Wyoming
Wyoming power plant booming with suspected UFO, drone sightings — but still no answers after over a year
Fleets of drones and suspected UFOs have been spotted hovering over a Wyoming power plant for more than a year, while a local sheriff’s department is still searching for clues.
Officials with the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office recorded scores of beaming, drone-like objects circling around the Red Desert and Jim Bridger Power Plant in Rock Springs over the last 13 months — though they didn’t specify how many, the Cowboy State Daily reported.
Sheriff John Grossnickle was one of the first to witness the spectacles, and last saw the mind-boggling formation on Dec. 12, his spokesperson Jason Mower told the outlet.
The fleets periodically congregate over the power plant in coordinated formations, Mower claimed.
The sheriff’s office hasn’t been able to recover any of the suspected UFOs, telling the outlet they’re too high to shoot down.
The law enforcement outpost’s exhaustive efforts to get to the truth haven’t yielded any results, even after Grossnickle enlisted help from Wyoming US Rep. Harriet Hageman — who Mower claimed saw the formation during a trip to the power plant.
Hageman could not be reached for comment.
“We’ve worked with everybody. We’ve done everything we can to figure out what they are, and nobody wants to give us any answers,” Mower said, according to the outlet.
At first, spooked locals bombarded the sheriff’s office with calls about the confounding aerial formations. Now, though, Mower said that people seem to have accepted it as “the new normal.”
Mower noted that the objects, which he interchangeably referred to as “drones” and “unidentified flying objects,” have yet to pose a danger to the public or cause any damage to the power plant itself.
“It’s like this phenomenon that continues to happen, but it’s not causing any, you know, issues that we have to deal with — other than the presence of them,” he told the outlet.
The spokesperson promised the sheriff’s office would “certainly act accordingly” if the drones pose an imminent harm.
Meanwhile, Niobrara County Sheriff Randy Starkey told the Cowboy State Daily that residents of his community also reported mystery drone sightings over Lance Creek — more than 300 miles from the Jim Bridger Power Plant — starting in late October 2024 and ending in early March.
Starkey said he’s “just glad they’re gone,” according to the outlet.
Drone sightings captured the nation’s attention last year when they were causing hysteria in sightings over New Jersey.
Just days into his second term, President Trump had to clarify that the drones were authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration to quell worries that they posed a national security threat.
Still, the public wasn’t convinced, but the mystery slowly faded as the sightings plummeted.
In October, though, an anonymous source with an unnamed military contractor told The Post that their company was responsible for the hysteria.
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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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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