Wyoming
Wildlife Society recognizes UW scientists for sage grouse research
LARAMIE, Wyo. — A group of University of Wyoming researchers was recently recognized by The Wildlife Society for a multifaceted study on the effects of sagebrush reduction on the greater sage grouse.
The Wildlife Society is an international association for professionals involved in wildlife management, conservation and research. The society’s annual awards program recognizes scientists, wildlife managers, educators and others who have made outstanding contributions to wildlife science and management.
UW researchers, collaborators and former students received the 2024 Best Monograph award for their paper “Response of greater sage-grouse to sagebrush reduction treatments in Wyoming big sagebrush,” published in the journal Wildlife Monographs.
“It’s a great honor to be recognized with this award, which highlights studies that have long-term, robust datasets that ask both broad and specific questions,” UW professor of ecosystem science and management Jeff Beck said.
Beck’s co-authors include UW alum Kurt Smith, now a senior research scientist with the UW Department of Zoology and Physiology; UW alum Jason LeVan, now a rangeland management specialist with the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service in Pinedale; Anna Chalfoun, UW associate professor and assistant unit leader of the USGS Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit; Thomas Christiansen, retired Wyoming Game and Fish Department sage grouse program coordinator; Stanley Harter, wildlife biologist with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department; and Sue Oberlie, retired Bureau of Land Management wildlife biologist.
The award-winning paper details the results of a nine-year study in central Wyoming that found sagebrush reduction strategies, such as mowing and herbicide applications, did not benefit local sage grouse populations.
While sagebrush reduction is a common management practice in Wyoming, researchers found that effects on the birds were neutral at best. “Our results may challenge a historic paradigm for sagebrush management,” Chalfoun said.
For six years after sagebrush reduction treatments were applied, the scientists tracked behaviors and survival rates of more than 600 female greater sage grouse. They also monitored effects on invertebrate populations and herbaceous forbs, both of which sage grouse rely on for food.
Results indicated that neither mowing nor application of the herbicide tebuthiuron influenced nest success, brood success or female survival. Instead, the researchers observed a slight avoidance of habitat that had undergone sagebrush reduction treatments. The treatments also did not appear to positively affect sage grouse food sources.
“We were able to answer questions about whether or not specific habitat treatments consistent with the Wyoming Sage-Grouse Core Area Policy were beneficial, benign or harmful to sage-grouse, thereby ensuring future conservation efforts and dollars are more effectively spent,” Christiansen said.
To view the paper, people can go online here.
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Wyoming
Measles confirmed in Teton County, Wyoming, as summer crowds flock to parks – East Idaho News
JACKSON, Wyo. (WyoFile) — After confirming a case of measles in an unvaccinated adult in Teton County, Wyoming, health officials are warning the public about possible exposure at locations in Grand Teton National Park and Jackson.
The news comes as summer crowds flood the region with tourists from around the world.
The public may have been exposed between June 17-25 at several locations in Teton County, according to the Wyoming Health Department. They include restaurants in Grand Teton National Park’s Colter Bay Village on June 17-18; a Colter Bay convenience store on June 20 and the Target in Jackson on June 25.
“We are asking people who may have been exposed to watch for measles symptoms for 21 days past the exposure date and consider avoiding crowded public places and high-risk settings such as daycare centers,” State Health Officer Alexia Harrist said in a press release.
Monitoring is especially critical for people who have not been vaccinated with the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, according to the health department.
It marks Wyoming’s second confirmed case of the highly contagious infection in 2026. Wyoming went 15 years without a confirmed case of measles until last year.
Resurgence
Health officials confirmed Wyoming’s first 2026 case in May. An adult patient in Fremont County who did not have a confirmed vaccination status caught the disease, according to the Wyoming Department of Health.
Measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000 — indicating no endemic transmission for 12 months or more. But it re-emerged in recent years primarily due to declining vaccination rates and increased public health skepticism. Those trends spawned during the COVID-19 pandemic and have persisted during the second Trump administration.
The neighboring state of Utah is one of America’s 2026 measles hotspots, with 499 cases reported so far this year.
RELATED | Anguished parents. Doctors in tears. Utah’s long measles outbreak takes a toll
A vaccination rate of 95% is necessary for community immunity to prevent measles outbreaks, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
In 2025, Wyoming’s proportion of kindergarten students who had completed the MMR vaccine was 93.6%, the CDC reports. That rate is higher than Colorado, Utah and Montana for the same year.
However, it’s declined overall since 2012-13, when Wyoming’s kindergarten vaccination rate was above 97%. It fell to 90.2% in 2020-21 before inching back up to the current 93.6%.
A measles case had not been reported in the state since 2010 until July 2025, when the health department confirmed measles in an unvaccinated child from Natrona County. By year’s end, 13 more cases were confirmed. The majority involved unvaccinated children and adults.
Along with being extremely contagious, measles can cause severe complications like pneumonia and brain swelling and can leave lasting impacts on the immune system. One to three out of every 1,000 children who become infected with measles will die from complications, according to the CDC.
RELATED | The US is on the verge of losing its measles elimination status. Here’s why that matters
RELATED | Measles is not the only disease on the rise. Mumps also may be making a comeback
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GILLETTE, Wyo. — As the Aug. 18 primary election approaches, County 17 is introducing candidate questionnaires to help voters make informed decisions at the ballot box.
Every candidate in the primary field was sent the same three questions and given a limit of 500 words, which could be distributed among their answers as they saw fit. To ensure a fair and direct line to the community, all responses are published exactly as submitted, without edits or alterations.
Candidates were asked:
- What are the most crucial challenges your constituents are facing?
- If elected, how will you address these challenges?
- What qualities or qualifications do you possess that have prepared you to meet these challenges?
Questionnaires are being published on a rolling basis online through Aug. 11. They will be accessible via the County 17 Election Tracker.
Scott Smith (R), Wyoming state treasurer
What are the most crucial challenges your constituents are facing?
Everywhere I go many Wyoming citizens are concerned that our government is selling out our state lands to the highest bidder for crony capitalism. Some are concerned about Data Centers, Commercial Wind Generators, or nuclear waste storage. The biggest concern is the resources these outfits are taking, secondly, they are concerned about health issues related to living nearby, and lastly they are concerned with cost associated with these projects being passed onto the taxpayer.
If elected, how will you address these challenges?
One of the things that many people don’t know is that the State Treasurer sits on the State Land and Investment Board. (SLIB) The same issues that concern our citizens are the same reasons that I have decided to run for this office. The SLIB has voted to lease state lands to a hydrogen plant in Converse County that would take eight gallons of our valuable water to produce one gallon of hydrogen jet fuel using wind and solar generation to power the plant. These same elected officials have sold off $100 million of our state lands to the federal government. I believe that some things are not for sale. As Treasurer you can count on me to count the cost and listen to the people in the public testimony. If we are going to accept some of these projects the citizens need to have the benefit, like lower utility costs.
What qualities/qualifications do you possess that have prepared you to meet these challenges?
My bachelor’s degree is in Business Administration with an emphasis in management and marketing. I will be a leader in the state treasurer’s office that creates a positive work environment that will allow our investment team to create higher returns on the people’s money that the state invests. I would like to work with the legislature to use these interest earnings to buy down the people’s property taxes to alleviate part of the burden inflation has caused on the average citizen. My day job, I work as a bookkeeper and work with numbers day in and day out and have corrected some inefficiencies to help small businesses become more profitable. I plan to do that within the state office and make those profits available to the legislature to reduce the tax burden for the people. I have also served in the Wyoming House of Representatives for Goshen County and I have served on the Appropriations Committee and I am familiar with the massive state budget.
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