Episode Details

Newscast Script

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming, for Monday, October 21st. I'm Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - brought to you by the Cowboy State Daily Morning Show with Jake! From 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday, Cowboy State Daily's Jake Nichols brings to life the latest news, weather, sports and in-depth conversations that matter to you.

During the Panhandle Fire in Texas last year, a lot of Wyomingites stepped up to help deliver hay and other necessities to stricken ranches.

Texas took note of all that help - and Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean says they're now returning the favor in the wake of the Elk Fire, Pack Trail Fire, and other devastating wildfires that have burned in excess of 810,000 acres in Wyoming so far this season.

"This is a slow burning crisis in America. The more farms and ranches we lose, the less able we are to feed our families, and the more our products go up retail and so really, it is, in fact, a slow motion crisis. You don't see the headlines about it because it's not so immediately gripping… these ranchers have suffered devastating losses… it's great that this group is willing to help, not just Texas, but any ranch that's in trouble because of natural disasters. They're there to help step in where there's really right now, nothing helping these guys overcome."

The effect of the Elk Fire, which has burned more than 96,000 acres, is likely to linger for a long time, particularly for the affected ranches. They have lost all-important hay to feed their cattle through winter, as well as rangelands that will need to rest at least a year before animals can once again graze them.

Read the full story HERE.

For the first time in weeks, neither the Pack Trail nor the Elk Fire burning in different areas of northern Wyoming are reporting almost no growth.

The rain and snow brought by the cold snap cooled off some of the hottest parts of the blaze and has allowed firefighting crews to start to get the upper hand on controlling it. But Cowboy State Daily's Greg Johnson reports that the changing weather was just a short reprieve.

"Now that it's warming up again, it's getting a little drier again, the conditions for the fire are going to be a little more favorable to the fire. However, they don't expect it to come back nearly as volatile as it was before."

This week's blast of winter has allowed officials to let nearly everyone evacuated by the fires go home. All, that is, except for one primary residence near the mouth of Tongue River Canyon just southwest of Dayton in the middle of the Elk Fire, which is still located within the fire's perimeter.

Read the full story HERE.

The Bechler River Soldier Station in the southwest corner of Yellowstone National Park is one of the park's many backcountry entrances. And the area accessed through the park's least-used entrance is an oasis of blue and green in the vast expanse of Yellowstone.

Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi writes that the Bechler Station is so far into the undeveloped wilderness that only the most determined visitors journey to see the pristine wilderness.

"There's so much water in that region that Idaho, Montana and Wyoming wanted to dam the Bechler River and get irrigation going in there. They wanted to tap into that water source. And it was ultimately decided in the 1930s that Bechler was bet