When Dean Sherman got the photos of a new specimen found in one of the famous fossil quarries near Kemmerer, Wyoming, he immediately dropped what he was doing and rushed to the site.

“I knew exactly what it was as soon as I got the picture,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s a salamander. That has to be a salamander.’”

Sherman, the owner of In Stone Fossils, has found thousands of incredible fossils from the Green River Formation. But the foot-long salamander he saw in that photo is a new milestone personally, professionally and paleontologically.

“In 20 years-plus of digging experience, I’ve never discovered anything even remotely like it,” he said. “It’s definitely a one-of-a-kind piece.”

Special Soft Salamander

While the Green River Formation is one of the most fossiliferous rock formations in the world, the National Park Service says amphibian fossils are “extremely uncommon.” Dave Dilworth, one of In Stone Fossils’ employees, found the fossil while excavating a new layer in an existing quarry that had already produced several incredible Green River discoveries.

Sherman identified the specimen as a Paleoamphiuma, an omnivorous salamander that lived around 52 million years ago. It’s only the third specimen of the prehistoric amphibian ever found.

“We know for a fact that we have the skull, at least two appendages in the front, and the back two appendages that to be laying over on top of each other on one side of the specimen,” he said. “The only thing missing is a little bit of the tail.”

What’s especially exciting is that there are telltale signs of soft-tissue preservation. Sherman could tell by the “halo” surrounding the specimen.

“The halo around the fossil is a visual sign that there’s skin around the specimen itself,” he said. “That would be the first Paleoamphiuma ever found with soft tissue preservation.”

No Place Like Home

The salamander’s scientific implications are exciting enough, but that’s not everything exciting about the fossil’s future. This important Cowboy State fossil is staying in Wyoming, now and forever.

Sherman explained that the quarry where the salamander was found is on a parcel of land In Stone Fossils is leasing from the state of Wyoming. That means the fossil belongs to, and will ultimately reside in, Wyoming.

“When a rare (fossil) is discovered in a state quarry, it will go into the repository of the state of Wyoming,” he said. “When it’s prepared, it could be displayed at the Wyoming State Museum or somewhere else, but it’s in public retention. The state of Wyoming will have ownership of it.”

Fossils from the Wyoming deposits of the Green River Formation are crown jewels in museums around the globe. A first-of-its-kind mouse bird found by In Stone Fossils in a private quarry in Kemmerer was recently donated to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

The newly discovered salamander may go out of state temporarily for research and display at other institutions, but it will never be gone forever. The Wyoming salamander will always come home.

Hours And Years Ahead

The salamander was fully excavated on the same day it was found. It’s in the possession of In Stone Fossils and will remain there for the foreseeable future.

Even though the rare fossil belongs to the people of Wyoming, they won’t be able to see it for a long time. There are hundreds of hours and many years between the fossil’s discovery and its public debut.

“It’s sitting in limbo right now,” he said. “It will be distributed to the state of Wyoming soon, but I’ve seen things put into a cabinet for a long period of time.”

The state will have to find money to prepare the fossil, a meticulous process where the rock must be removed without damaging the delicate bones. Sherman estimated that hundreds of hours of preparation would be needed to fully reveal the salamander.

“You’re looking at probably 200-plus hours of preparation on the specimen alone, and it (could) easily exceed that,” he said. “I don’t know what funding Wyoming has for a project like this.”

When the funding is available, a bidding process will open for the fossil’s preparation. That could be when the fossil takes a temporary trip out of state to be worked on by a professional preparator.

Sherman has won bids to prepare several fossils for the state of Wyoming, but he’ll probably pass on prepping the salamander. He’s still in the midst of a much larger project, preparing a massive and immaculately preserved crocodile.

“The crocodile is the priority for us,” he said. “With the projects in front of us, I don’t believe I would want to bid on this particular one.”

Sherman isn’t sure how long it’ll be before Wyomingites see their salamander’s full grandeur. Regardless, they’ll need to be patient.

“I’ve seen things put into a cabinet for years before the funding was available to do the preparation and put it on display,” he said. “It’s all funding.”

A Fossiliferous Future

The remarkable fossil salamander is the first fossil found in a previously untouched layer in the Kemmerer quarry. It’s an early indication that the layer has much more to offer than previously believed, and more 52 million-year-old secrets are emerging from the rock.

“We just discovered a bulb-like plant attached to a flower today,” he said. “We work with a paleobotanist at the Field Museum who will be out here in less than a month, and some of this information is very important to his studies. This kind of plant material from the Green River Formation hasn’t been highly studied.”

Better yet, all the fossils in the layer are within the state lease. Whatever Sherman and his team find, it’ll belong to Wyoming.

“The quarry’s been active for a while, but nobody’s dug this layer,” he said. “Many people didn’t know there was this vast amount of material in it, but we’re finding some pretty interesting things already.”

Even so, it’ll be hard to top the discovery of the third-of-its-kind soft-tissue salamander.

“We’re really proud to have it in public retention in Wyoming,” Sherman said. “It’ll be there for future scientists to study.”

Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.

Friday at 5 p.m. was the deadline for candidates to register for the August 20 Primary Election in Wyoming.

The following candidates have filed to run for Mayor of Cheyenne and the Cheyenne City Council, according to the Cheyenne City Clerk’s Office:

MAYOR

Patrick Collins
426 Carriage Dr.
Cheyenne, WY  82009
(307) 631-1141
patrick@collins4mayor2024

Buddy Tennant
2800 McCann Ave. B-12
Cheyenne, WY 82001
(307) 635-4971
buddy_tennant@yahoo.com

Rick Coppinger
6512 Moreland Ave.
Cheyenne, WY 82009
(307) 369-6587
rdcoppinger4mayor@charter.net

Vic (no last name listed)
100 E. 28th St.
Cheyenne, WY 82001
aiformayor2024@gmail.com

Justin Nadeau
3037 Forest Dr.
Cheyenne, WY 82001
(307) 256-4067
justin.m.nadeau25@gmail.com

Jenny Hixenbaugh
616 Silver Sage Ave.
Cheyenne, WY 82009
(307) 421-5746
jenny.hixenbaugh@yahoo.com

WARD III

Michelle Aldrich
4505 E. 17th St.
Cheyenne, WY 82001
(307) 760-6213
michelle.aldrich.wyo@gmail.com

Richard Johnson
612 McGovern Ave.
Cheyenne, WY 82001
(307) 220-1973
richardjohnson82001@gmail.com

Mark A. Moody
716 Taggart Dr.
Cheyenne, WY 82007
(307) 287-7247
markforcheyenne3@gmail.com

It’s worth noting that all three candidates in Ward III will advance to the general election since two seats are open and the top two finishers for each seat advance. The top four vote-getters in the primary election will move on in Wards I and II since two seats are open in each of those wards and more than four candidates have filed in each. The top two finishers in the Primary Election for mayor of Cheyenne will likewise advance to the General Election.

Here are the candidates who have filed for Laramie County offices, according to the Laramie County Clerk’s Office:

Assessor

Republican Todd A Ernst 4105 Clark Street Cheyenne, WY 82009 ernst4assessor@gmail.com

County Commissioner

Republican Ty Zwonitzer 5602 Cobia Court Cheyenne, WY 82009 (307) 214-7827 ty@tyzwonitzer.com www.tyzwonitzer.com

Republican Don Hollingshead 9160 Heavenly Dr Cheyenne, WY 82009 (307) 369-6997 hollingsheadforcommissioner@gmail.com www.hollingsheadforcommissioner.com

Republican Kathy Scigliano 5512 Constitution Dr Cheyenne, WY 82001 scigliano4laramiecounty@yahoo.com www.vote4kathy.com

Republican Austin Rodemaker 5150 Newland Ave Cheyenne, WY 82009 (717) 215-4495 austin@austinrodemaker.com www.austinrodemaker.com

Republican Lawrence “Larry” Milbourn 919 Richardson Ct Cheyenne, WY 82001 larry.m4lcc@gmail.com

Republican Josh Tuttle 810 E Allison Rd Cheyenne, WY 82007 (307) 640-2651 joshtuttlecountycommissioner@gmail.com

Republican Jess E. Ketcham 6197 Bison Run Loop Cheyenne, WY 82009 (307) 635-5769 ketchamforcommissioner@yahoo.com www.ketchamforcommissioner.com

Two seats are open on the Laramie County Commission, and no incumbents have filed to run for those seats.

As of 5 p.m. Friday, the official 2024 election candidate roster in Wyoming is signed, sealed and delivered.

Overall, 167 candidates have filed to run for state and federal offices in Wyoming. This does not include future write-in candidates or people who choose to run as Independents for the general election. There will be at least 74 contested state and federal primary races. This does not include county commission and other local races.

“We had a robust candidate filing period to kick off Wyoming’s 2024 election cycle, in which we have seen a number of candidates filed with our office,” Secretary of State Chuck Gray said. “With the candidate filing period now closed, our office is focused on continuing to serve the people of Wyoming and working with Wyoming’s county clerks to oversee and administer a great election here in Wyoming.”

Participation is a bit down this year. In 2022, there were 193 candidates and 82 contested races throughout the election cycle.

Both U.S. Sen. John Barrasso and Rep. Harriet Hageman will have primary and general election challengers.

U.S. Senate

In the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, Barrasso will take on Casper resident Reid Rasner and Laramie resident John Holtz. Rasner is a relative newcomer to Wyoming politics but has aggressively campaigned around the state over the past year, but also has drawn some criticism.

Holtz was a longtime judge in Douglas who now runs a private law practice. Holtz ran in the 2020 U.S. Senate Republican primary race against Sen. Cynthia Lummis, finishing seventh. He also ran for interim Secretary of State in the fall of 2022.

The winner of the Republican primary will face Laramie Democrat Scott Morrow in the general election, who has no primary challenger.

U.S. House

In the Republican primary for U.S. House, Hageman will take on Casper attorney Steve Helling. Helling ran in the 2022 Democratic primary for U.S. House, finishing last out of three candidates. During that race, Helling said he supported former President Donald Trump and expressed virtually no views of the Democratic Party.

The winner of this race will take on Cheyenne Democrat Kyle Cameron in the general election, who has no primary challenger.

Key Legislature Races

There weren’t too many surprise candidacy announcements in the waning days of the filing period, but a few were eye-catching.

One of the biggest themes to watch will be that of former state legislators trying to get their seats back.

In House District 6, former legislator Aaron Clausen will take on Freedom Caucus member Rep. Tomi Strock, R-Douglas, in a rematch of the 2022 election.

The only contested Democratic race in the state will involve former legislator and LGBTQ advocate Sara Burlingame, who will go up against Teresa Wolff in the House District 11 primary in Cheyenne. This is the seat now held by Rep. Jared Olsen, R-Cheyenne, who announced this spring he’s running for the Senate.

Also running to get their seat back is former legislator John Romero-Martinez, who will take on his cousin Rep. Tamara Trujillo, R-Cheyenne, and Lee Filer in the House District 44 primary in Cheyenne. Filer is a former Democratic member of the Legislature. Trujillo beat Romero-Martinez, then an incumbent, in the 2022 primary.

Former Libertarian Rep. Marshall Burt is now running as a Republican for House District 39 in Sweetwater County against Rep. Cody Wylie, R-Rock Springs, and Laura McKee. This is another rematch as Wylie beat Burt by a large margin in the 2022 general election.

Former legislator Bob Wharff, who ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in 2022, is taking on Rep. Ryan Berger, R-Evanston, in the House District 49 Republican primary.

Who’s Not Coming Back?

There were also a few unexpected departures from current legislators who did not file to run again.

One of the most significant is Rep. Don Burkhart, R-Rawlins, who has served in the Legislature since 2011 and is chair of the House Minerals Committee.

Other departures that weren’t previously announced include Reps. Sandy Newsome, R-Cody, Forrest Chadwick, R-Evansville, and Kevin O’Hearn, R-Mills.

Sen. Charles Scott, R-Casper, first elected in 1978 and the longest serving member of the Legislature, is running for reelection in the Republican primary against former Natrona County Commissioner Rob Hendry and Charles Schoenwolf.

Every member of the farther right Wyoming Freedom Caucus is running for reelection.

Near-Guaranteed Wins

There are also a number of uncontested races, which unless changed by the entry of an Independent candidate for the general election, means that the lone candidate is nearly guaranteed an election win.

Some of the most notable legislators who won’t face a primary or general election challenger include Reps. John Bear, R-Gillette; Steve Harshman, R-Casper; Mike Yin, D-Jackson; Liz Storer, D-Jackson; Art Washut, R-Casper; Chris Knapp, R-Gillette; and Reuben Tarver, R-Gillette.

Democrats

There are 19 Democratic candidates in the current election cycle, with every currently serving Democrat up for reelection running again. There are no Democrats running in any part of northern Wyoming.

In 2022, there were 33 Democratic candidates.

Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.