Sublette County

Chronic wasting disease has struck the Black Butte elk feedground, making it the third feedground in the past three months. The fatal disease threatens to topple western Wyoming’s roughly 20,000 fed elk.

It's been a year since a rural ranching community in Sublette County was cast into the international spotlight because of outrage over what many deemed "torture" of a wolf. The legalities and culture around the incident are still hot button issues.

The new detections bring the total number of herds in the state quarantining for the disease to four.

Wyoming has hit another unfortunate milestone: A second elk feedground with chronic wasting disease. The detection has the potential to threaten the future of western Wyoming’s elk herds.

It’s been almost a year since a Sublette County man ran down a wolf with a snowmobile and brought the live animal into a bar, sparking global outrage. One bill recently failed that would’ve banned the act of running a predator over with a vehicle on public land – something many wildlife advocates have called for.

A beloved fishing lake near Pinedale now has no fish. To top it off, the entire lake turned red a couple months ago, and land managers and biologists don’t know exactly why. WyoFile’s Mike Koshmrl first reported on this in early December and gives us a debrief.

You might remember from last year’s Open Spaces holiday show, we featured a story on a very “Wyoming” kind of Christmas tree hunt: a sagebrush. On the hunt was longtime Sublette County outfitter and mountain man Bill Webb. He’s back this year but on the hunt for another unique holiday tree.

Across the state, temps have mostly held close to record highs this fall, which isn’t great if you’re hunting big game. Wyoming hunters might be hiking farther or altering their strategy this year, as well as having to consider keeping meat fresh after harvest.

Wyoming is at the drawing board for how to reduce pollution from oil and gas production, per a federal mandate. Officials recently heard from Pinedale residents on how to localize the federal requirements. The meeting was part of a statewide information gathering tour hosted by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality.

In places with some of the harshest winter conditions in the lower 48, people are insulating their houses with straw. The alternative material is a way to lower carbon footprints and is surprisingly resilient.