Events

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The weekend of September 22–23 is fast approaching! We continue to add programs to our two-day 50th anniversary bash, so be sure to check out our schedule of events and reserve your spots soon. We’re excited to spend the weekend with so many friends, celebrating 50 years of conservation and equipping citizens with the tools and skills needed to keep advocating for Wyoming’s future.

If this is your first time hearing about this event, be sure to check out this recent story on Wyoming Public Media.

We’re thrilled to announce that following a day of great workshops on Saturday, and ahead of the evening’s keynote address by former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, we’ll host an awards ceremony, where we’ll recognize three citizens whose commitment to Wyoming’s wild places and outdoor heritage is unparalleled.

Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia founder and environmental maverick, will receive the Tom Bell Legacy Award for his tenacious lifelong commitment to conservation. His support of groups such as Citizens for the Wyoming Range and his staunch advocacy for public lands and the environment have made a lasting difference for the people and wild places of Wyoming. Patagonia, Chouinard’s outdoor gear and apparel company, is among the leaders in defending public lands traditions in the West. (If you haven’t seen the company’s first-ever TV ad, we recommend checking it out.)

Brian Rutledge, vice president of Rocky Mountain Audubon, will receive the Conservation Leadership Award for his exemplary vision and collaboration in sage-grouse conservation. Brian’s passion and his thoughtful approach have been instrumental in helping to keep the Greater sage-grouse viable in Wyoming and the Rocky Mountain West.

Michael Burd will receive the Civic Action Award in honor of his outstanding leadership of the citizen effort to protect the Wyoming Range, a landscape filled with wildlife and popular with hunters, anglers, and other outdoor enthusiasts.

All three award recipients will be in attendance Saturday evening, and we hope you can join us in celebrating these luminaries and honoring their legacies.

The 50th Anniversary Celebration and Citizen Advocacy Summit is a way for the Outdoor Council not only to honor our founders, dedicated members, and 50-year history, but also for the people of Wyoming to look ahead to the future.

“We’ll be thinking together about how citizens can be the most engaged, effective advocates for the outdoor places and wildlife they love,” said executive director Gary Wilmot. “I know the entire Outdoor Council staff and board is looking forward to connecting with old friends, making some new ones, and discussing what the future of conservation looks like for Wyoming.”

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Remember, we’re kicking off the weekend with a free community concert on Friday night, headlined by Wyoming’s own Jalan Crossland. Crossland recently announced that this will be the band’s last show, so it’s a gig longtime fans will not want to miss.

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“It’s April 19th at dawn, and I’m standing on a bluff trying to capture the Honeycomb Buttes.”

So begins this particular tale of Wyoming-based nature photographer Scott Copeland, a man on a mission.

His task is not easy, either, capturing a glimpse of all that exquisite scenery in one shot: the green grass and multi-hued layers of dirt, the sweeping majesty of Continental Peak, the snow-dusted Wind River Range.

“I’m looking for just the right vantage to capture all three. Too far away and the Buttes’ striking colors and textures are lost; too close up and the Winds hide behind them.”

Up with the sun, Scott breathes in the cool, clear air and revels in the soundtrack you only get to hear in moments like this: Pure Wyoming, infused with a morning chorus of horned larks and the careful tread of Scott’s own footfalls. It’s the song of wide-open space and a slow, deliberate pace.

As the first tendrils of early morning begin to stretch out across the rocks, Scott lifts his camera and lines up the shot. And with a few clicks of the shutter on a peaceful April morning, the image—“Red Desert Fire”—is born.

“A panorama like this captures the wide openness of the place. The butte details stand out nicely in the foreground and Continental Peak is prominent on the skyline, but the Winds were shadowed behind clouds and a little behind Continental Peak. A beautiful spot and an nice shot, but the hunt for the perfect Honeycomb Buttes image goes on.”

These are the moments that illustrate why we do what we do at the Outdoor Council; why we use our voices, write the letters, make the calls, and show up at events. There’s no other place in the world quite like Wyoming, and we want nothing more than to protect these values for future generations to enjoy.

It’s thanks to photographers like Scott that some of our state’s most stunning moments are captured forever; it’s thanks to passionate members like you that these sacred Wyoming landscapes will be protected. (As well as for Scott to continue trekking, in search of the ever-elusive “perfect” image of the Honeycomb Buttes.)

A large canvas of this photo, featured in our 2014 “Celebrating the Red Desert” calendar, will be up for raffle/auction at our 50th Anniversary Party on Saturday, September 23. Be sure stop in and stake your claim!

To learn more about all the events we have in store for our 50th Anniversary celebration, check out the full schedule here.

There’s a photo you took—maybe last winter, maybe last week— and every time you look at it, conjures up that inexplicable but warm and wonderful feeling of “home.”

You know the one.

Maybe it shows a sweeping view of the star-sparkled Wyoming sky, taken right in your own backyard.

Maybe it’s a shot of three generations of your family, hiking in the Honeycomb Buttes, pausing to picnic and admire the view.

Maybe it’s from a day at the crystal-clear lake with friends, or a Sunday drive into the mountains to see the wildflowers, or an impromptu afternoon snowshoe.

For this year’s calendar photo contest, we want to see those photos—the ones that capture your Wyoming. The people; the places; the elements that make you smile and say, “Only in Wyoming.”

After reviewing all of the submissions, we’ll choose our favorites and use them to create our 2018 Wyoming Outdoor Council calendar!

Here are some of our winners from 2017:

How to enter

This year, we’re excited to offer two ways to enter the photo contest: through Instagram or through email.

To submit your photo(s) via Instagram, you must have a public Instagram account so that we’re able to view your submission. Upload your photo(s) and add the hashtag #WOC50th.

To submit your photo(s) via email, send your photo(s) to claire@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org.

Terms and Conditions

Entries must be submitted between July 15, 2017, and before midnight on September 15, 2017, either via email (claire@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org) or Instagram, using the hashtag #WOC50th. By entering, all contestants agree to release their photo to the Wyoming Outdoor Council for publication purposes. The Wyoming Outdoor Council will select the winning photos, which will then be used in the 2018 calendar. All submitted photos are subject to use.

Your entry to the contest constitutes your agreement to allow your entered photographs, as well as your name and the place the photograph was taken, to be published in the Wyoming Outdoor Council’s 2018 calendar and on the Wyoming Outdoor Council’s website to promote the annual photo contest. Photograph entries constitute permission to use the images in this manner with credit to the photographer without monetary compensation. Contest entrants retain ownership and all other rights to future use of the photographs they enter. Use of the entered photos in any other fashion or in any other publications will only occur with permission from the entrant.

Dear friends,

Back in 1967, Tom Bell, Mardy Murie, and others came together to protect Wyoming, because they understood that a few scattered, unorganized voices would never get the job done. They created the Wyoming Outdoor Coordinating Council and worked together to help quash some very shortsighted plans, including an effort to dam the Upper Green River near Pinedale, a proposal to clearcut large sections of the Bridger-Teton and Shoshone national forests around Dubois, and—as crazy as it sounds today—a harebrained scheme to detonate nuclear bombs underground in the Upper Green River Valley to release and extract natural gas. Tom’s group didn’t stop with these successes: they and those who came after them went on to help create Wyoming’s “citizen’s lobby” and secure passage of our state’s foundational environmental laws—laws that continue to protect our wildlife and air and water quality today.

Fifty years later, thanks to the dedicated support of members like you, the Wyoming Outdoor Council is still doing the work these visionaries began. Every day, we bring citizens together from all corners of the state to create lasting solutions to tough problems, all in the name of protecting this wild, wide-open place we love.

I’d like to invite you to join me in Lander September 22-23 for our 50^th anniversary celebration. Inspired by our founders, we’ll spend the weekend looking ahead, thinking together about how citizens can be the most engaged, effective advocates for the wild places they love. We’ll cap off the weekend of workshops and conversation with a keynote address by Gina McCarthy, former head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. At a time when so many safeguards are being rolled back, I’m eager to hear her perspective on what’s next for all of us.

Purchase your tickets, and find a full schedule, at our website. (Reserve your tickets by June 1 for a discounted early bird rate!) Amy Rathke (amy@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org) will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thanks for your commitment to Wyoming. I hope to see you in September!

Dave Hohl,
Chair, Wyoming Outdoor Council Board of Directors
Pinedale, Wyoming

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In late 2016, Governor Matt Mead initiated the Outdoor Recreation Task Force to explore how Wyoming can grow its outdoor recreation sector.

Throughout 2017, the Task Force—made up of a diverse group of stakeholders and co-chaired by me—will meet to discuss ways to improve recreation infrastructure and expand business opportunities.

The Task Force also recognizes another important stakeholder in these discussions: the public. They’ve scheduled four listening sessions throughout the state, and we’re encouraging our members to attend. We’re heavily involved and we hope you will be, too. This is an important opportunity to hear updates as well as to speak up about what matters to you in regards to outdoor recreation in Wyoming.

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CASPER
March 7, 2017, 6–7p.m.
The Tate Pumphouse Trail Center
1774 W. 1st St.

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GILLETTE
May 4, 2017, 6–7p.m.
Campbell County Library, Wyoming Room
2101 S. 4-J Road

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EVANSTON
March 16, 2017, 6–7p.m.
Bear Community Center
75 Bear River Drive

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JACKSON
April 11, 2017, 6–7p.m.
Teton County Admin. Building,
Board of County Commissioners Chambers
200 S. Willow Street

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In addition to the four listening sessions listed above, there will also be three full Task Force meetings during which the public is welcome to give comment. These meetings will be held in Cody, Lander, and Sheridan—rounding out the Task Force’s presence throughout the state. We’ve already held two meetings in Cheyenne to give folks in the southeast a chance to participate, too. Here is what we know about the public comment schedule:

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CODY
March 9, 2017 from 8-8:30 a.m. and 5:15-6:30 p.m.
March 10, 2017 from 8-8:30 a.m.
Buffalo Bill Center of the West
720 Sheridan Avenue

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SHERIDAN
May 10-12, 2017
Time TBA
Location TBA

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LANDER
April 5-7, 2017
Time TBA
Location TBA

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The times for public comment at the full meetings will be an excellent chance to directly address the Task Force with your ideas. We’ll update you when public comment times are set for Lander and Sheridan, or you can check the Wyoming State Parks website.

We’re heavily invested in this Task Force and we hope you’ll be too. We’ll look forward to seeing you one of these sessions, and if you have any questions, please reach out to me at gary@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org.

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SHIFT, the organization dedicated to leveraging outdoor recreation for conservation gains, is delighted to share that tickets for the 2016 SHIFT Festival in Jackson, WY are now available. Outdoor Council members are eligible for a 25% discount on the SHIFT Summit (daytime events) with the code ‘PUBLICLANDS’ in Eventbrite. 

We hope you’ll join us!

All evening events at the Center for the Arts in Jackson, WY.

Thursday, 10/13, 7 PM: Terry Tempest Williams, Our Public Lands. $10 

Williams, like her writing, cannot be categorized. She has testified before Congress on women’s health issues, been a guest at the White House, has camped in the remote regions of Utah and Alaska wildernesses and worked as “a barefoot artist” in Rwanda. 

Williams’ forthcoming book, The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks, to be published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in May, is an ode to the complexity and continuity of our public lands, as exemplified in our national parks and monuments.

Friday, 10/14, 7 PM: Adventure, Inspired with Stacy Bare. $15

Stacy Bare, Director of the award-winning Sierra Club Outdoors and recipient of the 2015 SHIFT Adventure Athlete award, will keynote the Adventure, Inspired film program.

The film program, which will take place on Friday, October 14, at Jackson Hole’s premier, 525-seat performing arts center, The Center for the Arts, will explore the topic of engagement by outdoor recreationists whose exploits are chronicled in the evening’s films.

Saturday, 10/15, 5 PM: The People’s Banquet with Steven Rinella. $45

SHIFT’s popular celebration of the local food system, The People’s Banquet, pairs local chefs with local farmers, cheese makers, bakers and brewers to create small plates sourced from local ingredients to create Jackson’s “foodie event of the year.”After his presentation at The People’s Banquet, Mr. Rinella will be interviewed by Whit Fosburgh, President and CEO of The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. 

In his career, Mr. Rinella has spoken to a wide range of audiences about his life as a modern-day hunter-gatherer. With humor and irreverence, he discusses the hunting lifestyle, wild game, the ethics of hunting, and the spiritual need for wilderness. His talks are punctuated with stories of amazing and sometimes absurd adventures, such as getting poisoned by wild mushrooms, charged by a grizzly, bowled over by a moose, and nearly crushed by a wild boar that fell from the sky under very strange circumstances in the central highlands of the Philippines’ Luzon Island.

Mr. Rinella’s numerous books have been awarded the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award and the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award. American Buffalo was named one of the best fifty non-fiction books of 2008 by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Our visionary founder, Tom Bell, died Tuesday, August 30, 2016 at the age of 92. All of us here at the Wyoming Outdoor Council mourn his loss deeply. Tom was a war hero, a father, a teacher, a writer, a conservation luminary, and a dear friend.

Today, we gathered in Lander with family and friends to celebrate his life. Please enjoy this video which features footage of some of Tom’s favorite places and thoughts from just a few of his admirers.