The Voice of the Community Since 1909, Serving Moorcroft and Pine Haven, Wyoming
The Voice of the Community Since 1909, Serving Moorcroft and Pine Haven, Wyoming
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Pointing to new science suggesting the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem lacks quality lynx habitat, wildlife managers are proposing expansive reductions in the area designated as "critical habitat" for the rare, snowshoe hare-dependent felines. Despite the lynx's almost complete absence - apart from a 2022 one-off sighting - the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has classified 9146 square miles of the Yellowstone area as critical lynx habitat for the past decade. Last week, the federal agency...
A federal judge has upheld the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's plans for managing black-footed ferrets in Wyoming, the state where the once-presumed-extinct species was rediscovered some four decades ago. The dispute over how the federal government managed the endangered weasel-like animal traces back nearly a decade to when federal wildlife managers officially designated the Wyoming population as "nonessential, experimental." That classification allows for more regulatory flexibility than...
JACKSON — Federal and state agencies have sorted out discombobulation that led to an awfully confusing 2020 onset to the popular antler gathering season in western Wyoming. When May 1 strikes in 2021, there’s one time to keep in mind: 6 a.m. That’s the day and time when the Bridger-Teton National Forest will lift its winter closures and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department will allow people to pick up shed antlers off public land in the region. National Elk Refuge staff will lead a motorcade down Refuge Road at 6 a.m. to forest lands, and g...
JACKSON — The daily morning feeding of 7,000 or so wapiti on the National Elk Refuge began for the winter on Wednesday, after animals started to get antsy as the grasses they graze on waned. Biologists use a criteria of 300 pounds of grass and forbs per acre to determine when to begin the supplemental feeding season, a 109-year-old tradition on the federal refuge north of Jackson “I was starting to see anecdotal signs that elk were starting to leave the refuge,” said biologist Eric Cole. Elk were starting to move into the Twin Creek subdi...
JACKSON — As it nears the end of a busy and successful summer season, Yellowstone National Park’s largest concessionaire has announced big changes to overnight lodging for the coming winter, as well as some earlier-than-planned closures this fall. More than 100 guest units in Yellowstone National Park’s Old Faithful area are closing for the season ahead of schedule as a precaution to guard against the pandemic. There was no big COVID-19 flare-up among staff stationed at the famous geyser’s developed area. But the Old Faithful clinic closed...
JACKSON — Numbers of wapiti drawn to the National Elk Refuge’s feed lines are up significantly this winter, with 8,095 animals counted during an assessment a week ago. The overall on-feed count is 11% greater than the 10-year average of 7314 elk, and it’s 23% higher than the 2019 tally of 6586 wapiti. Given that it has been an average winter at low elevations, the number and distribution of elk found eating alfalfa pellets on the Feb. 18 survey day are right about what Elk Refuge biologist Eric Cole would expect to see. Overall, this appea...
JACKSON — Alfalfa-spewing elk-feeding trucks and the federal employees who drive them will be deemed “essential” and thus unaffected by the partial government shutdown, but so far the herds are OK without the help. National Elk Refuge Biologist Eric Cole has been allowed to work part time to determine when feeding is needed, and he has found that grasses are still plentiful and accessible for the approximately 2,800 elk congregated on the refuge’s south end. “What we’ve had going for us is we haven’t had any significant thaw-freeze c...
