Wyoming
Candy Moulton: Autumn Is A Magical Time In Beaver Creek, Wyoming
On June 14, 1844, John C. Fremont with Kit Carson and a larger group traveled along the eastern flank of the Sierra Madre in southern Wyoming. They were headed west following a nearly two-year-long exploratory trip throughout the West.
I don’t know the precise location of their camp that night, but I do know that it was along the creek that runs about a quarter of a mile below my house.
That part is easy to document because Fremont noted in his journal, “There were several beaver dams, and many trees recently cut down by the beaver. We gave to this the name of Beaver Dam creek, as now they are becoming sufficiently rare to distinguish by their name the streams on which they are found.”
Apart from my years in college, I’ve always lived in the Beaver Creek area, ten miles southeast of Encampment. Our house is at the end of the county road, though there are some properties above us, farther up along the creek, that are accessible on private roads. We are surrounded by pastureland and hay meadows.
This end-of-the-road location means we don’t have a lot of traffic, except this time of year when hunters who have access to the private land are coming and going from early in the morning until late at night.
This year is one that’s going down in the family history as the year of the critters.
It started in late spring when we first saw tracks, and then actually saw a bobcat and two kittens. And we also saw another lone bobcat that we assumed was a male. They hung around in the willows below our house and liked to wander up by Grandma’s Cabin.
By summer we didn’t see those kittens anymore, but one of the older bobcats routinely came around and we’d see it in the evening when we sat at our dining room table eating our dinner. It hunted gophers and prairie dogs and we started calling it by the original name of Bob.
One night not long ago the camera we have on our back deck caught a nighttime view of Bob – who had two new kittens so now we know Bob is a Bobbie and has some little Bobs (or Bobbies). In my family this is significant because I had an Uncle Bob and an Aunt Bobbie and a cousin we all call Little Bob.
In addition to the bobcats, this summer was filled with animals on the deck. We had a raccoon with four kits and one night a young black bear climbed over the pole railing to check out the area. Those raccoons and the bear showed up when the raspberries were just about ready for picking…they got them, we didn’t.
After one trip away from Beaver Creek for a few days, we returned to find a badger had moved into the neighborhood and had a fine old time digging holes all around the house and shop. We saw him on the nightly camera feed, climbing the steps to the back door. He didn’t come in and wasn’t successful at digging a hole under the foundation, either.
This time of year, when we sit outside in the evening, we hear the elk bugling down on the creek, the distinctive cry of sandhill cranes headed south, and the cry of geese.
Pretty much any time of year the sounds of what I call the Beaver Creek Symphony are routine in the evening: coyotes, owls, nighthawks. And since we live in ranch country, those wild critter sounds are complimented by the cattle – mama cows bawling for their calves, or the deep-throated sound of a bull.
It’s surprising how sounds travel in a quiet neighborhood. My nearest neighbor is a quarter of a mile away – and that’s where the former owner used to have peacocks, which we could hear because they make a sound that cuts through the air.
Another neighbor, who is about a mile away, has some hound dogs and we occasionally hear them at night. But nobody nearby along Beaver Creek has roosters and for that I’m grateful.
Candy Moulton can be reached at: Candy.L.Moulton@gmail.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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