Wyoming
Opinion: From Colorado lands smeared with my ancestors blood to a Wyoming sacred hot springs stolen from us, the dispossession continues
If only the cottonwood trees throughout our sacred homelands — stretching from the Sand Creek Massacre Site to the sacred waters of Hot Springs State Park to the Little Bighorn National Monument, could tell the stories of our peoples.
There is a reason the National Parks Service refers to them as witness trees. This spring when I traveled to the Massacre Site, in what is today called Colorado, to commemorate my Arapaho and Cheyenne ancestors killed there and those who barely escaped with their lives, the cottonwood trees had a ghostly appearance. It sounded like they sang with me as the wind picked up when I prayed there.
From there I traveled north, along the Sand Creek Massacre Trail that my ancestors followed to escape to one of their safe heavens: the sacred source of the hot water at what is now referred to as Hot Springs State Park, in Cheyenne. We call it tsexhoeomotometo mahpe, where the breath of life comes out of the water.
From there, I traveled all the way back to the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in what is today called Montana, past the Little Bighorn Battlefield, to the place where our ancestors sundanced to pray for guidance before the battle in 1876.
My journey through the Arapaho and Cheyenne homelands — from Sand Creek, to Hot Springs, to Little Big Horn — marked a trail of dispossession of our peoples.
We were effectively driven from the state of Colorado by genocide. A recent study found that the state of Colorado alone benefitted over $1.7 trillion from the dispossession of land of Indigenous Peoples.
The dispossession continues to this day.
The state of Wyoming tried to unilaterally proceed with major changes at what they designated in as Hot Springs State Park. These hot springs have always been sacred to our people, our ancestors went there for healing, including after the Sand Creek Massacre.
But the springs and 100 acres of land surrounding it was taken from the Wind River Reservation
and the compensation was not just nor fair. The federal government turned around and gave the
land to the state since settlers had been pushing into the area.
In a recent letter to me, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon recognized this, he stated: “I fully acknowledge that the trauma of these events strongly impacts Tribal members even now, and that the wounds are still deep and fresh. While it may seem to some that the days of forced relocation and violent conflict are far behind us, that brutal history is all too recent for many, sometimes only removed by one or two generations as noted in your letter.”
He then proceeded to describe what I consider a continuation of the same: the unilateral state decision-making process that started with a Master Plan almost 10 years ago for the development of the springs and continues with the current decisions handing facilities over to out-of-state operators aiming at the further commercialization of our sacred waters.
This does not meet the standards of consultation with Indigenous Peoples necessary under U.S. law, let alone the requirement of prior informed consent of the Arapaho and Cheyenne Peoples under international law, including under the United Nations (U.N.) Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that the United States government has committed to implementing.
This single largest source of sacred hot springs in the world is a sacred site to our people. My grandparents and parents taught me to always make offerings there and they took me to the privately owned Star Plunge pool to swim as a child. I have since taken my children and most recently my 3-week-old grandson there to swim at this place that continues to facilitate intergenerational Indigenous and local access, which stands to be forever changed, without our peoples’ necessary input and consent.
The state points to the publicly owned bathhouse, which it considers as a fulfillment of the promise to give the Indigenous Peoples free access, in the past elders and people with disabilities could easily access individual pools there, which is no longer the case, and access is limited to 20 minutes. The waters there are also too hot for little children, so the Star Plunge is the main place where our people have been coming together in 3+ generations for collective healing.
Most recently the local family that has been operating the Star Plunge for three generations and stands to be expropriated organized a free swim for the Northern Arapaho and Cheyenne and more than 700 of our people came and around the beginning of August the Eastern Shoshone will also be joining in. This is an example of benefit-sharing with the main obligations falling to the state. What the state has to understand is that when we as Indigenous Peoples talk about access and benefit-sharing it connects to the requirement of FPIC, which requires dealing with us as decision-makers regarding access to our lands and waters, and the site of Hot Springs State Park.
In order to truly address the intergenerational effects of genocide, access and benefit-sharing regarding the Hot Springs State Park have to be implemented with the Arapaho and Cheyenne people right now.
But the dispossession doesn’t stop at the Wyoming border.
It is important to acknowledge that our people were deliberately targeted by genocidal strategies, first by the U.S. Army and militias like the Colorado volunteers; followed by an even more devious strategy to go after our children, through the so-called boarding school system. It really had nothing to do with education; it exploited our children as forced labor, while assimilating them by literally beating our indigenous languages and ways of thinking out of them.
Many died and were buried on the grounds of these institutions, too often in unmarked graves. The forceful removal of Indigenous children meets the international definition of genocide under Article 2(e) of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
In 2020, Colorado lawmakers passed a bill titled “Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Public Schools” (House Bill 1336), which requires completion of such a course as a condition of high school graduation.
Yet the Colorado Boarding School system was not included in this recent statute, not even after the Colorado Legislature commissioned House Bill 1327 and was presented with a study into how these boarding schools were genocidal. What is almost more shocking is that the Sand Creek Massacre is not explicitly listed for study in the bill, although the then-governor of Colorado Hickenlooper presented an official apology on the 150th anniversary which makes it come up on its 10-year mark this year.
Actually, the only two genocides explicitly mentioned are the “holocaust meaning the systemic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews and five million individuals targeted for their religion, disability, or identity by the Nazi Regime” and the Armenian Genocide. As William Zessar, who lost many of his relatives to the Holocaust, and has been advocating to amend the statute said: “To fail to recognize the genocides that happened in the very land where we sought refuge, means to diminish all other genocides.”
As a fellow intergenerational survivor of genocide, I wholeheartedly agree, there can be no competition or for that matter comparison between genocides: We have to condemn them all; they are cumulative on the soul of humanity. What signal does the Colorado legislature send by not explicitly listing the Sand Creek Massacre and the Colorado Boarding School system, when they constitute incidents of genocide in the state?
Some might point to the discretion passed on to the Colorado State Board of Education to set the standards for the teaching of the course and that they can add and for that matter also remove genocides by way of a simple majority vote. They have to date added eight more genocides, among them the Sand Creek Massacre, although it remains the only one among them that does not have educational materials attached to it, that facilitate the teaching of the respective content.
And they have not added the Colorado Indian Boarding School system, contributing to the lack of education on this incident of genocide in the state. There is no doubt that a simple vote at the State Board of Education, does not equal the standard and protection of having incidents of genocide directly listed in the statute, and that is why as a direct descendant of families impacted by the Sand Creek Massacre and the Indian Boarding School system, I urge the amendment of the Colorado Holocaust and Genocide Studies Statute to explicitly list “genocides of Native American Peoples, including the Sand Creek Massacre and the Colorado Indian Boarding School system,” to ensure that they are taught to all students in public high schools.
There is no better way to commemorate the upcoming 160th anniversary of the Sand Creek Massacre on November 29, than for legislators to make a commitment to do this. Public education about this topic is key in the lead-up to the 150th anniversary of Colorado becoming a state in two years. I call on the Colorado 150/America 250 Commission to champion this.
In Montana, we will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Battle of the Little Bighorn at the same time, when our ancestors took a stand for our way of life, which includes our Indigenous languages, way of thinking, our identities and our spiritual connection to the land, all things that the Indian Boarding school system tried to sever.
And 2026 will also mark the 250th anniversary of the creation of the United States, with the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, in Pennsylvania.
Too many U.S. citizens do not know that Pennsylvania hosted a crucial institution in the Indian boarding school system in the United States: The Carlisle Indian Industrial School was set up by the U.S. Army in 1879, within 3 years of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, targeting especially children of leaders of Plains Indian Tribes. While a number of my great-grandparents had been at the Sand Creek Massacre and the Battle of the Little Bighorn, they saw their children, my grandparents, targeted to attend first the Carlisle Indian Industrial School and the next generations Indian Boarding Schools in other states.
The systemic genocidal intent is clear, and as their descendants, we carry the intergenerational effects. Thankfully our Indigenous teachings passed on from generation to generation also carry many counter-remedies that the world needs now more than ever, and we would be ready to share these as part of learning about genocide.
Northern Cheyenne traditional Chief Phillip Whiteman Jr, Heoveve’keso (Yellowbird), comes from long lines of chiefs and works with Indigenous Peoples across North America. He has developed his own teaching model based on ancestral wisdom and his life experience to counter the intergenerational effects of genocide with indigenous teachings. More information can be found at: phillipwhitemanjr.org
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On the heels of one of the warmest and driest winters on record, parts of Wyoming show “significant fire potential” this spring and summer, according to a national forecast released on April 1.
The U.S. has set or is approaching records for the number of wildfires ignited and the acreage burned by March, and Wyoming firefighters and district managers have already responded to blazes across the state. While the National Weather Service forecasts rain and snow for parts of Wyoming this week, many firefighters in the state are nervous about the potential for huge, quickly spreading conflagrations this summer.
“I certainly don’t ever remember a winter quite like this winter,” said J.R. Fox, Campbell County’s fire warden. “Everybody’s definitely nervous about what the fire season will bring.”
The new report, published by the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, rated areas of southern Wyoming as having significant fire potential in April, June and July.
The report identifies “above,” “below” and “near normal fire outlooks” across the country and has been produced in some form by the organization since 2002.
Wildland fire managers in Wyoming say the season’s meager snowpack and high temperatures have left an unprecedented and volatile range of fire conditions across the state. A team of scientists recently determined that the record-shattering heatwave that gripped the West in March would be “virtually impossible” without climate change.
Some firefighters are making tough decisions about when and how to use limited resources, while others are reaching out to communities earlier than they ever have before, urging fire-smart behavior.
“From my 40 years of being here, we’re six plus weeks ahead of time” in terms of fire conditions, said Liz Davy, a co-founder of the Greater Yellowstone Fire Action Network. This March, her organization, which helps areas around Yellowstone prepare for and respond to wildfires, started reminding communities early how best to protect property from wildland fires.
Homeowners should remove firewood from on or underneath porches, sweep up dead leaves and trim vegetation around their property, including grasses and shrubs near structures, Davy said. The Greater Yellowstone Fire Action Network also helps communities and homeowners make evacuation plans in case of a wildfire, and Davy is considering taking such steps this spring.
“I’ve never packed a go kit, but this year I’m kind of thinking about it,” she said.
Some areas of Wyoming have already dealt with wildfires. The Kane fire in Big Horn County was discovered on March 22 but behaved like an “August blaze,” reported the Cowboy State Daily. There have also been a few small starts in Natrona County, said Brian Oliver, chief of the Natrona County Fire District.
In a typical year, Oliver said Natrona County would usually be able to contract out some of its firefighting crews and equipment to other jurisdictions during the spring, a valuable source of income for his department. But now, with the risk of fire so high—on March 26, Natrona joined 10 other counties in Wyoming under fire restrictions—Oliver doesn’t see this as an option.
“I think we’re gonna need everybody here at home,” he said. “The fires this year have the potential to go big and be very dangerous very quick.”
Springtime can be when homeowners and ranchers, accustomed to receiving snow during March and April, use fire to maintain their property or prepare fields for the growing season. But Oliver said he and his department have asked ranchers and some subdivisions to put aside their plans to burn.
Even in areas of Wyoming where snowpack has been closer to average, fire managers are nervous about the coming season.
“The lower elevation snow is significantly less than normal and it’s disappearing earlier than normal,” said Shad Cooper, Sublette County’s fire warden. Cooper said the county has increased its social media messaging about fire danger and stepped up evacuation planning “because we’re seeing fire activity much earlier than normal.”
Last month, Sublette County sent resources over to Lincoln County, where an agriculture burn had gotten out of control, Cooper said.
On the heels of 2024’s record-setting wildfire season in Wyoming, state lawmakers allocated new resources to firefighting during this year’s legislative session. State Forestry will now oversee two 10-person firefighting crews capable of deploying anywhere in Wyoming; lawmakers also improved state firefighters’ benefits.
“That increase in capacity is gonna directly support local response [and] statewide needs,” Cooper said.
With summer still a few months away, firefighters cautioned that it was too soon to know for certain how this year’s season would unfold. Still, the whole state should already be mindful of fire risks, said Jerod DeLay, Wyoming’s assistant state forester and fire management officer.
“Be aware of your surroundings and be mindful of the conditions out there,” he said. “Have a plan for wildfire, because wildfires could wreck your plans.”
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Jake Bolster reports on Wyoming and the West for Inside Climate News. Previously, he worked as a freelancer, covering climate change, energy, and the environment across the United States. He holds a Masters in Journalism from Columbia University.
WYOMING — In 2025, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s (WGFD) Wildlife Health Laboratory tested over 5,300 samples from elk, deer and moose for chronic wasting disease (CWD).
WGFD released its 2025 CWD Surveillance Report recently, which stated that the agency tested 5,370 samples, and CWD was detected in 842 of the samples. CWD prevalence averaged 21.6% in hunter-harvested mule deer bucks, up from 19.4% in 2024. The percentage in hunter-harvested white-tailed deer bucks was 32.1% in 2025, an increase from 29.2% in 2024. In hunter-harvested elk, the percentage was 2.4% in 2025, just barely up from 2.3% in 2024. No CWD was detected in moose samples in 2025.
“Wyoming’s CWD surveillance would not be possible without the participation of our hunters,” WGFD Wildlife Health Lab Manager Jessica Jennings said in a statement. “We encourage hunters to check the Game and Fish website for the 2026 priority and mandatory testing areas, check current CWD prevalence on the interactive CWD map and no matter where you hunt, please consider having your animal tested for CWD.”
Last year, CWD was identified in three new deer hunt areas, six new elk hunt areas, and four elk feedgrounds. As of the end of 2025, CWD has been detected in 35 of 37 Wyoming mule deer herds, and in 24 of 34 designated elk herd units.
CWD is a fatal disease of the central nervous system in mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk and moose. According to WGFD, the disorder is caused by abnormally folded proteins called prions. There is no cure for CWD, and there have not been any human cases of CWD, nor any proof that humans can contract the disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization recommend not consuming animals that test positive for CWD. All testing of CWD is free for animals harvested in Wyoming. Read the full report here.
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