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Flash Flood Watch for southwest Wyoming. NWS graphic.

Flash Flood Watch for Southwest Wyoming (posted 8/8/08)
National Weather Service advisory
10:35 AM, Friday, August 8, 2008: The National Weather Service has issued an urgent Flash Flood Watch for portions of Southwest Wyoming due to thunderstorms which are expected to develop today through mid-evening. These storms have the potential to produce very heavy rain and flash flooding. This Flash Flood Watch is in effect until 9:00 PM MDT this evening.

The Watch includes the cities of Big Piney, LaBarge, Farson, Kemmerer, Cokeville, Rock Springs, Jeffrey City, Green River, and Wamsutter and the areas of the Upper Green River Basin, Salt River and Wyoming Ranges, Flaming Gorge, Green Mountains and the Rattlesnake Range.

A deep layer of moisture over southern Wyoming with strong surface heating and an upper level disturbance moving across the region will generate scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms with the potential to produce very heavy rainfall and flash flooding.

The NWS cautions drivers that portions of Interstate 80 (I-80) may become dangerous when heavy rains creates ponding on the road surface and greatly reduces visibility in the heavy rain.

According to the National Weather Service, "A Flash Flood Watch means that conditions may develop that lead to flash flooding. Flash flooding is a very dangerous situation. You should monitor later forecasts and be prepared to take action should flash flood warnings be issued."

Related Links:
www.weather.gov/riverton National Weather Service – Riverton, Wyoming

New Fork Fire perimeter and Closure boundary, as of August 7, 2008.

New Fork Fire 90% Contained, 11,960 Acres (posted 8/8/08)
Recent rains help firefighters; Morning air health alerts lifted
Pinedale Online!
FOREST SERVICE MEDIA RELEASE – Morning Report, Friday, August 8
NEW FORK FIRE UPDATE
Lower temperatures and higher humidities have aided fire suppression activities on the 11, 960 acre New Fork Fire. Over the past 24 hours, the fire area has received up to a half inch of rain and decreased fire behavior. Fire crews will continue to extinguish any hot spots along the fire perimeter today as mop up operations continue.

With the fire 90 percent contained, fire crews are in the process of being released and made available for reassignment. This demobilization of resources will continue over the weekend until the fire is turned back to the local unit on August 9, 2008.

Area closure remains in effect for the following trails and trailheads are closed. TRAILHEADS: New Fork Lake, Long Lake and Spring Creek. TRAILS: Trapper Creek, Glimpse Lake, Pine Creek, Section Corner, Palmer Canyon, Heart Lake, Double Top, Gulf Creek and Snake Lake.

This will be the last report from Whalen’s Type 2 Incident Management Team.

Assigned Resources:
Hand Crews - 10
Engines - 7
Helicopters - 3
Overhead - 139
Total Personnel - 422
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(Comments below are from Pinedale Online!)

Recent rains have helped firefighters in their efforts to fight the New Fork Fire burning northeast of Pinedale. The fire began on Tuesday, July 29, due to an escaped campfire on the southeast shore of New Fork Lake, approximately 19 miles north of Pinedale. As of Friday, August 8, the fire was 90% contained and mapped at 11,960 acres. (size of acreage decreased due to more precise mapping)

The fire is burning primarily in the Bridger Wilderness, fueled by bug-killed trees. It has been putting up very visible columns of smoke, part of which is being created by the intentional back-burns set by firefighters to eliminate fuels in areas to help herd the fire where they want it to go. The fire has moved southeast crossing into the Willow Creek drainage. No structures have been lost. Firefighters put structure protection in place for the Willow Creek Guard Station and Lozier’s Box R Ranch as a precautionary measure.

There currently are 422 firefighters on the fire, which is under the management of a Type 2 Team. Fire managers are comfortable enough with the progress of the fire they will be turning management of the fire back to the local Type 3 team soon.

The Forest Service implemented trail and an area closure for the Bridger Wilderness between New Fork Lake and the north side of the Pine Creek drainage, which feeds Fremont Lake. The Highline Trail is still open and provides through-trail passage past the fire in the wilderness. Crews are taking advantage of the weather to continue to construct firelines along the perimeter of the fire.

FIRE INFORMATION CENTERS IN PINEDALE
The Forest Service is posting information about the fire at locations around Pinedale. Information is available at the Pinedale Ranger District Office. They have also set up a highly-visible information station in front of Ridley’s grocery store (formerly Faler’s) with current maps of the fire, handouts, and people who can answer questions about the current fire status. This fire information station is staffed between 9AM to 8PM daily. Fire personnel are also going around town daily and posting the current maps and information on store windows and at the Sublette County Visitor Center. Temporary signs are posted on Highway 191 at the Soda/Willow Lake road turnoff (by A to Z Hardware) alerting drivers of firefighter vehicle traffic going in and out of that road.

WHERE TO GET MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE FIRE
There is a new fire information toll-free phone number to call with questions about the fire. This reaches the Incident Command center for the fire, which is now set up near the elk feedground at Soda Lake, just north of Pinedale. For today (Friday) and Saturday, use this number for more information: 1-866-534-9619. As of Sunday, all inquiries should be directed to the Pinedale Ranger District, 307-367-4326.

See the New Fork Fire information page on Inciweb for official updates by the Forest Service about this fire. This site also has photos and current maps of the fire. http://www.inciweb.org/incident/1440

PLEASE AVOID ROADS NEAR THE FIRE
Recreationists are advised that there is still considerable firefighter and emergency vehicle traffic on the access roads near the fire (New Fork Lake, Spring Creek, Willow Creek, Soda Lake areas). While these areas are still open to the public, we encourage people to avoid this area unless they need to be in there. The trailheads at New Fork Lake, Spring Creek, Willow Creek and Long Lake trail are CLOSED. Note, this fire will likely continue to burn and smolder until the snow flies. Fire personnel will be monitoring and patrolling the area as long as it is still at all active.

WHAT IS OPEN
Green River Lakes is OPEN allowing access to the northern Wind River Range and Bridger Wilderness. Elkhart Park trailhead is OPEN allowing access to Photographer’s Point and to the central Wind River Range and points south. The Blueberry and Big Sandy fires are out, and there currently are no other fires burning in the Wind River Range.

HOW IS THE SMOKE AROUND BIG SANDY IN THE SOUTHERN WINDS?
We received a report yesterday from someone who just came back from hiking in the Big Sandy area over to the Cirque of the Towers. He said he expected it to be very smoky, but found the skies very clear and he didn’t notice a lot of smoke smell.

AIR ALERTS LIFTED
With the recent rains and reduced fire activity creating heavy smoke, Sublette County health officials are lifting the morning Air Health Alerts. "The weather has modulated and the fire has subsided. The air in the AM is much better and I think, barring a relapse, that the AM air alert can be lifted," said J. Thomas Johnston, M.D., Sublette County Health Officer. The county issued the health alerts for people with compromised lung capacity advising them to avoid going outside and breathing the smoky air while inversions caused smoke to hang over Pinedale. The smoke generally cleared out by mid-mornings as winds picked up and the inversion lifted.

KUDOS
Editor’s Note: We’d like to give kudos to our local health officials for sending out timely alerts to us, and to local KPIN radio station, so we as media can post these health alert notices to let the public know of these situations that immediately impact community health due to smoky air. We also wish to thank the Forest Service and Sublette County Sheriff’s Office for their calls to alert us when there is fast-breaking news or road closures related to rapidly-changing conditions due to wildfires. And lastly, we wish to thank our readers who have sent in their great photos that show the various angles of the fire and information they are aware of from their vantage points. (These photos can be found in our Pinedale Online news archives in the July and August 2008 months. If anyone is interested in getting a reprint of Chris Havener’s great "Firestorm" night photo with the reflection in New Fork Lake, we have a high-resolution version of this picture and can do glossy 8x10 reprints at Office Outlet in Pinedale. support@pinedaleonline.com) Thank you, all!

Click here for more photos with this story: New Fork Fire 90% Contained, 11,960 Acres (4 photos)

Related Links:
http://www.inciweb.org/incident/1440

FWS releases waterfowl harvest data (posted 8/7/08)
Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online!
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released the 2007-2008 waterfowl harvest estimate.

More than 14.5 million ducks were harvested in the United States during the 2007-2008 waterfowl hunting season, according to FWS. This is up from 13.8 million ducks harvested the previous season. Hunters harvested almost 3.7 million geese, similar to the 2006-7 estimate.

Almost one million duck hunters spent nearly seven million days in the field, up slightly from the previous season's nearly 6.8 million days. More than 700,000 hunters spent approximately four million days hunting geese, which is similar to the 2006-2007 season.

In the Atlantic Flyway, approximately 1.7 million ducks were harvested during the 2007-2008 season, similar to the prior season. The 936,000 geese harvested in 2007 represent an increase from the 714,000 harvested the previous season.

In the Mississippi Flyway, approximately 6.7 million ducks were harvested, almost a half million more than the previous season. An estimated 1.3 million geese were harvested, similar to the previous season.

In the Central Flyway, hunters bagged nearly 2.7 million ducks last season, an increase of 200,000 birds. The harvest of more than 900,000 geese was similar to the previous season.

In the Pacific Flyway, hunters harvested more than 3.4 million ducks and almost 500,000 geese -- both estimates similar to the 2006-7 season's harvest. In Alaska, nearly 68,000 ducks were harvested, similar to the previous season. The goose harvest, at 6,800 birds, was slightly down from 7,500 birds in the previous season.

As has been in the past, mallards were the most prevalent duck bagged by hunters in the United States, with approximately 4.9 million birds harvested. Other dominant species this year were green-winged teal, with almost two million birds harvested, and gadwall, with nearly 1.5 million harvested. Wood ducks and blue-wing/cinnamon teal rounded out the top five hunted waterfowl with more than one million of each species harvested during the 2007-8 season.

Canada geese were the most prevalent geese harvested with almost 2.7 million birds taken. Snow geese were the second most popular goose species harvested, with an estimated 560,000 taken nationally.

Understanding wolf-human interactions (posted 8/6/08)
Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online!
Wild Wolves? Understanding human-wolf interactions in a coastal Canadian National Park Reserve" is the title of Jennifer Smith's thesis at Ontario's Lakehead University.

Smith reports: "In the Broken Group Islands unit (BGI) of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, there are increasing accounts of human-wolf interactions due to a combination of the recent migration of wolves (Canis lupus) into the area and high human use. The wolves have begun exhibiting less wariness of humans and are learning to forage for food in areas frequented by visitors. In this island environment, paddlers (kayakers and canoeists) constitute a significant 95% of total users, a highly influential group worthy of study. These increasing human-wolf interactions have prompted park managers to explore the human dimensions of wolf management with the intention to reduce risks to both people and wolves."

To read Smith's complete thesis, follow the link below.

Related Links:
Read the thesis here - Click on this link to read the Smith thesis.
Wolf Watch - By Cat Urbigkit

Gray wolf effects on ecological communities (posted 8/6/08)
Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online!
Yellowstone wolf insider Nathan Varley's fall 2007 PhD thesis from the University of Alberta is called "Gray wolf effects on ecological communities."

Here's a small part of Varley's abstract: "Wolves (Canis lupus) are being restored to many parts of their former range. With this, ecologists will have the opportunity to better understand the direct and indirect effects of wolves on communities. Simulation models can be used to predict direct effects of wolves on prey. A stochastic predator-prey model was used to predict the demographic outcome of wolf restoration on elk (Cervus elaphus) and human harvest of elk in Yellowstone National Park (YNP), USA. Wolf predation resulted in a moderate (14-21%) reduction in long-term elk abundance that was sufficient to maintain a conservative harvest. Together, wolf predation and hunter harvest provided a stabilizing influence that reduced the incidence of severe weather-driven population declines."

Click on the link below to get to Varley's entire thesis.

Related Links:
Get the thesis at this site - Click on Varley's title to read the thesis.

Closure area

Temporary Closure in effect for New Fork Lakes Fire (posted 8/5/08)
Bridger-Teton National Forest
(Pinedale) – The Bridger-Teton National Forest has issued a temporary area closure in the area around the New Fork Lakes fire to provide for public and firefighter safety during the incident. The New Fork Lakes fire was discovered on July 29 approximately 19 miles north of Pinedale, Wyoming. Fire investigators determined that the blaze was caused by a campfire. Officials are still investigating the incident and gathering more information about the conditions surrounding the campfire.

The fire has burned approximately 11,585 acres. Firefighters are flying over the fire this morning to map the area and gather a more accurate accounting of the acreage involved in the fire.

All roads and trails are closed in the closure area. The New fork Lakes and Willow Lake campground remain open. Most of the southern and eastern shores of New Fork Lakes is closed, as is the north, east, and south shore of Willow Lake, and the northernmost shore of Fremont Lake.

For a detailed map depicting the closure area, visit www.inciweb.org or the Pinedale Ranger District office.

Click on this link for a printable PDF of the area Closure Map (1.3 MB)

Related Links:
www.inciweb.org/incident/1440New Fork Fire info on Inciweb (updates, maps, photos)
Fire and Smoke map NOAA
www.fireweather.info/
Smoke -Weather info
New Fork Lakes Fire grows to 11,585 acres (Pinedale Online, August 4, 2008) 18 photos
Bridger-Teton National Forest

New Fork Lake fire. Photo by Chris Havener.

New Fork Lakes Fire grows to 11,585 acres (posted 8/4/08)
Area trail closures in effect
Pinedale Online!
TRAIL CLOSURE: Bridger-Teton forest officials have issued an area closure for the New Fork Lakes Fire. Trails included in the closure are New Fork Lakes, Willow Creek, Spring Creek, and Long Lake.
______________________________________

The New Fork Lakes Fire grew to 11,585 acres, as of Sunday night, August 3rd. The fire has been burning since Tuesday, July 28th. The human-caused fire started due to an abandoned campfire on the southeast shore of the lake. The blaze is about 19 miles north of Pinedale, burning mostly east in the Bridger Wilderness. It is burning in decadent stands of timber and bug-kill lodgepole pine, and the growth potential remains high.

Wilderness rangers are working the area ahead of the fire to make contact with anyone in the area to make them aware of the trail closures and have them vacate the area. The fire has been putting up a huge column of smoke, visible from a long distance. Signs are posted at the trailheads to warn of the trail closures.

Fire crews have gained 9% containment of the fire. Firefighters are patrolling the holding lines and providing structure protection for residences, outbuildings and ranches in the vicinity west of the blaze. There are currently 162 total personnel on this fire.

For current updates online, see the Inciweb page for this fire: http://www.inciweb.org/incident/1440/. Click on the Photos and Maps sections for current maps and photos of the fire.

Click on this link for more photos local area residents have sent in they have taken of the fire: New Fork Lakes fire update: Monday, August 4 (18 photos)

View of the New Fork Lakes Fire on Saturday afternoon. Lozier's Box R Ranch is in the foreground. Photo by Debbee Miller.

New Fork Lakes Fire: 6200 Acres, 5% Contained (posted 8/2/08)
Update: Saturday, August 2, 2008 8/2/08
The New Fork Lakes Fire grew to 6,200 acres on Saturday. It is spreading southeast in the Bridger Wilderness. It has reached as far as the east side of Big Flattop Mountain and Indian Park.

Crews continue to do burnout operations to ignite pockets of fuel that are left along the control lines. Firefighters and engines on the southern flank will utilize hose lays and bucket drops as needed to hold the line. The fire was human-caused, due to an escaped campfire by someone camping on the southeast shore of New Fork Lake.

Click on this link for current updates on this fire on Inciweb: www.inciweb.org/incident/1440

Pinedale Online file photo.

Unattended Campfires are Unacceptable (posted 8/1/08)
Bridger-Teton National Forest
(Pinedale, Wyo) - The Bridger-Teton National Forest is asking that all visitors to the Forest make a special effort to insure that their campfires are completely extinguished before leaving the area. A properly extinguished campfire is cold to the touch, and ashes are thoroughly wetted with water. "Leaving a campfire unattended is punishable by a monetary fine," said Fire Prevention Technician Nan Stinson. "If your abandoned campfire results in a wildfire, you could be held responsible for the cost of that blaze," she said.

The New Fork Lakes fire is burning 19-miles north of Pinedale, Wyoming and was determined to be caused by an unattended campfire. That fire is now3600 acres and burning in the Bridger Wilderness area. A second fire was discovered late in the evening on Thursday, July 31 north of Bolder Lake, approximately 12-miles east of the town of Pinedale. The Blueberry Lake fire grew to 1 acre in size and is expected to be contained this evening. The Blueberry Lake fire was also caused by an escaped campfire.

Related Links:
www.fs.fed.us/btnf/ Bridger-Teton National Forest
www.tetonfires.com Info for Interagency Fire News (Grand Teton & Yellowstone National Parks, Bridger-Teton/Shoshone/Caribous National

PSC Warns Consumers: Heating costs to rise significantly (posted 8/1/08)
Wyoming Public Service Commission
The Wyoming Public Service Commission warned natural gas customers today to expect heating bills to rise 50-70 percent this winter.

"Wholesale natural gas prices are expected to be the driver," PSC Chairman Kathleen A. "Cindy" Lewis said. "Cost projections by the utilities show major increases in the wholesale price for natural gas this coming winter. That means most people will have significantly larger heating bills this winter."

People are encouraged to prepare now for higher heating costs. "We may see some of the largest increases in natural gas prices in years," Deputy Chairman Steve Oxley said. "The good news is that we have ways of fighting back. Energy efficiency is the key."

Consumers can help reduce gas bills by:
- Installing energy-efficient appliances and replacing old furnaces;
- Cleaning or replacing furnace filters regularly;
- Caulking and weather stripping windows and doors;
- Closing vents in unused rooms, sealing leaks and adding insulation;
- Washing clothes in cold water, and,
- Lowering the thermostat 10-15 percent for eight hours a day could save as much as 10 percent a year on heating.

Replacing five light bulbs in with CFLs could cut lighting energy bills by half in the average-sized American home, according to the PSC. More information on energy efficiency is available on the PSC�’ Web site at http://psc.state.wy.us.

"The Commission vigilantly reviews commodity rate increase applications from utility companies to ensure these purchases are reasonable and utility companies won't be profiting on increased costs," Commissioner Mary Byrnes said.

The Wyoming Public Service Commission is the state's regulatory agency overseeing rate increases proposed by utility companies. The PSC is based in Cheyenne, and is comprised of three commissioners.

View of New Fork Lakes Fire around 3PM on Friday, August 1. Photo by Kirby Hedrick.

Fire updates: Friday, August 1, 2008 (posted 8/1/08)
New Fork Lakes, Blueberry, Big Sandy, Yellowstone Park fires
New Fork Lake Fire: 3,600 Acres, 2% Contained. Human-Caused (escaped campfire). Burning 19 miles north of Pinedale on the southeast end of New Fork Lake in bug-kill timer. Control lines have been completed from New Fork Lake to Little Flat Top Mountain and north of Willow Creek Guard Station. Burnout operations are ongoing. Structure protection and forest clearing going on around the Forest Service Willow Creek Guard Station as a precautionary measure. Hand crews will be doing controlled burnouts today along the southern perimeter to strengthen control lines and herd the fire in desired directions. Helicopter crews will be doing the same to ignite fuels on the interior. Growth potential is high for this fire. It is spreading east into the Bridger Wilderness area with active fire behavior, torching and spotting. More info on the web on Inciweb: http://www.inciweb.org/incident/1440

Blueberry Fire: Started yesterday (Thursday evening, July 31). No report yet on size or status. Burning between Burnt and Blueberry Lakes about 13 miles directly east of Pinedale. Human-caused (escaped campfire). Forest Service is using the big Type I helicopter that has been stationed at the Pinedale airport on this fire making water bucket drops this morning (Friday).

Big Sandy area fire: Reported Friday morning near Forest boundary. At last report was 1/10th acre and crews were on it.

Lehardy Wildland Fire: Yellowstone National Park, 505 acres, 0% Contained

For more information on these fires, contact Mary Cernicek, Bridger-Teton National Forest Public Information Officer at 307-739-5564.

Click on this link for more photos of the New Fork Lakes Fire on Friday: New Fork Lakes fire (8 photos)

Related Links:
www.tetonfires.com Info for Interagency Fire News (Grand Teton & Yellowstone National Parks, Bridger-Teton/Shoshone/Caribous National Forests)

Executive Order coordinates agencies to protect Sage Grouse habitat in Wyoming (posted 8/1/08)
Governor Freudenthal’s office
(Cheyenne). - In an unprecedented move to coordinate sage grouse conservation efforts across the State of Wyoming, Gov. Dave Freudenthal today released an Executive Order that asks state agencies to work to maintain and enhance greater sage grouse habitat in Wyoming.

The greater sage grouse is an iconic species that inhabits much of the sagebrush-steppe habitat in Wyoming, and robust populations of the bird currently exist across the state. However, several petitions to list the bird as threatened are currently before the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the Executive Order notes that such a listing would have a significant adverse affects on the economy, customs and culture of the State of Wyoming.

For years the state has supported the efforts of the Sage Grouse Local Working Groups, the Sage Grouse Implementation Team and others who have worked to develop and implement conservation strategies.

"A lot of good work has been done to maintain healthy populations of sage grouse and other species in Wyoming," Gov. Freudenthal said. "But as we learned with the grizzly bear and wolf, if it is going to count for anything under the Endangered Species Act process - both in terms of our efforts to de-list already listed species and to prevent the listing of other sensitive species - our work has to be more unified under the banner of what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service terms ‘adequate regulatory mechanisms.’ The Executive Order does not create any new authority and legally only applies to state agencies, but is a vehicle to at least align the existing authorities of state government to ensure that we move forward under a more unified framework."

The Governor noted that long before the first petitions were filed to list the species, the State of Wyoming, the Wyoming Legislature, state and federal agencies, industry and landowners were working to improve habitat, fund mapping and habitat projects and to find better ways to drill and mine for the state’s energy resources.

The recommendations spelled out in the Executive Order originated in the work of the Sage Grouse Implementation Team. This group emerged from the Governor’s Sage Grouse Summit, which was jointly held in Casper with the U.S. Department of the Interior and Assistant Secretary Steve Allred in June of last year.

On March 25, 2008, the Governor received a map of "core population areas" for sage grouse and recommendations from the team that suggested conservation efforts be directed to these areas. In April, the Governor’s Office forwarded the map and recommendations to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for its review and comment.

In a May 7, 2008 letter, Brian Kelly of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said "[t]he Service does indeed believe the ‘core population area strategy’ is a sound framework for a policy by which to conserve Greater Sage-Grouse in Wyoming." He concluded his letter encouraging that "all seasonal habitats to sustain the core population areas are identified and incorporated into the strategy, and associated maps, once the State’s mapping project is complete."

With the state’s mapping effort already underway, to be completed later this year, Wyoming is well positioned to stave off the listing of the sage grouse.

The 12 stipulations spelled out in the Executive Order include:

1. Management by state agencies should, to the greatest extent possible, focus on the maintenance and enhancement of those Greater Sage-Grouse habitats and populations within the Core Population Areas identified by the Sage Grouse Implementation Team and modified through additional habitat and population mapping efforts.

2. Current management and existing land uses within Core Population Areas should be recognized and respected by state agencies.

3. New development or land uses within Core Population Areas should be authorized or conducted only when it can be demonstrated by the state agency that the activity will not cause declines in Greater Sage-Grouse populations.

4. Funding, assurances (including state-conducted efforts to develop Candidate Conservation Agreements and Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances), habitat enhancement, reclamation efforts, mapping and other associated proactive efforts to assure viability of Greater Sage-Grouse in Wyoming should be focused and prioritized to take place in Core Population Areas.

5. State agencies should use a non-regulatory approach to influence management alternatives within Core Population Areas, to the greatest extent possible. Management alternatives should reflect unique localized conditions, including soils, vegetation, development type, climate and other local realities.

6. Incentives to enable development of all types outside Core Population Areas should be established (these should include stipulation waivers, enhanced permitting processes, density bonuses, and other incentives). However, such development scenarios should be designed and managed to maintain populations, habitats and essential migration routes outside Core Population Areas.

7. Incentives to accelerate or enhance required reclamation in habitats adjacent to Core Population Areas should be developed, including but not limited to stipulation waivers, funding for enhanced reclamation, and other strategies.

8. Existing rights should be recognized and respected.

9. On-the-ground enhancements, monitoring, and ongoing planning relative to sage grouse and sage grouse habitat should be facilitated by sage grouse local working groups whenever possible.

10. Fire suppression efforts in Core Population Areas should be emphasized, recognizing that other local, regional, and national suppression priorities may take precedent. However, public and firefighter safety remains the number one priority on all wildfires.

11. State agencies work collaboratively with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, and other federal agencies to ensure, to the greatest extent possible, a uniform and consistent application of this Executive Order to maintain and enhance Greater Sage-Grouse habitats and populations.

12. State agencies shall work collaboratively with local governments and private landowners to maintain and enhance Greater Sage-Grouse habitats and populations in a manner consistent with this Executive Order.

"While we initially were concerned with getting the state’s house in order, what we have functionally done is bring others to the table - including federal land managers and regulatory agencies and private landowners - to knit together a plan that addresses state and federal land and offers private landowners incentives to voluntarily participate in our collective effort to make sure the sage grouse isn’t listed," Freudenthal noted. "The Executive Order is not an end in itself, it is really just a way to demonstrate that the state’s ante is on the table. Wyoming’s efforts, matched with those of our federal partners and private landowners, will hopefully start us down the road to the point where no one even looks at needing to list the grouse in this state."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to make a decision regarding the listing of the sage grouse within the year. The state has already made a formal submission of data and information to inform the decision, but as more information is developed and as state, federal, local and private efforts such as the Executive Order are put forward, the earlier submission will be supplemented.

To read the Executive Order in its entirety and view other materials, visit: http://governor.wy.gov/media/documents.html.

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Pinedale Online! is designed and maintained by Wind River Web Services LLC in Pinedale, Wyoming. Webmaster for this site is Dawn Ballou. Member of the Online News Association and the Sublette County Chamber of Commerce. Although we try to cover as many local events as possible, we have a very limited staff and much of this site is done in our volunteer time. We welcome community volunteers who can provide pictures or event information. Photos by Pinedale Online unless otherwise credited. The "Wyoming Cowgirl" web site by Cris Paravicini, "Off the Paved Road" by James Rogers, and Mike Kaul's "Fly Fishing Hatch Reports" are sponsored and maintained by Pinedale Online. News articles and opinion pieces from the Sublette Examiner and Pinedale Roundup newspapers are written by the staff of the newspapers and are supplied to Pinedale Online for online publication, and do not necessarily represent the views of Pinedale Online. Please see our companion site Pinedale OFFline, www.PinedaleOFFline.com, updated annually on April Fool's Day. All site content is copyright 2008. No photos, stories or content may be used or reproduced without permission for commercial or non-commerical purposes. Please contact Pinedale Online for more information or permission about using pictures or content found on our site, or advertising in our business directory. If you find any broken links on our site, please let us know. Privacy Policy: E-mail inquiries may be forwarded to the local Chamber of Commerce, businesses or others who can best respond to questions asked. We use website server visitation statistics to compile web traffic analysis to refine our site content to better serve our visitors. Server statistics do not gather e-mail addresses or personally-identifiable information. Pinedale Online does not sell, trade or rent our subscriber lists or any personally-identifiable information to third parties. Thanks for visiting Pinedale on the web!