January 5, 2024

Ticks are actually considered the second most ‘dangerous’ creature in the world when it comes to transmitting disease – only behind mosquitoes. It is not just Bond that has noticed the increase last year, many were saying that anecdotally it was a big tick year in western Wyoming, which is especially of concern in Sublette County, where there is the highest rate of tick fever disease in the country.

On a bright Wednesday morning in September, forty or so sleepy-eyed high school students from Wyoming Indian High School sit at folding plastic tables. They’ve got journals and pens in front of them, but they’re not in your typical classroom. Instead, they’re in an open field of sagebrush that’s currently home to the Eastern Shoshone bison herd.

The Wyoming Sheep and Wool Festival was held in Kemmer in July. It was meant to celebrate the state's sheep and wool producers and help bring the industry to light with the public.

A bill that went through Wyoming's 2023 Legislature would forbid teachers from covering certain topics in kindergarten to third grade classes. The bill was touted by its supporters as a necessary check to keep classroom conversations age-appropriate, but opponents feared it would stigmatize queer youth.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, most commonly known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, has been expanding broadband internet access across Wyoming. But is it possible in the vast untamed lands of this state to bring high speed connection to every rural resident? That’s the major challenge sparking a conversation about internet access on the frontier.

The grizzly bear is one of the more controversial species in the West. It’s listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. But some experts and landowners think the population in and around Yellowstone National Park should be considered recovered. Meanwhile, some environmentalists say that in order for that grizzly population to be fully healthy, it needs more genetic diversity. One way to do that is by allowing grizzlies from a central Montana ecosystem to travel south and breed with bears in the Yellowstone Ecosystem, called creating connectivity. But that 100 miles or so between the two ecosystems is populated with over 200,000 people. Two communities in that 100 mile swath are preparing for the nearly inevitable arrival of grizzlies.

Wildlife managers across the West have been stocking high, alpine lakes with fish for decades. New research is looking into how that history changed the Rocky Mountain environment and the genetics of the fish themselves.

Each year, Wyoming Public Radio’s newsroom produces countless stories for this show, helping to paint a picture of the state of Wyoming each week. Today our journalists look back into 2023’s Open Spaces vault of stories and choose their favorite. We get to hear why. From reporting on ticks to backcountry fishing and place-based education. Those stories and more.