Around the 307
News, commentary, and other items of interest from the greater Wyoming landscape.
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Happy New Year folks! Here are a few Wyoming news items of interest from the week of December 29th, 2024:
Some troubling news to report at the end of 2024. On public land south of Jackson a dead cow elk was found and reported to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD). After investigating and sampling the carcass, the WGFD confirmed the elk had died from Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). The animal was part of Elk Hunt Area 84 (the Fall Creek Herd) and has no surrounding CWD-positive elk areas. There are, however, surrounding deer hunt areas with previous CWD detections (Deer Hunt Areas 144, 152, 154 and 155). This central nervous system disease is 100% fatal to infected elk, deer, and moose. The Centers for Disease Control recommends hunters do not consume any animal that is obviously ill or tests positive for CWD. You can read more about this incident in this story from WyoFile and also visit the WGFD website here to learn more about the scourge of CWD in the Cowboy State.
Thursday, January 2nd, 2025, more public big game winter range closures were announced by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Kemmerer and Pinedale Field Offices. These big game winter ranges will be closed to all motorized vehicle travel from January 1st through April 30th to protect wintering elk, moose, pronghorn, and mule deer from disruptive human activities which can increase animal mortality rates. Get more specifics about the affected areas in this article from Wyoming 4 News. You and also check out the BLM seasonal and year-round public land user limitations map at this link.
Friday, January 3rd, 2025, Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray certified the ballot initiative titled the “People’s Initiative to Limit Property Tax in Wyoming Through a Homeowner’s Property Exemption.” If approved by voters during the 2026 general election, you could see your property taxes reduced by 50%! I last reported on this petition in an Around the 307 post at the end of July 2024 when the effort fell just 1,000 signatures short of making the 2024 general election ballot. Personally, I’m pleased to see the ballot initiative committee persevere and go on to obtain the additional signatures required in order to bring this question before Wyoming voters in 2026. If the initiative passes, state legislators will have to deal with a sizable revenue reduction, however, with billions of dollars in state savings and reserves (estimated at more than $30 billion in 2024) supporters of the petition think it’s high time for the people to get a tax break. Read more about the ballot initiative certification in this story from Cowboy State Daily.
Lastly—here are a few Wyoming historical events (some well known, others obscure) that occurred during the month of December.
December 16th, 1868—Track laying crews complete the Union Pacific line into Evanston on the Bear River.
December 2nd, 1905—18 miners die in Diamondville coal mine explosion.
December 19th, 1977—Former Wyoming Governor Nellie Tayloe Ross, the nation’s first woman governor, dies in Washington, D.C. at the age of 101.
That’s all for today cowpokes! Thanks for reading and have a great week!
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