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It’s Easter Sunday! Here’s your Ranch news roundup for the week of March 24th, 2024:
On Wednesday, March 27th at 1pm the Town of Star Valley Ranch (TSVR) Water Utility Board (WUB) met at Town Hall. You can find the meeting agenda here, however, no draft minutes are posted yet. One piece of information I can relay is that unfortunately, the two newest members of the WUB both resigned this month.
Also on Wednesday, March 27th at 5pm the TSVR Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Board met at Town Hall. You can find the draft meeting minutes here. A couple of items of interest to pass along are as follows:
Members of the P&Z Board provided review of, and extensive revision to, the recently proposed design standards and guidelines ordinance for single-family home construction. You can read all draft TSVR ordinances up for consideration at the next regular Town Council meeting at this link. [Click on the dropdown arrow following Current Proposed Ordinance up for Reading.]
The P&Z Board briefly discussed a recent Public Notice for a development being marketed as Mountain Valley Estates. This development is adjacent to Star Valley Ranch between Vista West Drive and on the east side of Muddy String Road. The Public Notice in this week’s Star Valley Independent (see the first column on page 17A at this link) states this very-dense development will be accessed from both Muddy String Road and Vista West Drive. The P&Z Board Chairman noted when the developers of Mountain Valley Estates first sought annexation by TSVR in 2018, their request was denied (see the April 4th, 2018 P&Z Board minutes here which document the latter). The Town has also not approved any access to Mountain Valley Estates via Vista West Drive. We’ll continue to keep any eye on all this.
Saturday, March 30th at 10am, the Star Valley Ranch Association hosted an Easter Egg Hunt at Cedar Creek Park. Despite the snowy weather, my understanding is the Easter Bunny still made an appearance!
[Photo credit: mllevphoto/Shutterstock.com] One other news items for the week:
I’d like to provide an update on the work being done by Jester's Legacy. [I first reported about family pet Jester’s tragic death in the SVR News Roundup posts from the weeks of February 18th and again on February 25th.] Earlier this month (on Tuesday, March 12th) supporters of this grassroots group participated in a meeting with the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission (WGFC) via Zoom to discuss changes to existing trapping regulations that would include the addition of mandatory trapper education and increased trap setbacks from trails and roads. Participants in the meeting, to include the Wyoming State Trappers Association, were empathetic and supportive of the proposed changes. Next steps will include a vote by the Commission to approve the changes along with refinement of regulatory language. These changes may also have to move through the Wyoming Legislature before being finalized. Subsequent to the meeting the Wyoming’s Chief Game Warden provided the following:
At the recent meeting of the WGFC, held March 12-13 in Pinedale, the WGFC directed the Department to prepare a summary of past efforts to revise trapping laws and regulations as well as our ongoing work to improve outreach and education. The Department will provide this information at the next WGFC meeting set for April 16-17 in Riverton. Our presentation will include a discussion of the actions that would be necessary to implement mandatory trapper education as well as trapping setbacks. Our intent is to seek further direction from the WGFC. The agenda for this meeting, once finalized, will be available here.
The Jackson Hole News and Guide also published this story following the Pinedale WGFC meeting. I’ll continue to follow this story and provide additional updates from Jester’s Legacy as they become available.
Jester was killed near Swift Creek in Afton in an illegally set conibear trap on Feb 9th. [Photo courtesy of Becky Barber.]
A couple of calendar items for next week are as follows:
Tuesday, April 2nd at 5pm the TSVR Roads Advisory Board will meet at Town Hall.
Thursday, April 4th at 1pm the TSVR Finance Advisory Board will hold their quarterly meeting at Town Hall.
Final thoughts—I saw a cute little guy just like the one in this photo on Friday. He was sticking out like a sore thumb resplendent in his white coat on a roadside slope devoid of snow thanks to the sunshine. Some fun facts:
Snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) have the unique trait of a seasonal fur color change. The length of daylight actually triggers this change. In the spring, hares begin to shed their white winter coat in favor of the brown colors of summer. In the fall, the hares then shed their brown summer fur in preparation for winter snow. The complete fur color change is about a 10-week process.
I wasn’t able to snap a photo of the cute fella I saw but he looked just like this one! [Photo credit: FotoRequest/Shutterstock.com]
That’s all for today—Thank you for reading! Please invite your neighbors, family, and friends to check out Close to Home 307. Your support and feedback is very much appreciated! Email me anytime at: close2home307@gmail.com
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