Wyoming
Elk Fire cuts into hunting season in northern Wyoming
SHERIDAN COUNTY — Sheridan County in Wyoming draws hundreds of hunters from across the state and country each year. With the Elk Fire, unfortunately, the season has been cut short as parts of the Big Horn Mountain are inaccessible, creating a ripple effect for surrounding businesses.
“That’s kind of where the fire started over the top of that ridge. And blew this way when that cold front came through and jumped the canyon,” said Wyoming native Shawn Kelley as he pointed out the Elk Fire’s path in Sheridan County Monday.
Like many in Wyoming, hunting isn’t just a hobby to Kelley. It’s more of a lifestyle.
“There’s very, very few people that don’t hunt for the same reason. We’re trying to put meat on the table. It’s the most organic meat you can find. And it saves on the grocery bills all winter long,” Kelley said. “Both my daughter and my wife still have a cow tag to fill. So we’ll probably get out a little bit in November.”
Alina Hauter/MTN News
That passion for hunting and the outdoors led him to become the Northern Wyoming Regional Director for the conservation group Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
“We track and serve in acres for wildlife, mainly, obviously, our number one priority is elk,” added Kelley.
He’s seen just how much of an impact the Elk Fire has had on hunters and the season.
“It impacted it pretty greatly because we couldn’t get on the mountain from this side,” Kelley said. “I was even talking to some friends that hunt from the west side in. A lot of their stuff got shut down just because of the fire resources that were on the mountain for public safety and for the safety of the firemen. They just shut it down.”
With the fire forcing elk down the mountain a little earlier than usual, they were pushed onto private land.
“They’re down here where the grass is green, the weather is good. They’ll be fine. They’re probably stress-free now. They’re probably living on private land and eating the best grass they’ve eaten all year. It’s a little vacation time,” said Kelley. “People just don’t get after them with a lack of public access to get after them.”
Shawn Kelley
Rifle season started in October, which coincided with the start of the Elk Fire.
“Typically, October’s a big month up there. I know a lot of people that go up there first day or two and they have really good success. And that was right when the fire was blowing up,” Kelley said.
It’s caused hunters to make some tough decisions when it comes to tags.
“The guys that I know that turned in their tags, they still have the opportunity to go hunting. But some of those out-of-staters, I mean, they plan, I mean, some of those draw units are in the teens for years. They wait for that tag,” said Kelley. “Your heart kind of goes out for some of those people that might have been waiting 16 years to go hunt. And now they got to wait another year.”
Kelley said it’s had a ripple effect on the area’s economy.
“It definitely, probably hurt the economy a little bit. Hunting is a very good economy driver. So, I’m not sure if anybody’s feeling the effects of the non-hunters coming here, but bars, restaurants, gas stations, all see out-of-state hunting as a plus because it’s an economy driver,” Kelley said.
Alina Hauter/MTN News
Executive director of the Brinton Museum and its Brinton Bistro Kendra Heimbuck saw the impact firsthand as the museum is located at the base of the Bighorn Mountains.
“I think the closest it got to us was about six miles. But we saw how quickly it traveled down the face of the mountain. And when it first started, we thought, you know, we’ll be diligent, we’ll keep an eye on it, but there’s no way that we’re probably really going to be impacted by it,” said Heimbuck.
The fire shut down the museum and its bistro for six business days.
“It definitely impacted our revenue-generating opportunities, you know, every day that the bistro is open, it helps to contribute to the overall business plan of the year,” Heimbuck said. “Had we been closed longer, you know, we would have had to start thinking through those impacts even more.”
The Brinton Museum is back open and ready for business.
Alina Hauter/MTN News
“It truly is a gathering place. And so when our doors are closed, it, you know, we lack that kind of sense of community,” said Heimbuck. “When we reopened, we were a little concerned that it would take, you know, a week for people to realize, okay, they’re back open. But thankfully, we reopened on Thursday last week and the dining room was slammed. The museum was full of people. I think everyone was just so excited that we were okay.”
Kelley said there is a couple of silver linings in the situation.
“We’re very fortunate they didn’t lose many structures. Fatalities were none, so there is a lot of positives to take from it. The community support and how people rallied around the fire crews that were here in town,” Kelley said. “Fire is devastating. Fire burns a lot of stuff, destructs a lot of stuff. But the regrowth and rejuvenation that we’re going to get, the rejuvenation that we’ll get, the landscape will be good again for wildlife.”
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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