Living in a Natural Resource Economy
By Emilene Ostlind
What can Wyoming learn from studies of the “natural resource curse”?
Wyoming has long produced the most coal of any US state and lands in the top ten states for natural gas and oil production. In a fossil fuel driven economy, all that mineral wealth should make Wyoming rich, and sometimes it truly does. Consider the first decade of the 2000s when hydraulic fracturing opened up previously inaccessible natural gas reserves. In 2008 Wyoming’s economy—as measured by gross domestic product, personal incomes, state revenues, or number of jobs—flourished. State coffers were overflowing and citizens across the state benefitted from the bounty.
A New Lease on State Land
By Birch Malotky
How Conservation is Hoping to Buy a Seat at the Land Management Table
Sagebrush in Prisons
By Frani Halperin
Inmates are saving an iconic American landscape—and themselves
Free-Range Carbon
By Birch Malotky
Not a silver bullet, but maybe a gold standard, a new market tool benefits climate, ecosystems, and people
Science of Road Ecology
By Kristen Pope
Researchers are changing the ways we see, think about, and manage our roadways
“People don’t really think about this impact that roads have because roads and cars are such an important part of our life in North America,” says Western Transportation Institute (WTI) senior research scientist Tony Clevenger.
A Last Leap Towards Flowers
By Morgan Heim
Who are these animals, their lights gone out? What journeys have fallen apart here?
—Barry Lopez, Apologia
Road Noise
By Kristen Pope
Traffic sounds disturb wildlife far beyond the asphalt
Leather-clad motorcyclists cruised around Devils Tower National Monument in August 2015
Repairing a Fragmented Landscape
By Gregory Nickerson
Interstate 80 severed wildlife habitats 50 years ago. Can we reconnect them?
Ernie’s Road
Text and images by Claire Giordano
The engineer behind a lonely desert highway
My mom tells stories of a magic road. It wound from a gleaming blue alpine lake to the desert below. It required no gas, didn’t wear out brakes, and had the most beautiful vistas.
After the Road
By Tessa Wittman
How to restore sagebrush habitat on decommissioned roads
In the natural gas fields of western Wyoming, innumerable dirt roads cut through the sagebrush steppe, connecting gas wells and carrying heavy equipment.
Road Wager
By Nathan C. Martin
Agencies bet that hundreds of miles of temporary new roads can help a forest
The Medicine Bow National Forest is the most densely roaded forest in Wyoming. Interstate 80 borders it to the north, and winding byways bisect its major mountain ranges—the Sierra Madre and the Snowy Range.
Hikers and Wildlife Cross Paths
By Meghan Kent
Researchers investigate non-motorized recreation’s ecological impacts
Following his GPS, University of Wyoming field technician Michael Gjellum descends into a canyon between the folded foothills of Pilot Hill, keeping a careful eye out for mountain lion activity.
