Wyoming
Wyoming research challenges benefits, highlights pitfalls of mowing and spraying sagebrush – WyoFile
Generations of Wyoming wildlife managers have mowed over swaths of the sagebrush sea, a practice long believed to improve conditions for wildlife in places like the Green River Basin, near Baggs and the Platte Valley.
The technique, which often leaves behind a mosaic pattern, has historically targeted species like mule deer and sage grouse, though it’s thought to have holistic benefits that trickle down the food web. By opening up the mature sagebrush canopy, the thinking goes, mowing boosts the volume of wildflowers, grasses and young shrubs that sprout, essentially making the landscape more nutritious.
Several recently published studies, however, challenge the supposed benefits of sagebrush mowing, even suggesting that the mechanical manipulation of the embattled biome is potentially causing unintended harm for other species.
An award-winning University of Wyoming study, co-led by ecologist Jeff Beck, found that mowing and spraying the herbicide tebuthiuron on Wyoming big sagebrush had no benefits whatsoever for grass production and wildflower growth, nor did it stimulate the assemblage of insects. Sage grouse, in turn, were mostly unaffected — ecologists detected no gains in nest success or the survival of sage grouse broods and adult females. The imperiled bird species even slightly avoided manipulated swaths of the sagebrush-steppe landscape, the data showed.
“In our study design, we purposely tested the Wyoming Game and Fish Department protocols for treating sagebrush in core [sage grouse] areas,” Beck told WyoFile. “The treatments didn’t do what they’re supposed to do.”
Meanwhile, unaffiliated research out of the University of Wyoming and Game and Fish’s Non-Game Division has also found that sagebrush-dependent songbirds suffered from mowing’s unintended consequences in central and western Wyoming.
“We found no Brewer’s sparrows or sage thrashers nesting in the mowed footprint posttreatment, which suggests complete loss of nesting habitat for these species,” a University of Wyoming-led research team wrote in a 2018 Ornithological Applications study. “Mowing was associated with higher nestling condition and nest survival for Vesper sparrows but not for the sagebrush-obligate species.”
Game and Fish non-game biologists took a similar look at how mowing and aeration affected sagebrush-dependent songbirds in the Green River Basin in 2022, recently publishing the preliminary results in their annual “job completion report.”
“Strictly from a bird perspective, that area is the bread basket of sagebrush,” Game and Fish Statewide Non-Game Bird Biologist Zach Wallace told WyoFile. “In my opinion, if we’re going to manage it — or remove it for management — we should consider the broader impacts of that. That was part of that motivation for our study on the songbirds. What are the potential effects?”
Sage thrashers, Brewer’s sparrows and sagebrush sparrows — all designated as “species of greatest conservation need” — were found in lower abundance in mowed areas, the non-game biologists found. Meanwhile, Vesper sparrows and horned larks, which are habitat generalists, capitalized on the mown areas, increasing in abundance.
Beck’s study, which kicked off in 2011, made use of a massive dataset amassed from tracking 620 female sage grouse in central Wyoming with very-high frequency radio and GPS transmitters. The dataset, and others, were also used to assess the impacts free-roaming horses are having on sage grouse. Those results: Overpopulated horses are driving down sage grouse survival rates.
Decade-long effort
There were four goals of the 9-year study, which was led by ecologist Kurt Smith. The research team sought to ascertain how mowing and spraying tebuthiuron influenced sage grouse reproductive success and survival, and they also wanted to determine how it changed nesting and brood-rearing habitat selection. The scientific inquiry also examined how vegetation responded, in addition to pinning down forbs and insect responses.
Six years of post-mowing monitoring found that fluctuations in vegetation growth were tied to precipitation and other weather variables, not habitat manipulations.
“There were the same [annual changes] in the treated and untreated areas,” Beck said.
Sage grouse, meanwhile, were essentially unaffected by the treatments, though they tended to slightly avoid treated areas with barer ground.
Those results were perhaps unexpected.
“Some biologists — older biologists, maybe — have a deep-seated belief that these treatments work,” Beck said.
Anna Chalfoun, a professor and USGS Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit member and co-author of the study, said that it’s been a longstanding assumption that sagebrush manipulations were effective for conserving sage grouse — a bird that’s been petitioned for Endangered Species Act protections and receives a lot of attention.
“It’s a very appealing concept, right? With limited conservation resources, if we just focus on this high-profile species of concern, then we’ll de facto be supporting all of these other species,” Chalfoun said. “But a management premise only works if it works.”
The long-running study suggests that it does not work, though there are limits to the conclusions wildlife managers can draw.
Limitations
Although Beck and his colleagues detected no silver linings or benefits in the six-year stretch after mowing or spraying, sagebrush is a notoriously slow-growing shrub.
“There’s a possibility that if you wait 15, 20 years, something will be different,” Beck said.
Although the period assessed in the researchers’ manuscript came to a close in 2019, monitoring of the area is continuing. Ecologists will track how the landscape grows back for years to come, doing so by keeping tabs on fenced exclosures that are half-treated and half-untreated.
The study area off to the east of the Wind River Range was also limited to the most widespread of all sagebrush subspecies: Wyoming big sagebrush.
“It’s not as resilient as mountain big sagebrush, which grows at higher elevation,” Beck said. “Wyoming big sagebrush is lower in elevation typically, it’s drier, and it’s known to not be as resilient.”
Flowering plants tend to increase in areas where mountain big sagebrush has been mowed or chemically treated, according to a 2006 study cited in Beck’s recent paper. Sage grouse also increased use of those areas.
Modern mowing and learning
Nowadays, the “vast majority” of mowing and other sagebrush treatments spearheaded by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department are completed in areas dominated by mountain big sagebrush. The state agency began focusing on that subspecies instead of slower-growing Wyoming big sagebrush even before the University of Wyoming study results began arriving, said Ian Tator, Game and Fish’s statewide terrestrial habitat manager.
“We’ve taken that information [from the study] and used it to fine-tune what we were already doing,” Tator told WyoFile.
In recent years, sagebrush mowing has been a targeted endeavor in Wyoming. During 2023, a total of 1,866 acres of sagebrush — about three square miles — was mowed, “chopped,” or aerated, according to Game and Fish’s statewide habitat plan annual report. The five-year-average number of treated acres comes in at just over 2,400 acres.
Mowed and treated acreages of sagebrush aren’t necessarily selected with a specific species in mind, Tator said.
“In our mind, we are doing this work in order to improve conditions for all species,” he said. “[We’re] looking at the system holistically and trying to do what’s right by the system — and also, doing no harm.”
Research, including from within Game and Fish itself, suggesting that mowing is harming sagebrush-dependent songbirds came about “a lot more recently,” he said.
“We certainly are adaptively managing,” Tator said. “If it turns out that we are doing harm for a species and we need to reconsider our approach, then we definitely will.”
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During their recent meeting the Johnson County School Board heard updates from board members on their liaison assignments.
Trustee Benito Maya talked about the Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or BOCES.
Board member Dave Belus said BOCHES did not have a meeting in February.
Trustee Marcia Goddard, liaison to the Johnson County Recreation Board, said the application deadline for Rec Board Grants is April 24, and presentations by the applicants to the Rec Board will be scheduled between May 18-20.
Like many rabbit holes, it all started with a simple question.
About two years ago, Jaye Wells was at a small gathering in Cody when the topic of the 2026 centennial anniversary of the Dude Ranchers’ Association came up.
Wells asked how many dude ranches in the country had a comparable 100-year legacy to the Cody-based member organization.
“Nobody in the room knew,” said Wells, co-founder of the True Ranch Collection, with a portfolio of dude ranches around the West, including the Blackwater Creek Lodge and Guest Ranch in Cody.
Thus began a yearslong and, at times laborious, project of tracking down the number of dude ranches in operation since 1926, which are commemorated in “100 Years of Dude Ranching,” a coffee-table-style book published by Wells in December.
Though it took a lot of digging through records at the Wyoming Historical Society, old newspaper clippings and cross-referencing family records, the team behind the book finally identified a fitting answer to Wells’ question.
Of the 94 dude ranches that are members of the association today, 26 were in operation and accepting guests a century ago.
“That shocked us,” Wells said. “Every ranch has got its own little curiosity.”
The team behind the book was strict about the criteria it established: To be included in the book, a dude ranch must have been accepting guests in 1926. Had they expanded their criteria, the list would have been even longer.
“There are a lot of ranches that are 97 or 98 years old,” Wells said.
A Tribute To Hospitality
As much as the book celebrates the long legacy of dude ranching, it also serves as a tribute to a unique way of life — particularly in Wyoming.
The state is home to half of the 26 centennial ranches: A Bar A Ranch (Encampment), Absaroka Ranch (Dubois), Blackwater Creek Lodge and Guest Ranch (Cody), CM Ranch (Dubois), Crossed Sabres Ranch (Cody), Darwin Ranch (Jackson), Eatons’ Ranch (Wolf), the Hideout Lodge and Guest Ranch (Shell), Medicine Bow Lodge and Guest Ranch (Saratoga), Paradise Guest Ranch (Buffalo), Rimrock Ranch (Cody), Shoshone Lodge and Guest Ranch (Cody), and Triangle X Ranch (Moose).
As the book details, the origins of dude ranching trace back to the 1880s, when a ranch near modern-day Medora, North Dakota, began charging guests from back East room and board when they’d come out West to hunt bison and other big game.
The word “dude” had become a popular term by that time for a man with fancy duds.
More and more ranches started opening up to guests in the 1900s, including welcoming many young men whose parents had sent them West to dry out and stay out of trouble.
“You had to be wealthy to stay at a dude ranch back in the day,” Wells said.
But life on these ranches today might look surprisingly similar to a century ago.
Ranch hands might start rounding up horses at 4:30 in the morning and preparing breakfast so it’s ready for guests when they awaken, Wells said. In addition to historic photos of the ranches, photographer Scott Baxter spent four months on the road capturing how the ranches look now.
While still offering a vacation that’s more expensive than a typical tourist might be able to afford, Wells said one of the constants at the centennial ranches spread across four states is the service and experience they offer.
“The strongest element that’s kept dude ranching going all that time is a common denominator,” Wells said. “It’s the desire to offer great hospitality.”
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It was while kicking around ideas for the 100-year anniversary of the Dude Ranching Association that Jaye Wells asked how many ranches have a similar legacy. “Nobody in the room knew,” Wells recalled. That’s how the new book “100 Years of Dude Ranching” was born. (Courtesy Scott T. Baxter) -
As much as the book celebrates dude ranches, it’s also a tribute to a unique way of life, particularly in Wyoming. “It’s such a tough business, but it’s such a joy,” said Jaye Wells, who owns the Blackwater Creek Lodge & Guest Ranch in Cody. (Courtesy Scott T. Baxter) -
As much as the book celebrates dude ranches, it’s also a tribute to a unique way of life, particularly in Wyoming. “It’s such a tough business, but it’s such a joy,” said Jaye Wells, who owns the Blackwater Creek Lodge & Guest Ranch in Cody. (Courtesy Scott T. Baxter)
Pressures To Modernize
Even so, dude ranch owners do feel some pressure to modernize to appease guests who have become downright uncomfortable unplugging.
Such changes have seen ranches offering Wi-Fi, say, or packing days with lots of activities.
Even though guests will quickly learn that riding a horse all day is exercise in and of itself, Wells said he’s felt that pressure, too. “We have a full-blown exercise room at White Stallion Ranch,” he said of one of his ranches near Tucson, Arizona. “You have to have it now.”
What’s more, even though guests will rave about how relaxing they find their stay or how much they appreciate the quality time with loved ones, they’re booking shorter and shorter stays.
In the 1920s, people from out East might come to a ranch for months at a time, and there was a time not so long ago when a one- or two-week stay was the norm.
“Now, guests only want to stay three nights. That’s the number one trend in the business we see,” Wells said. “We forget we’re so connected now, it’s almost too much. We’re being bombarded by information 24 hours a day.”
‘It’s Such A Joy’
Putting this book together gave Wells a newfound appreciation for the diversity of Wyoming’s topography and landscapes.
The project also offered constant reminders about why he loves dude ranching so much and how pivotal the business was to shaping the West.
Of course, he’s also reminded of how unique this business is while conversing with guests over the years — including tourists from abroad who marvel at the idea of being able to shoot a gun, spend a week bonding with a horse or simply get to decompress in a way they haven’t been able to do since childhood.
“I would venture to say it’s one of the most iconic symbols in the world,” Wells said of dude ranching. “It’s such a tough business, but it’s such a joy.”
CASPER, Wyo. — There was magic, or something like it, in the air on Saturday as the Central Wyoming Fairgrounds presented the 2026 Casper Holistic Expo, Casper’s longest running holistic expo and a hallmark of the beginning of spring in Natrona County.
Countless vendors from Casper and beyond gathered with their goodies to present them to eager customers searching for something a little different.
The holistic expo featured crystal and metaphysical shops, tattoo and body piercing studios, henna and glitter tattoo studios, holistic shops, tarot readings, fortune tellers, magic and so much more. There was truly something for everyone, and Christina Kuhn, the lead organizer, said that nobody who came to the expo would leave disappointed.
“This actually started over 20 years ago,” Kuhn said. “I’ve been doing it for years. My mom did it for seven years before me. And Judy Ick, who actually does our photography, she did it before that. So it’s been a very long, very longstanding and growing event.”
Kuhn said that the Holistic Expo has grown exponentially over the years.
“When Judy passed it down to mom, there were 38 booths,” she said. “After mom passed it down to me, there were 78. Now I think we’re up to, like, 98.”
The booths are as eclectic as the people who run them. There’s magic, mysticism and moonlight; storytellers and palm readers; conversationalists and creators. There are CBD products, organic teas, energy testing, and even fudge.
“Some of this is kind of a special niche,” Kuhn shared, “but some of it is not. We’ve got a chiropractor. We’ve got people that are working with healing modalities. Some of it’s spiritual stuff. We’ve got crafts, too.”
There’s a wide variety of vendors and customers as the Holistic Expo, and Kuhn said she wouldn’t want it any other way. The most important thing they do, Kuhn said, is donate to local nonprofits.
“People can either pay the $5 door fee — anybody that’s 13 or over — or they can donate five nonperishable goods,” Kuhn said. “We started donating that to poverty resistance, and then we did City Park Church. This year we’re donating to the Wyoming Food for Thought Project.”
Kuhn said this was just a simple way to give back to the community, a community she and her business have been a part of for years. Kuhn owns a store in downtown Casper called A Place for Passion, and the Holistic Expo also allows her to bring some merch from her store and put in on display with a variety of other items. It’s a fun way to spend a weekend, she said, and she’s proud to be a part of it.
“Good lord, I’ve been doing this for a long time,” she said. “I helped my mom with it for ages and she wanted somebody that would carry on and keep expanding and doing well with it. Before I was helping run the show and managing it, I was a booth. I started sharing a booth with my mom because I only had a few things and I wasn’t sure how well they’d sell. But then it just expanded and took off, and now here I am.”
Kuhn said it means a lot that she’s able to continue the Holistic Expo for her mother.
“It’s nice to keep expanding something, especially something that contributes so much to the community,” she said. “There are so many people that come out and enjoy everything that they get here. And it’s a big opportunity for them to connect with others, to connect with people that have stuff they want to offer them.”
That, Kuhn said, is her favorite part of the Holistic Expo — meeting people.
“It’s just nice connecting with people and helping them out in any way that you can,” she said. “Everybody’s got their own knowledge, gifts, products that they’re putting out — services, whatever it is. So being able to share that with others is awesome. You’ve got to come check it out. It’s an awesome experience. There’s a little something for everyone.”
The Casper Holistic Expo is happening Saturday until 6 p.m. and on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Industrial Building at the Central Wyoming Fairgrounds.
Photos from the Holistic Expo can be seen below:
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