SVR & 307 News Roundup
Week of 26 November 2023
How about that—we finally got some snow! With no scheduled calendar events to cover this week, we’ll once again provide you a combined news update for Star Valley Ranch along with a few Cowboy State items of interest. Saddle up and here we go!
At Star Valley Ranch:
On Tuesday, November 28th, I received another “Drinking Water Notice” in my mailbox (see below). I imagine most of you also received this same form letter. In comparison to the water notice we received back in September, this one (in my opinion) was easier to read and more informative. The Mayor provided a cover memo explaining this latest water notice was an Environmental Protection Agency required mailing and part of a series of water system corrective actions the Town of Star Valley Ranch (TSVR) is now implementing (the latter as discussed during the November 9th Public Meeting). If you missed the Public Meeting last month, you can find the slide presentation here and a copy of the TSVR Water System Corrective Action Plan is also available online at this link.
On Wednesday, November 29th, TSVR sent out an email notification advising water would be shut-off to the entirety of Plats 4 and 5 on Thursday, November 30th starting at 9am. The shut-off was necessary in order for the TSVR Public Works Department to identify the source of a water leak and effect repair. The leak was isolated on November 30th and repairs will commence sometime during the week of December 3rd.
One follow-up note on this situation, while as email notification was sent out by TSVR advising of the shut-off, I received a call from one resident who was taken completely unaware that the water would be off. This family has just moved into TSVR and was not yet on the town’s email notification list. This makes me think that another form of notification would be advisable for situations like this. Perhaps a kiosk could be set up at appropriate plat entrances to notify residents of impending water shut-offs or other similar activities. I’ll bring this up with the Town as a means of improving communication in future.
In case you haven’t noticed it, there’s a new sign up at the First Response Center at the corner of Vista Drive and Vista West Drive. Check it out.
And, then there was the snow…. Star Valley Ranch saw its first big winter storm this past week moving in on Friday, December 1st and continuing through the weekend. This morning we were closing in on 10” at my house on the north-end of the Ranch with more snow on the way. You can get a look at all the local Star Valley Ranch weather by visiting the Star Valley Weather website and Star Valley Weather blog.
Finally, for Ranch news, TSVR Trail Crew was hard at work opening trails for snowshoeing after this past weekend’s snowstorm. See their most recent Facebook posts here.
And, here are a few Around the 307 newsworthy items from the past week:
After last week’s Thanksgiving overindulgence I found myself appreciating this story about Yellowstone National Park Grizzly 566 who when examined recently by park biologists registered a whopping 712 pounds and 41% body fat! You can read more about this whole lotta bear (the second heaviest ever documented in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem) here.
Also this week the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) banned the use of M-44 cyanide bombs on land it administers throughout the country. These devices have been employed in Wyoming by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services (WS) department as a means to control predators that prey upon livestock and other classes of animals requiring protections. The use of the M-44 has been controversial with notable instances of family pets being killed after triggering the devices on pubic lands. You can read the full story on WyoFile here.
TerraPower, the company building the natrium nuclear plant in Kemmerer, announced on Thursday November 30th, it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Uranium Energy Corporation to “restore domestic supply chains of uranium fuel”. This could mean the uranium needed for the Kemmerer facility could come from right here in the Cowboy State instead of being sourced from Ohio or New Mexico. Read the TerraPower press release here.
Next week we start getting back to some regular calendar items for Star Valley Ranch, here are a few to make note of:
Monday, December 4th at 1pm the TSVR Water Utility Board will meet at Town Hall.
Tuesday, December 5th at 5pm the TSVR Roads Advisory Board will meet at Town Hall.
Saturday, December 9th, the Star Valley Ranch Association will hold their annual Santa on the Ranch event at the Cedar Creek Center. Showing of the move Polar Express starts at 11:30am with Santa and Mrs. Claus making their appearance from 1pm to 3pm. There will also be cookies, hot cocoa, and crafts.
Last, but not least as I had some time to tinker around while the snow was falling this weekend, I created a short film about last week’s mountain lion sightings on our property. I hope you might take few minutes to view it on my Out West @ Elysium YouTube channel. Just click the image below and it’ll take you right on over to the film. Enjoy!
Click the image above to access the short film “Five Days of Mountain Lions”.
Thank you for reading! If you like this weekly news blog, please share Close to Home 307 with your family and friends. Reach me anytime at: close2home307@gmail.com