Wyoming
For the first time, biologists know where Wyoming’s pikas dwell — at least for now – WyoFile
The whereabouts of the pint-sized pika, a mammalian indicator species that is losing its alpine habitat to climate change, have been mapped for the first time in Wyoming’s reaches of the Rocky Mountains.
Biologists who keep watch over non-game species for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department surveyed the distribution of the talus-dwelling lagomorphs, finding pikas in nine mountainous areas: the Salt River, Snake River, Wyoming, Wind River, Gros Ventre, Teton, Absaroka, Bighorn and Snowy ranges. The effort was motivated by a desire to better understand how climate change stands to influence the animal’s unique alpine habitat niche in the Equality State.
“They are a habitat specialist that is sensitive to temperature,” Game and Fish Nongame Mammal Biologist Dana Nelson told WyoFile. “Knowing that, and knowing that climate change is a leading threat that we really want to have figured out, that motivated the implementation of those statewide occupancy surveys a few years ago.”
Although the surveys date to 2020 and 2021, the results were more recently published in the state agency’s annual nongame “job completion report.”
The results of 167 surveys completed at 100 unique sites show that the tiny, short-eared cousin of the rabbit occupied 57% of the suitable habitat in the state. As time goes on, and Wyoming’s mountains continue to warm, biologists will then have baseline data to examine, and lots of it. Fortunately, the technicians who shouldered the intensive fieldwork also amassed data on slope angle and direction where pikas dwelled, in addition to inventorying vegetative cover — and logging temperatures above and below ground.
Armed with that data, Nelson, colleagues and generations of Wyoming biologists to come will be able to detect not only if pikas have abandoned certain areas, but also if they are shifting their range uphill or selecting habitat based on another parameter.
Wyoming’s pika research is funding-dependent, and the schedule isn’t cemented, but Nelson’s hoping to pull off a repeat of the 2021 and 2022 surveys every five to six years. The initial effort was funded through a state wildlife grant, she said.
Based on a mountain of existing research, it’s likely that the changes Game and Fish biologists detect won’t be favorable for the American pika, a twice Endangered Species Act-petitioned — but not listed — species.
“Pikas have been lost from 32% to 36% of the [habitat] patches in four different mountain ranges in Idaho and Montana,” said Erik Beever, a research ecologist for the U.S. Geological Survey’s Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center.
Beever, who’s studied pikas for three decades, cited that grim finding from a 2021 study led by his then-graduate student that looked at evidence of where pikas live now — and where they used to — based on their scat and food caches. Vacant habitat suggested that climate change is already making incursions into pika range: The places they used to be are consistently warmer, consistently drier, and consistently hold a lower snowpack, he said.
The environmental changes affecting pikas vary from place to place.
“The nice thing about this species is it really spans about a third of North America,” Beever said. “Magnitudes of change across studies have varied pretty markedly based on where you are in the range.”
With a range extending south to New Mexico and north into Canada, Wyoming’s pikas are located approximately in the middle. Being central bodes well, Beever said, because it lessens the likelihood they’ll experience the starker habitat changes felt on the far reaches of the range.
“At first blush, one might expect the magnitude of influence of contemporary climate variability and change to be less in Wyoming than other places,” Beever said.
A National Park Service-led study also suggests that Wyoming pikas’ alpine abodes might hold up more favorably than other areas of the range. The collaborative research, forebodingly titled Pikas in Peril, examined pika habitat in eight different national parks and monuments.
“They predicted pika occupancy in Grand Teton National Park to remain at 100% throughout the 21st century, whereas it was predicted to decline in every other park — in some of them dramatically,” Beever said. “Working there [in the Tetons], we’re trying to figure out what that ‘secret sauce’ is so that we can help export that for climate adaptation efforts across the rest of the country.”
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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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