Ever been curious about what was happening on the other side of the lens at the moment a particularly gorgeous shot was snapped? So have we, because we know that simply looking at a picture only tells part of its story. For this picture, the story begins in the northern Red Desert.

If you’ve ever taken part in our annual Run the Red trail race, you’ve left your own footprints behind in the sand of this vast, scenic landscape. If you’ve never been to this area of Wyoming, we assure you it’s an experience you’ll never forget—especially if you get to hear the Killpecker sand dunes sing.

The science behind their song is simple—the round, highly polished grains of sand are stimulated by movement, such as footfalls or wind, and their “voice” is created as a result—but the effect is nothing short of magical.

It was in the midst of this majestic landscape that Colorado-based conservation photographer Dave Showalter snapped the striking shot above.

(You may remember seeing it as a featured image in our 2014 “Celebrating the Red Desert” calendar.)

On the morning he captured this image, Dave had headed out into the Killpecker dune fields in search of seasonal “dunal ponds,” which are naturally formed in the spring when embedded ice crystals in the sand begin to melt.

Going into the shoot, Dave had hoped to get a few shots of high-desert wildlife quenching their thirst at one such pond; although he didn’t find quite what he was looking for, he found something just as captivating.

“Well into the dune field, I realized the ponds had dried for the season and I turned to see my tracks leading from the Boar’s Tusk. It’s a different take on an iconic and sacred Wyoming landmark in an ecologically sensitive place, with tracks lending a feeling of being there.

One learns to expect surprises and take what nature gives you in such a dynamic landscape. On a windless night, with just a few distant songbirds breaking the silence, I lingered until the light had long faded—one of the most gorgeous evenings I’ve ever spent in the outdoors.”

The Red Desert has always held a special place in the Wyoming Outdoor Council’s heart; in fact, we’ve been working to protect it since our inception in 1967. It’s the landscape where Wyoming native Tom Bell—decorated World War II veteran and this organization’s founder—experienced solace after the war when his plane was shot down; he lost an eye, and nearly lost his life as well.

It was in Wyoming’s wild landscapes that Tom found spiritual and psychological healing, and his life-changing experience in the Red Desert inspired him to create the Outdoor Council to protect the Desert and similar places for future generations.

Photographers like Dave help us to continue this work in Tom’s memory by ensuring that some of our state’s most stunning moments and places are captured forever and illustrated for the world to see—and it’s thanks to passionate members like you that these sacred Wyoming landscapes will be protected for future generations to enjoy.

In an unprecedented action, the Trump administration released more details today about its move to to undo National Monument designations throughout the West, including one monument dating back to 1924.

In a previous statement, President Donald Trump referred to National Monuments as “abuses” and vowed to “return control [of these lands] to the people.” The Wyoming Outdoor Council finds this statement both uninformed and misguided because these lands already do belong to all Americansand due to their monument designations, they are now properly protected.

This afternoon, the Department of the Interior announced it will hold its first-ever comment period for the public to provide input on monument designations throughout the West, including Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah, Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho, and Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in Colorado, among many others.

The comment period is not yet open—it will open after May 12—you’ll hear from us again with details on how you can participate.

National Monuments are public lands and they are among our most precious national treasures. The National Monument designation is one of our nation’s core conservation tools, and it has helped make the United States’ public lands the envy of the world.

Our nation’s first National Monument was Devils Tower in Wyoming, designated by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. The Antiquities Act of 1906 created the National Monument designation for public lands and gave the power to the President of the United States to designate these monuments.

While Wyoming’s monuments are not included, we believe this action cuts to the heart of what public lands mean to us, our members, and our country—and this action is part of a larger ideological assault on our nation’s public lands.

Our primary goal is to ensure that public lands remain in public hands.

We’ll be in touch with more information for how you can take action.

As you may know, Johnson County is home to two rugged, wild landscapes nestled in the southeastern flanks of the Bighorn Mountains: North Fork and Gardner Mountain. We’re sending this email to residents of Johnson and surrounding counties since you may hunt, fish, or recreate in these wild areas and be invested in keeping them that way.

Johnson County is one of 12 counties participating in the statewide Wyoming Public Lands Initiative (WPLI), which is a multi-year collaborative to recommend future management options for the BLM Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) in our state, like North Fork and Gardner Mountain.

The recommendations created through the WPLI could be included in a legislative package presented to Congress. Success in this process is contingent on win-win management recommendations developed through a fair and transparent public stakeholder process.

Johnson County has appointed a citizen advisory committee to study the North Fork and Gardner Mountain WSAs. This committee may be leaning towards a proposal to make decisions by a supermajority, instead of striving for consensus among all stakeholders. We believe a decision-making process that allows a majority or supermajority to advance recommendations over the objections of a minority will leave behind key stakeholders whose support is critical to the Initiative. To date, every other committee in the state that has finalized their process has adopted consensus-based decision-making.

Please help us advocate for a fair process for the Johnson County WSAs that includes consensus-based decision-making. The WPLI will only be successful if committees base their recommendations on common ground developed among all stakeholders. No one can be left behind for the future legislative package to be successful in Congress.

The next Johnson County WPLI citizen advisory committee meeting is scheduled for next Tuesday night in Kaycee.

Tuesday, April 18 at 6 p.m.
Powder River Fire Hall
538 Sussex Road (SR 192)
Kaycee, WY

Please consider attending to advocate for consensus during the public comment period. If you can’t attend, please reach out individually to the committee members.

You can read more about the WPLI process and find committee member contact information at the Johnson County WPLI website, and for further talking points about the importance of consensus-based decisions in public lands collaboration, check out this fact sheet.

Thank you for your participation in this important public process! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Wyoming’s namesake mountain range is a landscape the Wyoming Outdoor Council and our partners have worked to protect for 10 years. Many of you will recall the controversial offering of some 40,000 national forest acres for oil and gas lease sale back in 2005-06. This unpopular decision resulted in the formation of a powerful coalition. Citizens, hunters, anglers, recreational users, wildlife enthusiasts, ranchers, labor union members, outfitters, tourism interests, and conservationists came together in a united effort to protect the Wyoming Range.

While the fate of these leases remained in limbo, we worked together to pass the Wyoming Range Legacy Act in 2009, bipartisan legislation that withdrew 1.2 million acres of the Bridger-Teton National Forest from future oil and gas leasing. Three years later we came together again to find a solution to the threat posed by 136 natural gas wells in the Upper Hoback Basin. We helped raise $8.75 million to purchase and retire these valid, existing oil and gas leases.

The issue that started it all—the controversial and long-contested oil and gas leases—was the last to be resolved. The fate of these leases has always rested with the Forest Service. Five years ago, the agency made a good decision not to lease these acres, only to pull back when faced with legal challenges. Today, after years of careful additional analysis and consideration of input from thousands of citizens, the Forest Service is reissuing its no-leasing decision.

This decision approaches what we hope will be the end of a long chapter of uncertainty. Unfortunately, because the decision comes so close to the change in presidential administrations, it is still unclear whether it will persist. We will keep you posted. For now, however, a celebration is in order.

Warm regards,

We need your help to continue to show strong public opposition to the agenda to seize our national forests and other public lands. An important meeting is coming up in Cheyenne.

Next week, a subcommittee of the Legislature’s Federal Natural Resource committee will hold a public meeting to hear what the public thinks about a proposed constitutional amendment that would pave the way for state takeover of public land. This bill continues a long effort—pushed by a few legislators—to advance state takeover and probable sale of our public lands.

Please attend the meeting in person if you can! We need citizens to speak out against this land grab effort. Even if you don’t want to speak, your presence will support others who are there and send a strong message to legislators. Contrary to what the proponents say, this amendment does not prohibit the sale of public lands. It leaves the door open for future privatization and loss of access to our outdoor heritage.

You’re also invited to join us for a free citizen orientation before the meeting, where you can learn more and get your questions answered. We’ll provide background information and talking points for those who wish to offer comments during the hearing. Lunch will be provided. RSVP here.

Learn more about the proposed constitutional amendment in this blog post or check out our fact sheet. If you can’t make it to Cheyenne next week, please e-mail the committee (and be sure to cc your newly-elected legislators) to let them know our public lands are not for sale. Please contact me if you have any questions.

Stephanie Kessler, Director of External Relations

Oppose the agenda to seize our national forests and other public lands

Next week, the Wyoming State Legislature’s Federal Natural Resource committee will consider a constitutional amendment to pave the way for state takeover of public lands.

When: Wednesday, November 9, 2016 starting at 8:30 a.m.
Where: Central Wyoming College, Room SC103, Riverton.
Why: This is an attempted land grab. A small group of legislators are taking extreme measures to try to wrest control of our treasured public lands. As we have seen in other Western states, this leads to privatizing these lands, limiting public access and costing the state too much.

What Can You Do?

• SAY NO. Attend the meeting. You will have an opportunity to speak during the public comment period, if you choose. Having a crowd there will make a difference.
• E-mail the committee members by Tuesday, November 8^th to let them know you oppose land grab legislation. Make your comments as unique as possible!

What Can You Say?

• Feel free to speak from your experience, background and values. Always be civil and respectful.
• A state takeover of our public lands would be a threat to our way of life and it would be too costly.
• Tell the committee to vote NO on the proposed constitutional amendment.

For more information, download a fact sheet on this amendment, read the text of the amendment itself, visit keepitpublicwyo.com or view our report on the history of public land grab efforts in Wyoming.

And here is the Legislature’s commissioned report “Study on Management of Public Lands in Wyoming” that concludes such a state takeover of management would be too costly and present major financial, administrative and legislative challenges without any real benefits to the Wyoming public.

The Case for Keeping Public Lands in Public Hands

• The state cannot afford to manage our national forests and other public lands and will be forced to sell them off to cover the high costs of management. The state would not be able to foot the bill for fighting forest fires, road and trail maintenance, and much more. The recent $75,000 Report on Management documented these many costs and other management challenges.

• Wyoming manages its state lands for profit and this same emphasis will drive newly acquired lands. The Legislature could seek to sell off these lands to gain quick fixes to budget woes.

• This effort will result in our public lands privatized and loss of public access. Under the guise of “transferring” ownership or management, it all leads to the same place—privatizing our public lands, control by special interests, and sales to the highest bidders.

• Our Wyoming public lands are fundamental to our character, our way of life, and the legacy we leave our kids. Our outdoor traditions make us who we are. We want our children and grandchildren to have this access too.

• We support our unique, democratic American birthright—envied by the rest of the world—of wildlife as a public resource and wild landscapes where the public is free to roam. Each of us is a part owner of the largest piece of public real estate in the world, and thus, every American is rich in opportunities to hunt, fish, hike and explore.