Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming, for Friday, August 23rd. I'm Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - brought to you by ServeWyoming - Wyoming's center for volunteerism and AmeriCorps service for the last 30 years! For volunteer opportunities, visit ServeWyoming dot org" A wildfire burning out of control in northern Wyoming east of Buffalo has exploded. and is pushing 200,000 acres. The Johnson County House Draw Fire is the largest of several in Northern Wyoming as of Thursday evening. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that ranchers are scrambling to help fight that, and other wildfires in the area, to save their homes and animals. "The biggest fire right now is in Johnson County, and that's over 164,000 acres. And when I spoke with a rancher on Thursday, he said he was out there with his water truck. He had seen an antelope walk by on fire. He said lots of ranchers were just bringing everything they had to fight the fires, to save their cattle, to gain ground in any way. And he said that other people were pulling together too. For instance, the buffalo Bighorn Co Op donated fuel to those water trucks." The two largest fires now raging in Campbell County are the Flat Rock Fire and the Constitution Fire farther north, off of Highway 95. Cowboy State Daily's Jen Kocher spoke to ranchers from the area who had to move fast - and ask for help from friends and neighbors - to save their livestock. "I stuck with Shanna Firnekas, and she was actually in Douglas when she got the call from her children concerned because they saw the fire coming and they had 30 bulls that they needed to move off the property immediately. So her three children coordinated with their friends, and they were able to get those bulls off the property and sent into town where they're staying at the CamPlex… And she's just one of many who are impacted here." Personnel and volunteers in Sheridan, Campbell, Fremont, Weston and Converse counties are also fighting back blazes. Read the full story HERE. — After a year of protests, meetings and threats of lawsuits, the Bureau of Land Management released its controversial plan to manage 3.6 million acres of federal land in southwest Wyoming, and Cowboy State officials are already crying foul. The hefty plan was released Thursday. Cowboy State Daily's Mark Heinz reports that the plan is billed by the BLM as a compromise merging of various alternatives. "The BLM and some people have touted this plan as a way to better conserve this land and keep it for future generations. And other people have criticized it… they say it's going to hurt energy development, it's going to limit public access to the lands… Our governor and our senators blasted it this morning in statements that they made, said that it still really, it falls short of what white Wyoming needs in terms of protecting access and protecting energy interest." The Rock Springs BLM field office oversees roughly 3.6 million acres in Wyoming, much of it in Sweetwater County. The BLM's final plan designates just less than one million acres of that as "areas of critical environmental concern". Read the full story

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