After the Road
How to restore sagebrush habitat on decommissioned roads
By Tessa Wittman
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
Agencies bet that hundreds of miles of temporary new roads can help a forest
By Nathan C. Martin
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
Researchers investigate non-motorized recreation’s ecological impacts
By Meghan Kent
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.
Intersecting Roads
The need to value and safeguard wildlife movements
Perspective From Corinna Riginos
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.
Cheatgrass on Fire
The race to save an ecosystem
Locals speculate that Nevada’s largest fire may have started with a Fourth of July firework launched in a canyon. But no one really knows. The 2018 Martin Fire seemed small and innocuous, until a weather cell moved into northern Nevada.
The Four-Footed Watercraft Inspector
Can specially trained dogs keep invasive mussels out of western waterways?
A mile outside of Browning, Montana, a watercraft inspector sits on the side of the highway next to her kennel.
Cancer to the Rescue?
A potential solution to invasive mussels
One hundred thousand quagga mussels can live in a single square meter, and 450 trillion of them infest Lake Michigan alone.
Unsung Pollinators
Native bees are forgotten in the clamor to save exotic pollinators
Christy Bell rifled through a series of shallow drawers lining the walls of a dark, windowless lab.
To Kill or Not to Kill?
Managing charismatic ungulates in the Tetons
The first time Michael Whitfield saw bighorn sheep in the high country he stood on a ridgeline in the shadow of the Teton Range and watched a group grazing along a plateau.
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.
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.
Sharing Fences
Local knowledge guides research across public and private lands
“I’ve learned to tune out the incessant alarm calls of prairie dogs when I work,” says recent University of Wyoming graduate Lauren Connell. “It’s that or go crazy.”
Bullies on the Range
Wild horses are winning out over wildlife in the struggle for water
On a summer day in 2011, biologist Neil Perry was checking on prairie dogs he had translocated to a remote canyon in Mesa Verde, National Park, not far from the Four Corners region.
Tracking Wild Horses
Technology addresses a rangeland challenge
As the sun sets over the stark Skull Creek Rim, I sit in the sand and take a swig from my water bottle. I am lucky to have portable water in this barren landscape.
One Steppe
New tools to improve management of Wyoming’s sagebrush ecosystem
In November 2014 the Douglas Core Area Restoration Team was all set to plant 16,000 sagebrush seedlings in a wildfire burn area east of Douglas, Wyoming.
Path to Recovery
Map of the Endangered Species Act
By Emilene Ostlind and Gary Beauvais
Avoiding Extinction on a Warming Planet
Can the Endangered Species Act protect wildlife in a changing climate?
On a summer day in 2011, a group of US Geological Survey researchers hiked through the wildflowers high above Glacier National Park’s tree line
Coping, Not Overcoming
Scientist discovers pikas’ strategies for dealing with heat
By Alanna Elder
Just like the creature she studies, Embere Hall spends much of the winter beneath the snow. Her office is tucked in a network of hallways beneath the University of Wyoming’s older science buildings.
Return of the Grizzly
No longer federally protected, is the great bear ready to strike out on its own?
In the early 20th century, tourists gathered around dump pits in Yellowstone National Park to watch grizzlies devour trash.