Wyoming News Briefs

Average gas prices remain unchanged in past week in Wyoming

CHEYENNE (WNE) — Average gasoline prices in Wyoming are unchanged in the last week, averaging $3.25 per gallon Monday, according to GasBuddy.com’s survey of 494 stations in Wyoming.

Prices in Wyoming are 4.9 cents per gallon lower than a month ago, and stand 64.4 cents per gallon lower than a year ago.

According to GasBuddy price reports, the lowest price in the state Sunday was $2.79, while the highest was $4.49, a difference of $1.70 per gallon.

The national average price of gasoline has risen 1.2 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.16 per gallon Monday. The national average is down 18.8 cents per gallon from a month ago, and stands 67.4 cents per gallon lower than a year ago, according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 11 million weekly price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country.

Search continues for lost hiker

JACKSON (WNE) — Yellowstone National Park officials are still searching for Austin King, a 22-year-old Minnesota man last heard from a week ago on the highest peak in the park.

The park is asking for the public’s help in locating King.

People with information about his whereabouts should contact the park dispatch center at 307-344-2643. Anyone backpacking, horsepacking or otherwise moving through the backcountry near Eagle Peak since Sept. 14, three days before King went missing, may have seen him.

King is about six feet tall, weighs about 160 pounds and has brown hair and hazel eyes. He wears glasses and may be wearing a black sweatshirt and gray pants, officials said in a Sunday press release.

King was on a seven-day backcountry trip when he called friends and family from the summit of Eagle Peak on Sept. 17, acquiring service on the 11,364-foot mountain in Yellowstone’s remote, southeastern corner.

“While on the summit, King described fog, rain, sleet, hail and windy conditions,” Yellowstone officials said in the press release.

Sept. 17 was the last time King contacted the outside world, officials said in the press release. Three days later, King was reported overdue to Yellowstone’s dispatch center. He did not arrive for a scheduled boat pickup Friday on Yellowstone Lake’s southeast arm.

At first light the next day, Yellowstone began a search and rescue effort, surveying higher elevation areas surrounding Eagle Mountain and lower areas near Yellowstone Lake from air and land. Later that evening, first responders discovered King’s camp and belongings in the upper Howell Creek area southeast of the peak.

King worked for a concessionaire in Yellowstone.

BLM announces December 2024 oil and gas lease sale in Wyoming

ROCK SPRINGS (WNE) — The Bureau of Land Management Wyoming State Office on Monday, Sept. 16, announced an oil and gas lease sale scheduled for Dec. 3, 2024, to offer eight oil and gas parcels totaling 4641.95 acres in Wyoming.

The BLM completed scoping on these parcels in May 2024 and had a public comment period that closed in August 2024 on the parcels, potential deferrals, and the related environmental analysis. A 30-day public protest period to receive additional public input opened today and will close Oct. 16.

The parcels the BLM has analyzed, as well as maps and instructions on how to submit a protest are available on the BLM’s ePlanning website at: https:// eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning- ui/project/2031781/510.

The terms of federal fluid mineral leases will be consistent with the Fluid Minerals Leasing and Leasing Process Rule, which reflects Congressional direction from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, including a 16.67 percent royalty rate for production on any new leases. Revenues are split between the state where the drilling occurs and the U.S. Treasury.

Leasing is the first step in the process to develop federal oil and gas resources.

Before development operations can begin, an operator must submit an application for a permit to drill detailing development plans. The BLM reviews applications for permits to drill, posts them for public review, conducts an environmental analysis and coordinates with state partners and stakeholders.

All parcels leased for oil and gas lease include appropriate stipulations to protect important natural resources. Information on current and upcoming BLM leases is available through the National Fluid Lease Sale System.

Honor Farm helps place wild horses in new homes

CASPER (WNE) — Forty-six gentled wild horses and burros were placed into new homes this week, thanks to a partnership between the Wyoming Department of Corrections Honor Farm, a minimum custody facility in Riverton, and the Bureau of Land Management.

It’s the latest testament to the department’s Wild Horse Program in which inmates work together to gentle wild horses in preparation for placement in second homes.

The high bid of the adoption was $5000 for saddle-trained Walker, a two-year-old grullo gelding from the Divide Basin Herd Management Area east of Rock Springs.

Of the eight burros offered, a six-year-old named Kodak, who had been trained to ride, pack and pull a cart, fetched the winning bid of $800.

Overall, the average price for a riding horse was $2147. The halter-started horses went for an average of $413, and $669 on average for a pack-trained burro.

Walker now starts a new life with the Wyoming Catholic College in Lander. Equine instructors in the school’s Horsemanship Program will train him for use in their Introduction to Horsemanship course.

The program has adopted Honor Farm-trained horses in the past.

“Walker was calm, had beautiful transitions, wasn’t pushy, was listening and waiting for instructions, was built well, and had great movement,” said instructor Lorine Sheehan, director of the Horsemanship Program.

“I’ve never had soundness issues with a mustang,” said instructor Margorie Papadopoulos. “The fun thing about having them in our Horsemanship Program is that we get to ride them, too.”

“We’re excited you guys do this,” added Sheehan. “It’s really good for the wild horses. And horses teach you so much about how to be a good human being.”

Two adoptions are held at the Honor Farm each year. The next one is scheduled for May 10, 2025.

Driver hits, kills black bear on Moose-Wilson Road

JACKSON (WNE) — It was about 8:40 a.m. Thursday and Les Brunker was on his way to the gym when he saw a police car parked on the side of Highway 390.

A black bear’s lifeless body was visible in the grass nearby.

Earlier that clear, fall morning, a driver had hit and killed the bear.

The bear’s death is the most recent vehicle-caused wildlife killing on 390, better known as Moose-Wilson Road. or the Village Road.

Over the past decade, drivers have killed scores of moose along the West Bank highway, prompting calls for reduced speed limits.

The Wyoming Department of Transportation reduced speeds in 2012 but hasn’t acquiesced since — the speed limit on the road is already lower than the speed people drive, officials have said.

The DOT is, however, installing a handful of wildlife crossings and fencing around the intersection of highways 22 and 390 to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions.

Mike Boyce, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s large carnivore biologist, confirmed that the bear was a subadult female, without a collar or other markings suggesting she had previously been handled by humans.

Bears are hit by cars far less frequently than ungulates, he added.

“It seems they’re a little more savvy with traffic,” Boyce said. “It does happen, but definitely not at the rate the deer and moose get hit.”

Boyce, like staff at Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation, said people should follow recommendations for driving in wildlife country: Follow the speed limit and slow down, increase your following distance, use high beams at night, scan the road’s edge for wildlife, and expect other animals to follow if one crosses the road.

Anyone who hits a bear, Boyce said, should call Game and Fish immediately, and leave it alone in case it’s injured.

Campbell County to test hand counting process in October

GILLETTE (WNE) — In October, advocates of hand counting ballots will get a chance to demonstrate their preferred election process.

Campbell County Clerk Cindy Lovelace said that tentatively on Oct. 4, a group of people, led by Campbell County resident Patti Junek, will count more than 1000 sample general election ballots by hand.

Lovelace said the event will be open to the public to watch, and that she’s still working on finalizing the time and date.

She said she would have preferred to do this once the general election was complete, but that the group wanted to do it before. Oct. 4 was the latest that Lovelace’s office could realistically accommodate, since early voting starts Oct. 8.

On Oct. 3, the election machines will be tested and certified for the general election.

“I’m not saying I support the process. My view on it is – because I know there’s a lot of talk out there – the only way to really know what the process would look like is to test it,” Lovelace said. “Then we’ll have the data to know whether it’s viable.”

The elections office will prepare five sample early ballots and five mail-in ballots from each of Campbell County’s 37 precincts. The group will then fill out the rest of the ballots.

In total, the group will count about 1100 ballots by hand. Based on the past two presidential elections, this is about 5% of all ballots that will be cast in November.

Once the counting is complete, Lovelace said, she should be able to estimate how many staff she would need, as well as how much her budget would need to be, to count all of an election’s ballots by hand.

Judge pulls permits for 5000-well gas project

CASPER (WNE) — A District of Columbia District Court on Friday ruled that the Bureau of Land Management’s approval of a Converse County oil and gas project was illegal due to errors in the environmental analysis.

The 5,000-well project in the Powder River Basin, initially approved in 2020, is now left in limbo as the drilling permit has been revoked and the court instructed the BLM to not approve any more permits to drill until a final remedy is decided.

Part of the environmental analysis included a groundwater model report to assess the project’s effect on groundwater supplies.

The analysis by the BLM used figures that the Environmental Protection Agency deemed inaccurate and said that the numbers used may “result in a substantial underestimation” of the amount of water an aquifer could release.

Two environmental advocacy groups — the Powder River Basin Resource Council and Western Watersheds Project — filed a lawsuit in 2022 claiming several violations of several environmental protection laws. The lawsuit also raised legal violations around the agency’s failure to require air quality mitigation measures, analyze cumulative climate change impacts, consider pacing project development to moderate impacts and require customary seasonal protections to prevent disturbance of nesting birds of prey, according to a press release from the Western Watersheds Project.

The decision of Friday only addressed the groundwater issues.

“Best practices by the industry include properly planning for treatment of produced water and protections of groundwater in Converse County,” said Powder River Basin Resource Council Board member Maria Katherman.

The Converse County project encompasses sage grouse priority habitats designated under federal sage grouse plans. Part of the project includes the Douglas Core Area, where the combined effects of past drilling and other forms of habitat disturbance already exceeded allowable disturbance thresholds under the federal sage grouse plans, according to the Western Watersheds Project.

Five homes, 36 buildings in total lost in Short Draw Fire, which is 92% contained

GILLETTE (WNE) — Five homes have been destroyed in the Short Draw Fire, which started Sept. 11 and has burned 34,557 acres in northern Campbell County and southern Montana.

In total, 36 structures have been destroyed in the fire, which is 92% contained as of Thursday morning.

“We are relieved that no lives were lost, and we are grateful for the incredible teamwork that ensured residents were able to evacuate safely,” said Campbell County Fire Department Fire Chief Jeff Bender in a press release. “We are deeply saddened by the loss of homes, grazing lands, and the disruption to lives. Our hearts go out to everyone affected, and we stand united with the community during this difficult time.”

The Short Draw Fire is being managed by the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.

The area received rain this week, and while the precipitation helped put out embers, it also created wet and muddy conditions that made it challenging fore firefighters to access certain areas of the fire perimeter.

Emergency response teams are actively assessing the damage and providing support to affected residents.

The DNRC County Assist Team has hosted landowner meetings to address questions and provide resources for rebuilding. Additionally, the state of Wyoming created a resource page for those effected by wildfire, available at uwyo.edu/barnbackyard/resources/wildfire.html

“The collaboration between Powder River County, Campbell County, and the DNRC CAT has been a dedicated effort to support residents impacted by the Short Draw Fire, particularly those who have lost structures, grazing lands, fencing, or outbuildings,” said Powder River County Sheriff Devin Bowman. “Our office will remain available to answer any questions or provide further assistance.”

Yellowstone visitor suffers first reported thermal injury of 2024

JACKSON (WNE) — Yellowstone National Park has reported its first known thermal injury of the year.

A 60-year-old woman visiting from Windsor, New Hampshire, who was not identified by name, reportedly suffered second- and third-degree burns to her lower leg on Monday afternoon while walking in a thermal area near Mallard Lake Trailhead at Old Faithful.

The park said in a press release that the woman was walking off trail with her husband and a leashed dog in a thermal area when she broke through a thin crust over scalding water and suffered burns to her leg. Her husband and dog were not injured.

The woman and her husband went to a park medical clinic, where she was evaluated. She was later transported by helicopter to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls for further treatment.

The incident is under investigation and Yellowstone officials had no additional information to share, according to the park’s press release.

Park visitors are reminded to stay on boardwalks and trails in hydrothermal areas and to exercise extreme caution. The ground in these areas is fragile and thin, and there is often scalding water just below the surface.

Park officials advise visitors not to touch thermal features or their runoff. Swimming and soaking in hot springs is prohibited. According to the park, more than 20 people have died over the years from burns after they entered or fell into Yellowstone’s hot springs.

Also, pets are prohibited on boardwalks, on hiking trails, in the backcountry and in thermal areas.

House committee passes Hageman bill to block Rock Springs RMP

CHEYENNE (WNE) — On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman’s bill, H.R. 6085, to prohibit the implementation of the proposed Resource Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement for the Rock Springs RMP Revision, was passed by the House Natural Resources Committee.

Hageman said in a news release, “The BLM’s proposed Rock Springs Resource Management Plan and proposed Final Environmental Impact Statement will substantially reduce economically productive and environmentally safe land uses and activities. It is a de-facto land lockout, converting thousands of acres of multiple-use designated federal land in Wyoming to be set aside for non-use and non-access. This is exactly what the radical environmentalists have been demanding and what the Biden-Harris administration has been hell-bent on implementing across the West.

“It is impossible to overestimate the devastation this RMP will cause to our local communities, our State and our country, due to the impact on our mining, grazing, recreation, and energy industries — all because bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. are buying into the ‘climate change’ hysterics of the Biden-Harris administration, rather than following scientific analysis and facts. It is critical Congress stops this attack on Wyoming and the West, and today’s vote to nullify the Rock Springs RMP is a major step in the right direction.”

Gordon pursues disaster designation for fires

SHERIDAN (WNE) — Gov. Mark Gordon has submitted his U.S. Department of Agriculture request for a Secretarial disaster designation due to impacts of wildfires that have scorched more than 629,000 acres across Wyoming to date.

In his letter to United States Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Gordon pointed out a disproportionate amount of the area burned so far has occurred on private lands, with much of that land used for some type of agricultural production. Losses from the House Draw fire in Johnson County — which has burned over 170,000 acres — are estimated at $25 million. Producers are still determining loss estimates in other counties impacted by this season’s fires.

“This fire has destroyed at least 590 miles of fence, numerous stock tanks, livestock forage and, sadly, livestock,” Gordon wrote. “Similar statistics will emerge during the loss determination process for the other large wildfires in Eastern and Northern Wyoming.”

Gordon also requested maximum program flexibility due to the unique nature of Wyoming’s agriculture. He pointed out that hot temperatures, high winds and continued drought conditions have stretched resources and made for a particularly difficult year for fighting fire.

“The task of building back will be exceptionally challenging, and time is of the essence as the infrastructure necessary to manage livestock as well as provide water for wildlife has been decimated,” Gordon added.

The University of Wyoming Extension, in partnership with state agencies, has compiled a website of both fire information and recovery resources that can be utilized by those impacted by wildfires. The site addresses preparedness, provides information for those facing active wildfires, along with recovery and rebuilding resources, including lists of Financial Resources from Federal Agencies as well as programs specifically for agricultural producers.