resource stewardship."
The Wyoming FFA Foundation is a non-profit corporation created in 1958 to provide financial support for FFA awards, leadership development and incentive programs. If you would like to learn more about the Wyoming FFA Foundation, e-mail wyoffafoundation@juno.com or call Scott McDonald at (866) 333-3838.
Related Links:
www.encana.com EnCana USA
Sheep hunt reopens with success (posted 10/6/08)
Wyoming Game & Fish Department
After a ten-year hiatus, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department decided bighorn sheep populations were once again sufficient to reopen sheep Hunt Area 24 in the Wyoming Range west of Big Piney.
To be conservative, they issued just one license. Greg Fischer, of Alpine, was the fortunate one who drew the single license and on the second day of the season he found himself a dandy Wyoming ram.
The last native bighorn sheep are believed to have disappeared from the Wyoming Range in the early 1960s. It is not known specifically what caused their extirpation, but it was likely a combination of factors.
However, soon after their disappearance, wildlife managers began making preparations to bring them back. Fish Creek and Darby Mountain winter ranges provided the best bighorn sheep habitat in the range. Grazing by domestic sheep was discontinued in these areas and forage production studies suggested a capacity of 150 to 175 bighorn sheep in most winters.
In 1981, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service and the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep (FNAWS), made the first reintroduction of 35 Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep into the Wyoming Range. The sheep were trapped and transplanted from the Whiskey Basin Wildlife Habitat Management Area near Dubois, Wyoming, to Fish Creek Mountain. Similarly, in January of 1987, another 25 bighorn sheep were transplanted from Whiskey Basin to the Fish Creek Mountain site.
A comprehensive ground and aerial survey conducted in the summer of 1988 revealed a minimum of 124 sheep. Based on this information, in the fall of 1988, the first bighorn sheep hunting season was conducted in the Wyoming Range, Hunt Area 24. Four permits were issued for rams with a minimum of 3/4 curl horn and four rams were harvested. By 1994, the population was estimated at approximately 150 sheep, but it is believed that soon after that they began to decline. The department issued four permits for 3/4 curl rams from 1988 through 1997, but fewer sheep were being seen by Game and Fish biologists and hunters were having a harder time finding rams in the latter years. In 1997, there were no rams harvested and the Game and Fish decided to close the season.
"Sheep are a sensitive species to manage, especially a small population such as the Darby Mountain herd," said Game and Fish Wildlife Biologist, Gary Fralick. "But with some habitat improvements and restrictions on motorized travel in important sheep habitat along the spine of the Wyoming Range, we hope to bring the number in the Darby Mountain herd back to historical highs."
Historically, the Game and Fish has been obligated to offer a minimum of four sheep licenses, three resident and 1 nonresident, in any given Hunt Area. In 2008, changes were made to allow those four licenses to be allocated across different Hunt Areas. This change allowed biologists to offer a single sheep license in Hunt Area 24. While wildlife managers believe the Darby Mountain sheep herd has rebounded enough to offer some hunting opportunity, they wanted to start conservatively.
The handsome set of horns measured 36" long and were "broomed" off nicely at the end. The annual rings said it was ten years old, indicating it was born the year the season was first closed.
"This area has a history of producing quality rams, and with the change in the regulation we can once again provide the opportunity to hunt," said Fralick. "We will continue to be conservative with hunting this population, but this is a good sign for this sheep herd and people who value bighorn sheep."
BLM Realigns (posted 10/5/08)
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) moved to a new organizational structure beginning October 1, 2008 with the transition occurring over the next year.
As part of a national BLM effort to develop consistent management structures across the country, BLM will be incorporating new district offices to provide coordination between several field offices.
The new district offices are:
Wyoming High Desert District: this will include the Rock Springs, Rawlins, Kemmerer and Pinedale field offices;
Wind River/Bighorn Basin District: this will include the Worland, Cody and Lander field offices;
Wyoming High Plains District: this will include the Casper, Buffalo and Newcastle field offices.
"Our main priority is to serve our constituents. This change should be seamless to our customers," said Acting State Director Don Simpson.
Staffing and management in existing field offices will not be affected. Public land permit holders, lessees and users will continue to work with field offices as before.
Eddie Bateson has been appointed as the first district manager for the Wind River/Bighorn Basin District. The Wyoming High Plains and Wyoming High Desert District Managers and a number of other district positions will be filled in the coming year.
Private memorials to be removed from Wyoming Highways (posted 9/28/08)
Have been allowed to remain for five years
Wyoming Department of Transportation
WYDOT’s (Wyoming Department of Transportation) roadside memorial program has completed its fifth year with 220 memorial signs now installed, and beginning Oct. 3 all private memorials along the state’s highways when the policy took effect in 2003 will be removed and held for pickup by the victims’ families.
Private memorials erected after the policy took effect have been removed as they appeared, but the 295 private memorials already in place in 2003 have been allowed to remain for five years. That grace period has now ended, and WYDOT has attempted to notify the families of the pending removal and who to contact to claim the materials. However, it has not been possible to identify or locate who put up the memorials in every case.
The families are being offered the option of having a WYDOT memorial sign erected in place of the private memorial. However, if the private memorial is located in an urban area or on U.S. Forest Service land, no sign can be installed under the memorial policy.
"This is an emotional issue and no policy is going to please everyone," WYDOT Director John Cox said. "We sympathize with family members’ desire to remember their loved ones, but we must meet our responsibility to maintain a safe highway system. We believe having WYDOT personnel put up memorial signs is preferable to having family members put themselves in danger, or putting other drivers in potential danger by allowing obstructions to remain in the highway clear zone."
The roadside memorial policy was implemented after more than a year of discussion and actively seeking public comment on the issue. It was designed to be a compromise between the conflicting interests of meeting the emotional needs of those who have lost family members in crashes and maintaining a safe highway system.
Wyoming law prohibits any encroachment on highway right of way, and the memorial policy created a safer alternative to private memorials being erected beside roads. The memorial signs the department offers to put up for anyone killed in a crash on the state’s highways are located safely at the edge of the right of way, meet federal highway safety standards and are installed free of charge.
Having WYDOT personnel install and maintain the signs eliminates the dangers of family members erecting or visiting memorials beside a road and the risks of having unregulated obstructions in the highway clear zone. Any new private memorials placed at a site or any private materials added to a WYDOT memorial sign will be removed.
The risks of parking beside a highway are considerable. The year before the roadside memorial policy was implemented, eight people were killed and 152 injured in crashes involving parked vehicles in Wyoming. In the five years since the policy took effect, an average of three people have been killed and 163 injured in crashes involving parked vehicles.
Since the policy was implemented, favorable comments and requests for memorial signs have outnumbered complaints. Cox believes the public’s acceptance of the program suggests the policy is generally viewed as a reasonable compromise.
Under the policy, WYDOT agreed to leave the memorial signs up for five years. There are 35 memorial signs that have been up for five years and are now due for removal.
WYDOT has notified the families they can claim the sign by contacting the department, or choose one of two new alternatives being offered: WYDOT will leave the sign up without maintenance, or offer a one-time option to have a new sign installed for a fee of $50.
The original five-year limit was set because the sign materials deteriorate and have a limited life span. WYDOT doesn't have the resources to replace them with new signs indefinitely, and the $50 fee will cover the cost making and installing a new sign.
Original signs left up beyond five years eventually will be removed by WYDOT when deterioration makes them no longer readable, or they can no longer withstand Wyoming’s weather. The department cautions families who choose to have a sign left up past five years not to put themselves at risk by attempting to maintain or remove the signs themselves.
If at anytime the families decide they want to claim the original sign before it deteriorates further, they can contact the department to have it removed. At that time they will be given the one-time option of having a new sign installed for the $50 fee.
WYDOT thanks everyone participating in the memorial sign program.
Famed wolf pack turns to livestock (posted 9/28/08)
Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online!
The Flathead Beacon reports that the famed Murphy Lake wolf pack, located in Montana, has turned to killing livestock. This pack has been notable for its seeming co-existence with area cattle, with little depredation. But for some reason, that situation changed this year and the pack has repeatedly killed cattle, even as wildlife officials kill wolves caught in the act.
For the full story, click on the link below.
Related Links:
Flathead Beacon - Read the article here.
Wolf Watch - By Cat Urbigkit
Brucellosis rule changes coming (posted 9/24/08)
Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online!
About two dozen Sublette County cattle producers gathered at the Pinedale auditorium Tuesday evening to talk about draft rule changes to the state’s brucellosis rules that are being considered by the Wyoming Livestock Board. While the draft changes aren’t official yet, the board is seeking input before it moves forward in a formal rule-making process.
A provision to broaden the brucellosis testing requirement to include sexually intact females 12 months of age was met with widespread opposition. Current state rules provide that females 18 months of age or older within western Wyoming’s brucellosis surveillance area will be tested prior to a change in ownership or prior to leaving the area.
Lowering the age for testing would greatly increase the number of cattle bled for testing, which would be difficult to accommodate with the number of existing veterinarians working in the region. This increased burden on the livestock industry, with no perceived decrease in disease transmission risk, was soundly criticized.
Producers also asked that provisions relating to routinely testing bulls be removed as well.
The good news that producers learned Tuesday night were that there are several groups of animal health officials who are examining ways to improve federal rules to reflect that the risk of brucellosis in livestock is now not a national industry problem, but is due to transmission that occurs from wildlife to livestock in the tri-state Yellowstone region.
The outdated practice of slaughtering entire cattle herds in order for a state to retain its brucellosis-free market status may soon come to an end. Wyoming Assistant State Veterinarian Dr. Jim Logan said that animal health officials in the region are looking at changes to federal rules that would eliminate the need to slaughter entire herds for the state to retain its trade status. A proposal will be issued that will allow some level of brucellosis in the high-risk area of the tri-state region before state status would be affected.
Other rule changes would provide for producers to be able to test out of a brucellosis situation in a more simple way than under current rules, Logan said. The herds would still be under quarantine and depopulating the herds would still be an option.
Giving up on wolf delisting (posted 9/24/08)
Earthjustice press release
In a sweeping victory for the gray wolves of the northern Rockies, the Bush administration has moved to reinstate federal Endangered Species Act protection for wolves. The federal government asked a federal court for permission to withdraw its March 2008 decision that dropped Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in the northern Rockies.
In July, a federal judge stopped the slaughter of wolves in response to a case brought by Earthjustice seeking reinstatement of federal Endangered Species Act protections. The court issued an injunction applying to wolves in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. The court ruled that conservation groups were likely to succeed in their claims that Wyoming's management of wolves was inadequate and that wolves in the three states suffer from a lack of genetic connectivity.
"This is great news for the wolves. We are one step closer to true recovery of a native to the northern Rockies that was driven to extinction in most places," said Earthjustice attorney Doug Honnold.
"It's time for the government to address connectivity and the failure of state laws to adequately protect wolves," continued Honnold. "We are close to having healthy sustainable populations of wolves and now the government needs to come up with a new approach that gives us a self sustaining wolf population as required by federal law."
The news comes at the same time the government released a report finding wolves are not as plentiful in the northern Rockies as federal authorities had forecast as recently as this past spring. New government data suggest there are fewer than 1500 wolves, instead of the 2000 earlier predicted, in the northern Rockies population. So far, government scientists have not documented whether the population decline is due to disease or illegal, unreported wolf killings. Since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) delisted wolves on March 28, states have assumed legal management authority for wolves leading to the shooting of at least 170 wolves. The region's population of 1,450 wolves falls short of the 2,000 to 5,000 wolves that independent scientists have determined to be necessary to secure the health of the species.
In a February Science magazine article, even the top federal official in charge of recovering wolves, Ed Bangs, said he personally thought the FWS recovery target of 300 wolves was too low.
The same magazine article reported that Dr. Robert Wayne, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of California, sent a letter to the FWS in 2007 saying that the recovery goal "severely underestimates the number of wolves required for maintaining a genetically healthy, self-sustaining meta-population."
With continued efforts, legitimate wolf recovery in the region is readily attainable. However, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana have refused to make enforceable commitments to maintaining viable wolf populations within their borders.
Earthjustice filed suit on behalf of Defenders of Wildlife, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, The Humane Society of the United States, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, Friends of the Clearwater, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands Project, and Western Watersheds Project.
Related Links:
Wolf Watch - By Cat Urbigkit
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