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Unwilling to budge on spending cuts, Wyoming’s congressional delegation announced today a new plan to turn Yellowstone National Park into a dystopic battleground in which public land managers will fight to the death for funding.

Grand Teton superintendent Mary Gibson Scott and YNP chief Dan Wenk will compete in Hunger Games: Yellowstone, along with Scott Guenther, head of the Jenny Lake rangers, National Elk Refuge manager Steve Kallin and Cheryl Probert, acting Bridger-Teton National Forest supervisor.

U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis held a lavish bash at Four Seasons to announce the contest, attended by hundreds of oil and gas industry executives. Lummis hailed the plan as necessary belt tightening in a time of economic austerity.

“Instead of blindly filling desks, these bureaucrats will expose themselves to feel what wretches feel, and show the heavens more just,” she said.

Sen. John Barrasso said Yellowstone’s 3,500 square miles will serve as the perfect venue for the competition. Flesh-hungry grizzly bears and wolves will add extra drama as land managers engage one another in an atavistic struggle, against a backdrop of steaming geysers and bubbling mud pots. Barrasso has signed a deal with Fox News to broadcast the contest.

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Posted under Environment, Humor, Politics, Republican Party

Tags: cynthia lummis, grand teton national park, john barrasso, yellowstone

When I first reported about the passage of state Sen. Leland Christensen’s hitchhiking bill and subsequent signing by the governor, readers inquired whether the law would apply to federal lands and interstate highways.

Sen. Christensen said the change, which removed a prohibition on soliciting rides, definitely applies to interstates. He also said based on a conversation with Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk, he reasoned that the park would follow Wyoming law on the matter.

I followed up with Grand Teton National Park spokeswoman Jackie Skaggs, and she researched the Code of Federal Regulations.

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Posted under Crime, Environment, Politics, Sports, Wyoming Legislature

Tags: grand teton national park, hiking, leland christensen

Following a three-month investigation by Grand Teton National Park, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has decided not to press charges against three hunters who shot and killed a grizzly bear on Thanksgiving morning.

The investigation found that the hunters — David Trembly, 48, of Dubois, and his two sons, ages 20 and 17 — hit the bear with bullets and pepper spray “at nearly the same instant,” according to a park release. The report, made in consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, concludes the three acted in self-defense, and the encounter lasted fewer than 10 seconds.

The bear was a male, estimated to be 18 to 20 years old, and weighed 534 pounds. It had been feeding on an elk carcass nearby and likely was defending its food, biologists said.

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Posted under Crime, Environment, Politics, Sports

Tags: bears, grand teton national park, hunting, snake river, wildlife

A mountain man soon will be able to take one of his most indispensable possessions — a Leatherman or Swiss Army knife — with him when he travels by air.

The Transportation Security Administration announced yesterday that it will permit passengers to carry pocket knives on flights beginning April 25. The long-overdue change will allow knives with blades no more than 2.36 inches long (6 cm) and a half-inch wide.

According to ABC, the TSA confiscated tens of millions of pocket knives from flyers since 2001 — a gigantic waste and source of immeasurable aggravation.

Ski poles, golf clubs and hockey and pool sticks also will be allowed on flights under the new regulations.

Air travel just got a little less maddening. Except, of course, for longer security lines due to the sequester.

Posted under Politics, Wyoming

Tags: travel

With Congress locked in a fiscal stalemate, federal agencies in Teton County are beginning to implement budget cuts mandated by the sequester. Citizens are preparing for the prospect of fewer climbing rangers at Jenny Lake this summer, or a possible delayed opening of some roads in Yellowstone.

This video, which has been making the rounds in social media, helps reframe the broader debate over government funding. The skewed public perception of wealth distribution shows just how far the goalposts have been moved in terms of generating more revenue vs. spending cuts.

Those who like to portray the discussion in terms of “job creators” and “makers vs. takers” should have a hard time justifying how this isn’t a banana republic, let alone a just society.

The stock market hit an all-time high yesterday, but as the N.Y. Times reported, the economic recovery has favored corporate profits while doing relatively little for adding jobs or workers’ pay. This video plainly illustrates why.

Posted under Democratic Party, Economy, Environment, Politics, Republican Party

Tags: cynthia lummis, fat cats, grand teton national park, john barrasso