Wyoming
As Wyoming Camping Season Kicks Off, Popular Snowy Range Road Remains Closed
From Gary Willams’ perspective, everything old is new again when it comes to Boswell Road, a popular route for campers to take into the southern Snowy Range Mountains that runs right through his property.
He’s placed a gate across the road at his property line about a half-mile off Highway 230.
With peak camping season set to kick off over Memorial Day weekend, Willams told Cowboy State Daily that he intends to keep a gate closed, but not locked.
The road remains officially closed to the public. And Williams said that frustrates him, because he’s OK with folks passing through his property to get to some fantastic camping spots in the meadows beyond. All he asks is that people drive slowly past his house and close the gate behind them.
He also isn’t impressed with the results of a meeting this week between the Albany County Commission and U.S. Forest Service officials about the status of the road. While both have at some point claimed ownership of the road, neither do now.
“Nothing came out of it,” he said. “They’re back to pointing their fingers at each other. We’re back to square one.”
County and Forest Service officials said a resolution is probably still at least months away.
Who Does It Even Belong To?
Jurisdiction over the road remains murky.
The Forest Service has always operated under the assumption that Boswell Road is an Albany County thoroughfare, Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest Supervisor Russell Bacon told the county commissioners.
The roughly 11-mile dirt road route running between Highway 230 and Highway 10 in southern Albany County has never been marked as a Forest Service road on the agency’s maps, he said.
However, from a legal standpoint, it can’t be a country road either, and the county is frustrated over efforts to route it around Willams’ property on the west end hitting snags, Commission Chairman Pete Gosar said.
County engineers had plans to re-route the road, which is what Willams wants, only to have the Forest Service say that couldn’t happen unless it’s formally declared a county road, he said.
And it might be impossible for the county to ever claim full jurisdiction over the road because a section of it dips into Colorado.
About 25% of the route runs through private property, including Williams’ land at the west end, and the Boswell Ranch, owned by former Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead at the east end.
Mead hasn’t gated his section of the road, but has placed “private road, no trespassing” signs at his property line.
Of the remaining 75% of the route, about half runs through the national forest and the rest crosses parcels controlled by the Bureau of Land Management and state of Wyoming.
For years, the Forest Service maintained Boswell Road in exchange for the county maintaining Harris Park Road.
However, the road hasn’t been maintained by either entity for at least a year. Some property owners recently told Cowboy State Daily that it’s become extremely rough in some places, even though it remains the best route in and out of the area.
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Former Wyoming governor Matt Mead recently opted to close a section of the Boswell Road that runs through his property, just off Highway 10 in southern Albany County. (Mark Heinz, Cowboy State Daily) -
Former Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead owns the historic Boswell Ranch just off Highway 10 in southern Albany County. (Mark Heinz, Cowboy State Daily) -
The Carpenter Family has been ranching in Albany for six generations, but might not be able to access their summer range off Boswell Road this year, because the road has been closed. (Courtesy Leisl Carpenter)
Not A Priority For Forest Service
One possible way out of the quandary would be for the county to secure easements along the sections of road that pass through private property. That could make it essentially a county road.
The section going through Colorado would be under Forest Service jurisdiction.
If some property owners refuse to grant easements, the county could take the case to court.
But regardless of whether such easements were settled with a handshake or via a court order, the process would likely take months.
Boswell Road could also be officially converted to a Forest Service road. That would probably take even longer, because a full environmental assessment would be in order, Bacon told the commissioners.
He also said that with 4,500 miles of Forest Service road already under his office’s jurisdiction, “it’s not going to float very high on our priority list” to add Boswell Road, he said.
A 40-Year Wait
Willams has owned his property for 39 years, and said he’s always been frustrated by the back-and-forth between the Forest Service and Albany County when it comes to the road.
It runs right next to his house, and he said he put up the gate because he was getting weary of traffic speeding by.
“I’ve had side-by-sides go through my yard doing 30-40 mph, I’m not kidding,” he said.
Mead previously told Cowboy State Daily that he closed his section of the road partly because he was concerned over liability should a speeding driver have a crash there.
“I’m worried about the same thing,” Willams said, which is why he wants people to slow down.
The Forest Service has put up “road closed” signs at the intersection of Boswell Road and Highway 230.
Willams said he’s not happy about that.
“I’ve never stopped anybody from coming through. My gate was put there just to get people to slow down going through my property,” he said. “I hope people realize, it was the Forest Service that closed the road, not me,” he said.
As for where things go from here, Willams said he’s hopeful, but skeptical.
“Public opinion is what’s going to change this whole deal,” he said. “Maybe on the 40th anniversary of me owning the property we’ll get something done.”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
CASPER, Wyo. — High school athletics in Wyoming could see some drastic changes in the coming years following legislative changes to the state’s education budget, the Wyoming High School Activities Association recently announced in a statement.
According to the WHSAA, Wyoming school districts are facing a projected $3.9 million shortfall in activities funding, forcing officials to consider significant cuts to high school sports and extracurricular programs.
The WHSAA shared details regarding a new “silo” funding model implemented by the Legislature, stating that the recalibrated block grant model reduced funding for student activities and extra-duty responsibilities from $46.3 million to $42.4 million, an approximately 8.4% decrease statewide.
WHSAA Commissioner Trevor Wilson said the restructuring also restricts district access to an additional $76.2 million in previously flexible funding.
“A significant portion of the [April 28 WHSAA Board of Directors] meeting was dedicated to discussing the projected funding shortfall,” Wilson wrote.
The WHSAA is weighing several strategies to address rising costs with fewer resources. Proposed changes include eliminating regional tournaments and reducing the number of teams qualifying for state events from eight to four; limiting wrestling to two classes and restricting track and field state participants to the top 16 marks; making cuts to soccer, indoor track and field, Nordic and Alpine skiing, swimming and diving, spring golf and tennis; and reducing in-person speech and debate events by half and centrally locating All-State Music events to minimize travel. The board also recommended increasing gate admission or implementing student participation fees to offset costs.
While the WHSAA release states that no plans have been finalized and the various changes are currently just possibilities, Natrona County School District 1 Board of Trustees member Mary Schmidt criticized the WHSAA’s handling of the news at Monday’s board meeting.
“I take some issues with this, [including] the sheer fact that we as Board of Trustees members have not talked about that at all,” Schmidt said. “It is not our intent and it has not been brought to us to cut our athletics or activities budget for the upcoming school year. … I take issue with them picking sports and getting the community upset and ginning them up to be upset that this is all going to be cut when that hasn’t been discussed.”
Later in the meeting, Superintendent Angela Hensley clarified that Natrona County School District 1’s athletics and activities budget saw a reduction of roughly $550,000 in the coming year’s budget, but said the local school district does not plan to cut any sports.
“Thank you, Trustee Schmidt, for saying this, because I think people are wondering — we are not planning to cut athletics and activities for next year,” Hensley said. “We do have to take a look at our entire budget as we have talked about, as we learn more about these new rules that come in.”
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Republished with permission from Wyoming News Now, a TV news outlet covering the Cheyenne and Casper areas.
Cheyenne City Council has introduced a temporary moratorium, or pause, on new data center construction.
“The end goal is to actually have regulations in place, to have really heavy public involvement with this with data centers,” said Councilman Mark Moody.
The proposed ordinance is not a permanent ban on data centers and would not affect data centers currently under construction.
Councilman Moody says this is a bipartisan issue.
“I just want to make this clear, I’m not against data centers. We do need them from a national security perspective,” he said.
He said there needs to be more public input and regulations regarding data centers in Cheyenne.
The ordinance would require city staff to study data center impacts such as electricity usage, electricity tariffs, closed-loop cooling systems, groundwater impacts, agricultural impacts, and land value.
Cheyenne LEADS, the economic development corporation for Cheyenne and Laramie County, reported in November 2025 that there are 12 operational data centers in Wyoming, five under construction and plans for 43 data centers announced across the state.
“There needs to be more public input with this, and also to see how many we can sustain here in this community, cause there are talks of 43, and then another day 70. How many can we sustain here?” said Councilman Moody.
The proposed moratorium will now go to the Public Services Committee on Monday, May 18 at noon in the Municipal Building.
Sheridan will play in the North Regional Tournament at Gillette, while the South Regional Tournament will be played at Rock Springs.
North Regional Tournament at Gillette:
Checking record vs. highest team in the quadrant not involved in the tie, Thunder Basin gets the #1 Northeast seed over Campbell County, because the Lady Bolts went 3-1 vs. Sheridan, whereas the Lady Camels went 2-2.
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 NE) Thunder Basin vs. (#4 NW) Jackson – 11am
(#2 NW) Natrona County vs. (#3 NE) Sheridan – 11am
(#2 NE) Campbell County vs. (#3 NW) Kelly Walsh – 1pm
(#1 NW) Cody vs. (#4 NE) Worland – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Thunder Basin/Jackson winner vs. Natrona County/Sheridan winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh winner vs. Cody/Worland winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Thunder Basin/Jackson loser vs. Natrona County/Sheridan loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh loser vs. Cody/Worland loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
South Regional Tournament at Rock Springs:
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 SW) Laramie vs. (#4 SE) Torrington – 11am
(#2 SE) Cheyenne East vs. (#3 SW) Green River – 11am
(#2 SW) Rock Springs vs. (#3 SE) Wheatland – 1pm
(#1 SE) Cheyenne Central vs. (#4 SW) Cheyenne South – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Laramie/Torrington winner vs. Cheyenne East/Green River winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Rock Springs/Wheatland winner vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Laramie/Torrington loser vs. Cheyenne East/Green River loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Rock Springs/Wheatland loser vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
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