Wings Over Wyoming
Cultivating pollinator support at state parks
By Amy Marie Storey
In 2019, a plain mowed field in Oklahoma’s Sequoyah State Park transformed into an acre of wildflowers. The verdant space served both visitors and pollinators.
Foraging for Data
The power of mushroom hunting as both outdoor recreation and community science
By Shelby Nivitanont
While off-path and crouching at the base of a stoic fir, I took in my surroundings with an exhalation and fresh eyes. Huge, ruby-red mushroom caps pushed up through the earth around me—countless Boletus rubriceps, or Rocky Mountain porcini.
Happy Trails
Lessons from Curt Gowdy State Park on outdoor recreation design
By Katie Klingsporn
Between Laramie and Cheyenne, amid the rocky shrubland and aspen groves of Curt Gowdy State Park, 45 miles of trail unfurl in ribbons of dirt, ramps, jumps, and berms.
When You Gotta Go—Pack It Out
Finding solutions for human waste in the backcountry
By Kristen Pope
Among stunning red arches, balancing rocks, canyons, pinyon-juniper, and cacti, a hiker in southern Utah sees something white in the distance. Is it a wildflower? Approaching the “blossom,” the hiker instead finds something far less picturesque—used toilet paper and human feces.
Untethered
Managing off-leash dogs on public trails
By Sabrina White
“Boulder, as a town, has always been super supportive of dogs and people recreating together off-leash,” says Lisa Gonҫalo, recreation management coordinator for the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks.
Making Space
Land trusts take on community access to outdoor recreation
By Meghan Kent
In 2009, Colin Betzler moved to Sheridan, Wyoming, as the first paid executive director for the local land trust. Like for many people, the Bighorn Mountains drew him to the area. On a clear day, the fortress-like summits of Cloud Peak, Blacktooth, Innominate, and Mt. Woolsey reign over the Sheridan valley.
Wild and Working
The promise of western lands
Perspective by John L. Koprowski
I was a youngster in Cleveland, Ohio, when the Cuyahoga River started on fire…again!
Reciprocity and Sovereignty
An interview with Wes Martel on tribal wildlife conservation
By Temple Stoellinger
Wes Martel is the Senior Wind River Conservation Associate for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. Previously, Martel served on the Eastern Shoshone Business Council for twenty years where he oversaw programs and legislation dealing with water, taxation, energy, and environment.
Redefining Thrive
Lessons from my children in the context of climate change
By Corrie Knapp
When she was a baby, my eldest daughter had a strong latch and I enjoyed focusing on her breathing and feeling my milk let down. Allowing myself into this flow that was both release and connection at the same time was a lesson for me, the first of many.
Flight Interrupted
Biologist works to protect eagles on collision course with wind power
By Jill Bergman
There are places in Wyoming where the sky is more imposing than the land. The force of wind and emptiness define this spare country.
Creating a Sustainable Destination
Jackson Hole seeks a better tourism future
By Kristen Pope
Hiking mountain trails festooned with larkspur, lupine, and arrowleaf balsamroot flowers; paddleboarding on an alpine lake beneath the Tetons; seeing playful bear cubs frolic; and watching bison graze by the Moulton Barn with a backdrop of towering peaks—these are just a few of the reasons people come to Jackson Hole.
Bison on Wind River
Restoring a wildlife economy and revitalizing culture
By Janey Fugate
Rolling over a dirt road hemmed in sagebrush, Patti Baldes steered her ATV down to the bison herd that she and her husband, Jason Baldes, restored to the Wind River Indian Reservation after a 130-year absence.
Not Fade Away
Communities in rural Montana reach beyond agriculture
By Samuel Western
I’m in upper eastern Montana, a land of undulating drainages, heading north on Highway 87.
Living in a Natural Resource Economy
What can Wyoming learn from studies of the “natural resource curse”?
By Emilene Ostlind
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.
Sagebrush in Prisons
Inmates are saving an iconic American landscape—and themselves
By Frani Halperin
On a very windy fall day, Gina Clingerman, project manager for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Abandoned Mines Lands program in Wyoming, walks through rolling hills where a wildland fire torched more than 14,000 acres of sagebrush steppe in 2020.
Free-Range Carbon
Not a silver bullet, but maybe a gold standard, a new market tool benefits climate, ecosystems, and people
By Birch Malotky
When I get Dallas May on the phone for the first time and ask how he’s doing, he immediately tells me, “We were getting ready to start selling cattle and a week later the rains started.
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
Interstate 80 severed wildlife habitats 50 years ago. Can we reconnect them?
By Gregory Nickerson
When I drove across Wyoming’s stretch of Interstate 80 to film a wildlife documentary in fall 2019, I saw animals confronting the highway barrier again and again.
Ernie’s Road
The engineer behind a lonely desert highway
Text and images by Claire Giordano
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.