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.
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
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
Amphibian Crossing
By Rhiannon Jakopak
Carrying salamanders across roadways helps local populations persist
On a rainy April night when temperatures peeked just above freezing, around 30 people spread out along a well-traveled street next to a city park in Laramie, Wyoming.
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.
Intersecting Roads
Perspective From Corinna Riginos
The need to value and safeguard wildlife movements
Roads may well be humankind’s greatest source of metaphors, inspiration for a plethora of phrases about journeys and all the bumps, bends, twists, and turns along them.
Looking Underground
Tiny soil organisms may hold the key to managing invasive plants
The four members of Gordon Custer’s research group gather around as he walks through the steps of data collection.
Released to the Wild
Unwanted pets take a toll on ecosystems
Stepping through the tall grass, a family made their way to the edge of Kelly Warm Spring, a geothermal spring with a temperature that hovers around 77 degrees Fahrenheit year-round, in Grand Teton National Park.
Colonel Mustard, by the Dock, with the Bucket
A fish detective, the effort to stop illegal invasive species introductions, and a long history of a fish management culture clash
One summer day in 1992, two teenage boys fishing Lake Mary Ronan watched a man dump a cooler
Bye Bye, Baseline, Goodbye
Rethinking our goals for ecosystem conservation
Natural resource managers strive to keep ecosystems functioning on their own.
Time to Revisit our Invasive Species Strategy
Perspective from Governor Mark Gordon
Invasive species are not a new phenomenon, but over the past few decades the West has seen an explosion of all types in all ecosystems.
Federal lands in public hands
The long history of Congressional intent to keep public lands public
Bob Keiter is the Wallace Stegner Professor of Law, University Distinguished Professor, and Director of the Wallace Stegner Center of Land, Resources, and the Environment
Your Federal Public Lands
The United States of America is unique in the world for its vast system of federal public lands, which make up more than a quarter of the country’s land area. Those federal lands, mostly concentrated in the 11 westernmost states and Alaska, span everything from rivers and canyons to sagebrush steppe and alpine peaks.
Why We Have Federal Land
The citizens and leaders behind our public land heritage
On June 30, 1864, the US Senate approved a grant of federal land to the state of California, a tract in the Sierra Nevada at the headwaters of the Merced River “known as the Yo-semite valley…with the stipulation…that the premises shall be held for public use, resort, and recreation…for all time.”
National Monuments and Local Concerns
What it means to have protected public lands in your backyard
Waves lap the shoreline. An endless stellar canopy shimmers in the ink-colored sky. Smoky fragrance drifts from a campfire, and 20 middle school students sit around the dancing flames.
Consuming Experiences Instead of Stuff
What quiet recreationists bring to the outdoor economy and how to reach them
With BLM maps in hand and fragments of descriptions from locals, Eric Krszjzaniek searches for an old Indian village in Wyoming’s Shirley Basin. As he walks across the landscape, he pauses often to reference his Rockhounding in Wyoming guide and note the types of rocks in the area.
A Different Kind of Map
Social science reveals the contours of wildlife migration’s human dimensions
On an early June morning, I found Jessi Johnson and her hunting partner loading up a bright red pickup, deep in discussion about the best spot to scout for bedded-down deer.
