Wyoming
Opinion | Wyoming public lands advocates should prepare for disaster
Hackneyed phrases that were part of the public lexicon in the West for years, like the so-called “war on coal” and promise to “drill, baby, drill!” are back with a vengeance. So are federal land swaps, gutting environmental regulations, and other proposals that will make Wyoming officials and the minerals industry salivate, and conservationists cringe.
No, we’re not trapped in a time warp. It’s just preparation for Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the 2.0 version that wants to strip all of President Joe Biden’s federal public lands protections to spur huge corporate profits at the expense of public access.
It’s a trade-off many Wyoming politicians are willing to make to keep mineral tax revenues flowing to state government, while communities hope to preserve jobs and improve the local economy. I understand the motivation to protect what’s “ours,” but federal lands belong to all Americans, and aren’t meant to only benefit the states where they are located.
The new Trump administration will likely resemble his first. He promised to save the coal industry, but only oversaw its rapid decline because it failed to compete with cheaper wind and solar energy and natural gas. There was never a federal war on coal, just a natural free market response to a dying industry.
In this year’s presidential election, there was a clear public policy choice to address climate change by lowering greenhouse gas emissions through increased renewable energy use. Trump continues to call climate change a hoax and never listens to scientists who say it’s the biggest existential threat to the planet.
I won’t pretend Biden’s energy policies were perfect, or that Democratic nominee Kamala Harris would make them so. Her flip-flop on fracking dismayed supporters and wasn’t believed by critics, and was a detriment to her failed campaign.
But Harris promised that as president she would “unite Americans to tackle the climate crisis as she advances environmental justice, protects public lands and public health, and increases resilience to climate disasters.”
Trump, in sharp contrast, pledged to “unleash” domestic fossil fuel production, slash royalties that corporations pay to drill on federal lands, expedite oil and gas permitting, and withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement.
To understand the dark days ahead, read the section on public lands proposed by Project 2025, the blueprint for Trump’s second term published by the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation.
Trump back-pedaled as fast as he could when people condemned the agenda written by key members of his first administration. He put so much distance between himself and the 900-page document, that it was largely forgotten in the final days of the campaign.
After Trump’s victory, advisers like recently released felon Steve Bannon bragged that Project 2025 is precisely what his old boss has in store for the nation. It spells out a forthcoming disaster for our public lands, giving extractive industries nearly unfettered access to them while gutting the Department of the Interior and severely restricting the power of the Endangered Species Act.
Republicans have long sought to turn ownership of federal lands over to the states, under the specious claim state governments have more expertise to manage them. In reality, states like Wyoming have nowhere near the financial resources to take on such responsibility and would sell the lands to private developers as fast as they could.
It speaks volumes that the Project 2025 chapter on the Interior Department was written by William Perry Pendley, Trump’s former acting director of the Bureau of Land Management. Pendley’s entire career has been focused on defending land grabs like the infamous Sagebrush Rebellion in the 1980s, which sought — but fortunately failed — to either outright transfer federal lands to states or privatize them.
Unbelievably, Pendley simply turned writing the section on energy production on federal lands over to Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Western Energy Alliance, an oil and gas trade association, and two industry allies. It’s a perfect example of what to expect from Trump’s administration on this and other vital public matters: let industry write the rules.
Pendley’s enemies list includes environmentalists, whom he has compared to communists and Nazis, and the Interior Department itself. He claims the latter has grown beholden to radical environmentalists and now abuses U.S. laws “to advance a radical climate agenda.”
Expect a deluge of conservation lawsuits that will hopefully tie up many of Trump’s most egregious proposals in court for years, so they can be overturned by judges or voters in 2028.
Speaking of litigation, there’s no doubt Wyoming officials view Trump’s win as a huge plus in their efforts to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court — with its conservative supermajority, thanks to the president-elect — to rule in favor of Utah in its federal public lands lawsuit. Utah claims the federal BLM shouldn’t be able to own land in the state without giving it a designation, like national park or national monument status.
Utah’s lawsuit has separate friend-of-the-court briefs filed by U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyoming), Gov. Mark Gordon, and 26 members of the Freedom Caucus, which will take control of the Wyoming House next year. If Utah wins its suit, it could pave the way for 17 million acres of federal land in Wyoming to be transferred to the state.
During her career as a lawyer, Hageman carved out a reputation as a fierce opponent of federal environmental laws. Her participation in the suit, which is a disservice to her constituents, at least makes political sense. So does the support of the anti-federal government zealots in the Freedom Caucus.
But what is Gordon’s excuse for joining this sinking ship? In a 2022 interview with the Keep It Public Wyoming Coalition, the governor said large-scale federal land transfers were “a fool’s mission … before we ever gave up those lands [to the federal government], our act of admission required that of us.”
Gordon added he supports public lands and access to sportspeople, so he would oppose such federal transfers. So what’s changed, governor? It’s certainly not Rocky Mountain residents’ broad and bipartisan support for protecting federal public lands, which has been consistent for many years.
Hageman has joined other Republicans in a scheme to get control of federal lands: use it to build affordable housing. In a Washington Examiner op-ed in June, Pendley agreed with the proposal and wrote that Westerners’ future is now “impeded unnecessarily by vast swaths of federal land largely unused, unnecessary, and exorbitantly expensive to maintain.”
Vice President-elect J.D. Vance concurred during his debate with Democratic opponent Tim Walz. He said Trump believes we have a lot of federal lands that aren’t being used for anything, and “they could be places where we build a lot of housing.”
Naturally, Vance and Trump don’t see the value of public lands for hunting, fishing, and recreation, or keeping natural landscapes intact to safeguard clean air, water and wildlife habitat.
Aaron Weiss, deputy director of the Colorado-based conservation group Center for Western Priorities, told HuffPost the GOP realizes selling off federal lands wholesale is a political third rail, so now they’re trying to frame it as a housing solution.
“But what they’re actually proposing is just more sprawl and McMansions,” Weiss said. Of course, that’s not what the vast majority of Wyomingites want, but I suppose the 75% of Wyoming voters who supported Trump weren’t thinking about the mess states like ours would be left to clean up when they cast their ballots.
If there is one lesson to be taken away from a Wyoming family’s magnificent mule deer hunting season, it’s that putting in the work scouting an area ahead of time can pay off big time.
Ryan and Jannette Hansen — along with their sons Tanner, 17, Brock, 15 and Parker, 13 — all shot huge bucks in the same southwest Wyoming deer hunt area.
The family lives in Mountain Home in Uinta County, and spending time outdoors has been a way of life for them. Ryan and Jannette both grew up hunting.
The couple also has two adult sons that have left home and were also raised as avid hunters.
But even amid such a legacy, the Hansens’ 2025 deer hunting season was exceptional.
Ryan told Cowboy State Daily that it partly came down to luck, and sheer tenacity while hunting.
However, he credits the family putting in the work ahead of time. Once they drew tags for the hunt area, they spent months scouting it.
They put in countless hours getting to know the terrain, hiking all over the place, observing deer’s movements, and picking out which bucks they wanted to go after once the hunting season started.
“It wasn’t just a case of, ‘Hey, let’s go drive down the road and see if we can shoot a deer,’” he said.
“We really put in the work ahead of time. We put in the effort, and we were rewarded and blessed for our efforts,” Ryan added.
One Heck Of A First Deer
Their hunt area “has it all” in terms of terrain and deer habitat, Ryan said.
Vast sage flats, rugged canyons, thick timber, mountain slopes; it’s all there, and the deer thrive in it, he said.
The family started hunting there during the September archery season but didn’t get any deer.
Mule deer are notoriously difficult to hunt with a bow, Ryan said.
“We had a lot of failed stalks, and a couple of missed shots,” he said.
“Anybody that kills a mule deer with a bow is definitely a stud in my book. In all of our books,” he added.
The rifle hunting season ran from Oct. 15 to Oct. 31, and the Hansens took full advantage of it.
Parker got the first buck, on opening day of rifle season.
He made a great shot at 463 yards, and it was his first deer ever.
When asked by Cowboy State Daily how he plans to follow up getting a big buck as his first deer, Parker gave a simple answer.
“Get a bigger deer,” he said.
Parker’s buck was at the bottom of a steep canyon.
“That was definitely a hard pack out. It was literally straight up and out of that canyon,” gaining about 700 feet in elevation, Ryan said.
One Buck After Another
Jannette shot her buck the next day, at 250 yards. Packing that deer out was easier than Parker’s buck had been but still challenging, Ryan said.
“I’m glad I had Tanner, he’s my pack horse,” he said.
Tanner told Cowboy State Daily that packing out big game animals comes naturally to him.
“It’s something I love to do, I’m a hiker,” he said.
The day that Brock dropped his buck didn’t start out so well.
“He woke up sick, throwing up,” Ryan said.
Brock still insisted on going hunting. As the morning progressed, he started feeling a little better.
“When we stopped for lunch, he got worse again,” Ryan said.
Jannette considered taking him home. But on the drive out they spotted a nice buck, which disappeared into some timber.
They decided to go after it. Ryan practically had to carry Brock because his son was so weakened by sickness.
But Brock was still excited to get the opportunity. They found the buck again and everything came together when Brock made a 160-yard shot.
He told Cowboy State Daily that the adrenaline rush of getting a chance at such a quality buck helped him forget his illness for a short while.
“It was because he was so big,” Brock said.
The family returned home, and Tanner and Ryan went back out by themselves.
They hunted all day with no luck. As evening settled in, they were high on a ridge when Tanner finally spotted a buck he wanted to go after, far below.
“He bombed off the top of that ridge and went right after him (the buck),” Ryan said.
Ryan went back to the truck and drove to where he knew Tanner would probably come out after pursuing the deer.
“It was about 10 miles of driving to get back to where he was,” Ryan said.
Tanner tracked the buck, and when it jumped from cover, he made a 250-yard shot.
Father and son packed the deer out in the dark, with headlamps to light their way.
A Bittersweet Ending
Only Ryan’s deer tag was left unfilled. The rest of the family returned for the weekend and they hunted together, but to no avail.
With the season coming to an end and his family back home, Ryan headed out for the last couple of days with a good family friend.
They moved to a different section of the hunt unit, and when Ryan’s opportunity finally came, he dropped his buck with a 150-yard shot.
The deer hunting season that is sure to become a family legend was finally over.
“I was relieved that we were done. But kind of sad at the same time. It was a culmination of everything we had done,” Ryan said.
A Freezer Full Of Venison
Jannette told Cowboy State Daily that she’s immensely proud of her family’s hunting accomplishment, and she doesn’t take living in Wyoming for granted.
“My nieces and nephews live in the city, and they don’t even go outside,” she said.
“Living in Wyoming is such a huge blessing in and of itself, for sure. It was a blessing for us to go out as a family and get all five deer,” she added.
The boys decided to get European mounts of their bucks. That being, a simple trophy mount, with just the animal’s cleaned skull and antlers.
Ryan and Jannette plan to have a taxidermist do full shoulder mounts of their bucks, together on a double pedestal.
“It will be a ‘his and hers’ double buck taxidermy mount,” Ryan said.
For the family, the hunt isn’t just about the trophies and bragging rights. Hunting is still about being solidly connected to the time-honored tradition of providing themselves with fresh venison.
“Those deer don’t go to waste. We eat every bit of them,” Ryan said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — The College of Southern Idaho men’s basketball team defeated the Western Wyoming Mustangs 81-62 in the opening round of the Battle for the Boot tournament Thursday night.
The Golden Eagles, who entered the game with a 2-0 record, controlled the game with balanced scoring and strong defensive play.
Jalen Lyn led the way scoring-wise as he poured in 26 and Nate Ahner was right behind him with a 20-point night of his own.
Defensively Kobe Kesler and Nate Anher each forced four turnovers, three blocks and a steal for Kesler and vice versa for Ahner.
CSI established an early rhythm in the first half with crisp ball movement thanks in large part to Ace Reiser who led the team with seven assists, many coming late in the first half.
The Golden Eagles led by 10 at half and pulled away even more in the second to secure the 19-point victory and improve to 3-0 on the season.
The Golden Eagles will face Clarendon College Friday night at 7:00 in their tournament semifinal matchup.
Copyright 2025 KMVT. All rights reserved.
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