Let's Talk Wyoming
A podcast about Wyoming and everything we talk about including the weather, politics, energy & agriculture, sports & everything else effecting our state.
Let's Talk Wyoming
Let's Talk Wyoming - Fighting Flames, Political Shifts, Cowboy Showdowns, and Yellowstone's Fiery Past
What if the very fires ravaging our state hold the key to its ecological balance? Join us on "Let's Talk Wyoming" as we uncover the multifaceted impact of the ongoing fires between Buffalo, Gillette, and Casper, amid relentless heat and high winds. We'll share the heroic efforts of our firefighters and the challenging conditions they face. Shifting gears, we analyze the latest primary election results and the Freedom Caucus's growing influence within the Republican Party, offering insights into how these political dynamics might shape Wyoming's legislative future.
As we switch to sports and history, get the latest scoop on the Wyoming Cowboys football team—new players, coaching changes, and a thrilling preview of their upcoming face-off against BYU. Dive into the storied rivalry that has fans buzzing with anticipation. Finally, we explore Yellowstone National Park's fire management history, focusing on the lessons learned from the catastrophic 1988 fires. Hear about the vital role fire plays in the park's ecosystem and the incredible efforts of those who battled the blazes, all while challenging some of the media's most sensationalized reports. Don't miss this episode packed with vital updates and compelling stories!
Good morning and welcome to let's Talk Wyoming. I'm Mark Hamilton, your host, and today we'll be talking about our weather and our fires in the state. We'll have a quick recap on the elections, our primary elections. We'll talk about our Wyoming Cowboys and, on the hook, a fish truck. And finally we'll talk about the Yellowstone fires of 1988. Thanks for joining us and I hope you enjoy the show.
Speaker 1:Taking a look at Wyoming weather, it's been definitely hot here at the tail end of August. Yesterday here in Hot Springs County we were up at 98 degrees with 20 mile an hour winds just brutal. It has definitely not been very good for our areas. We have fires going on around the state, a couple big ones. There's a big one over east of Buffalo, between Buffalo and Gillette, wyoming, that has had the interstate closed down. A lot of ground is being burned up in that area. It's a very sparsely populated area between the two communities but it's one of those that it kind of changes direction every time the wind changes and it could be a hazard for the town of Gillette or back to Buffalo, depending on what happens, and the last I saw it was zero contained. Those type of grass. Fires are hard to get in front of now we're looking at maybe some moderation in the weather coming up and if we can get these winds to die down and we might be able to have some luck. The firefighters I just feel for these people out there. They're just working so hard on this stuff. It's been a tough year taking care of all these fires staying in front of them. Then at the same time there was a fire down east of Casper between Casper and Glenrock. It had the interstate, the south lane of I-25, closed. Then I saw later this morning that there was a fire on I-25 north of Casper between there and KC. So they're popping up all over the place. So we'll keep an eye on that. But again, as we always say, with these wet springs there's a big chance of having these type of conditions in the summer, especially where the wind and the heat have been so bad. It's got so many red flag days, I should say it seems on our weather map every day there's a red flag warning for a majority of the state. So thoughts and prayers for all those people that could be in the line of fire on these. Hope everyone stays safe, but keep an eye out and listen for warnings in your area.
Speaker 1:In other news around the state the primaries are over. It's rather interesting that here in our state there was a lot of talk about the primaries for the legislature. A lot of different groups were bringing money into the state. The biggest battle between the Republicans, the Freedom Caucus and the RINOs I should say probably somewhere in between that, but as it turned out the Freedom Caucus candidates ended up with a controlling majority, it looks like in the House, and so that will make a big difference on a lot of these bills that have been overpassed. I know the governor here had started his own PAC. We talked about it a week or two ago. It was called PAC-PAC. They were donating money to everybody that wasn't a Freedom Caucus member. So a lot of partisan activities going on within the state of Wyoming with our legislature that is predominantly Republican. But we've got to put a kind of a question mark, I guess, depending on which side of the Republican fence you are. Don't have that problem with the Democrats, but the Republicans always seem to have that problem.
Speaker 1:So pretty much most of our races are decided coming up into November. The biggest one, of course, would be our presidential election here in Wyoming. That'll be the only thing I did see some inklings of maybe some hurt feelings and such here in the state, did see some inklings of maybe some hurt feelings and such here in the state, and I've seen it before and they tried to do that back in 2022 with Harriet Hageman and Liz Cheney on the Secretary of State. There was a lot of pushback on Chuck Gray being the winner in the primary. So I think, if I remember correctly, they did try to have a write-in candidate. Write-in candidates are really hard to get in place, especially if that person's already been defeated. So are losers and they just have to continue just to cause problem and just muddy the waters. National elections will cause us enough issues to go around for everybody.
Speaker 1:Other news yes, cowboy football is back here in the state of Wyoming. Cowboys have been in their fall camp and they've started preparation for next Saturday's game in Tempe, arizona, against Arizona State. Boy, it's going to be hard for those players to adjust to that heat. It is going to be hot and hot and hot down in the Valley of the Sun. The Cowboys are coming in with a lot of new players, a new quarterback with a lot of potential, a pretty good group of running backs. Harrison Whaley had a knee procedure but it sounds like he'll be back here in the next few games. But the Cowboys have some potential but we've heard that before, so kind of excited. We've got a new head coach, some new coaches, we have a new offensive coordinator, so we are looking forward here in the state of Wyoming for Cowboy Football. They'll be back home the following week in September as they take on Idaho at War Memorial Stadium. So we've got a full slate this year and a game that everybody's talking about is BYU will be in town. I don't know if there's any tickets left, but that's a night game. If I'm not mistaken, that will be the last meeting between the two schools. Wyoming had played at Provo last year and part of that was them coming back here for one game. So now the BYU Cougars are in the Big 12. They had been independent for a while after they dropped out of the Mountain West or the WAC in Mountain West. A lot of really unbelievable games between Wyoming and BYU, a lot of history between BYU and the Wyoming Cowboys. So that's another game we're looking forward to. So football's in the air. Also just wanted to report some good news Cowboys. So that's another game we're looking forward to, so football's in the air also. Just wanted to report some good news.
Speaker 1:This week I was up in Cody. I had to do some shopping at different places and going down the street and guess what? I saw the on the hook fish truck was parked at Tractor Supply. Got my shopping done and went to stand in line, got my fish and chips and definitely it was worth the wait. They were in Worland a few weeks back but there was road construction that day and I just didn't want to have to go through the long delays both ways. So it was not a plan. I didn't know anything about them being in Cody, but definitely thanks to the guys from the on-the-hook fish truck for another outstanding meal. It's just one of those meals that you enjoy every bit of it. It's something we don't have around here and something that is just very enjoyable Today in our history section with the amount of fires that we have in the region right now.
Speaker 1:I want to go back to a story from Yellowstone Ablaze, the fires of 1988. And this is by Dan Whipple from WyomingHistoryorg. On June 30, 1988, lightning struck a tree in the Crown Butte region of Yellowstone National Park, in the park's far northwest corner, near where the borders of Idaho, montana and Wyoming meet, the lightning bolt started a small forest fire, which became known as the Fan Fire. The Fan Fire ballooned over 1,800 acres by July 2nd, but then slowed. The Fan Fire was the first fire of that summer to erupt within Yellowstone National Park, though the Storm Creek Fire had ignited about a week earlier north of the park boundary and would eventually make its way into the park proper. Park fire experts noted that fan fires ignition and did nothing. Then, in rapid succession, over a period of about two weeks, a series of fires broke out across Yellowstone National Park. The largest were named Fan, north Fork, clover, mist, hell, roaring, storm Creek, mink, snake and Huck. They grew so large that they were no longer fires but complexes, according to a 1994 report issued by the US Department of the Interior. During that overheated summer of 1988, they burned about 683,000 acres of the park's 2.2 million acres and about 1.2 million acres total within the greater Yellowstone area, which included several national forests adjoining the park as well as Grand Teton National Park. Fire experts originally did nothing to combat the blaze because of their park policy, a policy that surprised a lot of reporters and politicians, including the President of the United States, president Ronald Reagan, roused to comment on the policy, admitted that he did not know about it until September 14th, after the fires had long been underway.
Speaker 1:The understanding of fire in natural ecosystems has been growing for years and one of the legislative mandates of the Yellowstone National Park is to maintain as nearly as possible primitive ecological conditions. Fire is one of the most basic natural processes. In fact, many plant species within the park are fire adapted. In fact, many plant species within the park are fire adapted. Some lodgepole pines, which can make up about 80% of the park's forest, have cones that are sealed by resin until the intense heat of a fire cracks them open and releases the seeds. Fire also stimulates regeneration of sagebrush, aspen and willows.
Speaker 1:Since the mid-1970s, park fire policy has been to allow natural fires started by lightning or other natural causes to burn. Human-caused fires were extinguished. The park also had an active, prescribed burn program to try to reduce fuel loads, fallen trees and dried vegetation that could contribute to catastrophic burns. In 1975, an environmental assessment was prepared which allowed natural burning on 1.7 million of the park's 2.2 million acres. In the years between this assessment and the 1988 fires the policy was a quiet, uncontroversial success. Tens of thousands of lightning strikes simply fizzled. There were 140 fires, but most burned themselves out after swallowing a few acres. The average burn size was 250 acres. The largest fire during that time was 7,400 acres.
Speaker 1:In 1988, as in past years, each fire was evaluated individually to determine how it related to the fire plan. The fan fire, for instance. A natural fire was permitted to burn at first In the early summer. Before the fan fire struck, 20 lightning-caused fires had hit the park. Eleven burned themselves out, just like fires in previous seasons. So park scientists and managers seemed justified in sticking to their fire plan.
Speaker 1:But the weather conditions of 88 in Yellowstone were taking on a dimension not seen since the park was established in 1872. After a wet spring, the summer months were the driest ever recorded. Still, by July 15th, only 8,500 acres had burned in the entire Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. But a week later visitors were noticing the smoke and the national news media was starting to pay attention to the situation. Dry conditions and high winds were creating perfect conditions for massive fires. On July 21st things were spiraling out of control. Park officials decided to try to suppress all new and existing fires as resources allowed. At the time, all the fires in the park covered a total of 17,000 acres, about 2.5% of the area that eventually burned.
Speaker 1:In a paper prepared shortly after the fires for the journal Northwest Science, yellowstone National Park technical writer Paul Scolari writes Extreme fire behavior became nearly the order of the day as fires ran as much as 10 miles in a day, sending embers as much as a mile and a half ahead of the main fire to create dozens of spot fires. The presence of so many spot fires, along with rapid and wide advances of the main fires, made it impossible to fight the fires head-on without risking many lives. Hundreds of miles of fire lines were constructed, but with the spotting behavior, fires routinely jumped usual barriers such as rivers and roads. Standard hand or bulldozer built lines were no barrier at all. Among the examples of black humor, an appropriate term, if ever there was one with fires, was what's black on both sides and brown in the middle? The answer a bulldozer line.
Speaker 1:In Yellowstone, at the peak of firefighting efforts, 9,500 military and civilian firefighters were engaged, using dozens of helicopters and more than 100 fire trucks to try to stop the blazes. Costs passed $120 million. Remarkably, no firefighters died during the firefighting in Yellowstone, though there were two fire-related deaths. Outside the park, students from an elementary school sent trees to firefighters to replace the lost ones. Women of Broadus, montana, sent them homemade cookies. Chief Ranger Dan Scholey wrote the women a thank you note. From the speed with which they disappeared I know they were appreciated by all of us in the camp and on the fire line.
Speaker 1:Despite the manpower, the fires continued to grow. A total of 248 fires ignited that summer, but the seven largest caused 95% of the damage. On July 5th the lava fires started, july 11th the mink and clover fires. July 22nd the North Fork fire. July 23rd the clover and mist fires joined, and so on. There were eventually a total of eight fire complexes, depending on who's counting with every section of the park aflame.
Speaker 1:Media reporting was often poorly informed and contradictory. The word disaster, devastating and catastrophic appeared often. The New York Times report noted stretches of charred, lifeless landscape left by the months of fires. Newspapers began covering the story in early July, almost as soon as the fires ignited, while the national broadcasting television coverage came weeks later. The ABC and NBC television networks broadcast their first stories on July 25. Cbs broadcast its first story on August 22nd. Ohio State University journalism professor Conrad Smith writes in a 1991 paper.
Speaker 1:Yellowstone fires were more newsworthy in the West than in the East. They made the front page of the Los Angeles Times 39 times, starting on July 18th with a brief news brief about wildfires in the West, the front page of the Washington Post three times, starting on September 8th after the fire visit to the Old Faithful Geyser Complex, and on the front page of the New York Times three times, starting on September 11th when the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture arrived in Yellowstone for an inspection. Both print and broadcast media made some serious mistakes in their coverage. For instance, on July 21st of 1988, the park abandoned its let's Burn policy and began suppressing all fires. But as late as September 1st the New York Times was still reporting that some fires were being allowed to burn. And on September 10th the paper reported on criticism by Wyoming Republican US Senators Alan Simpson and Malcolm Wallop of Yellowstone's natural burn policy, despite the fact that this hasn't been the policy since mid-July. But that was nothing compared to an August 30th story on ABC television featuring an interview with Stanley Mott, director of the National Park Service, except that the director of the National Park Service at the time was William Penn Mott and the ABC interviewer was a tourist. Local media did better in the assessments of coverage produced by scholars later, especially Montana's Billings Gazette, coverage of the economic impact on the park-dependent businesses by Robert EK and the Wyoming Casper Star Tribune, coverage of the ecological dynamics by Andrew Melankovich and Jeff O'Gara. But the rest of the nation got a different story. Time captured the spirit of the coverage when editors first wrote the fires have ruined 1.2 million acres of Yellowstone and adjoining national forests. All this quickly worked its way into a political discourse.
Speaker 1:President Reagan called the park's fire policy cockamamie. It's a disaster, said the US Department of Interior Secretary Donald P Hodel. He told the New York Times as he and US Department of Agriculture Secretary Richard E Ling visited the park. I think it's devastating and we've only seen part of it. Wyoming Senator Malcolm Wallop said the park's 16-year-old let-burn policy was absurd and scientifically unsound. He joined with Senator Alan Simpson in calling for the resignation of National Park Service Director Mott. Montana Democrat Senator John Melcher told the New York Times They'll never go back to this policy. From now on the policy will be putting the fires out when they see the flames.
Speaker 1:Bob Barbie and the superintendent of Yellowstone was cast as the bad guy in the Park Fire drama. In a 2013 retrospect piece about the fires, barbie told the New York Times. It's like well, why don't you just put it out? Well, why don't you just stop the hurricane or tornado? You don't just put it out? On September 11, 1988, a quarter inch of snow fell across the greater Yellowstone area and the fires quickly died out. Underneath that quarter inch of snow lay the blackened carcasses of trees, bleached white, heat-blasted soil and the deep uncertainty about the post-fire future of the park.
Speaker 1:It was accepted wisdom that Yellowstone wouldn't recover for hundreds of years. Even so, the Yellowstone big fires were not a surprise to anyone. Paul Scullery wrote in the 1989 Northwest Science article. Only months before the fires of 1988, a preliminary research report by Dr William Ramey, an independent fire ecologist from Fort Lewis College, colorado, and Dr Don Despain, nps plant ecologist, suggested that the Yellowstone area fire regime involved many small fires interspersed every two to four hundred years by massive fires that swept across large portions of the park. Both men concluded that another major burning cycle may begin within the next century, as extensive areas are now developing flammable late successional forests. During the fires themselves, despain achieved a level of notary unusual for a plant ecologist when he showed a Denver Post reporter a fire impact research plot near Ice Lake near Norris Geyser Basin. Environmentalist writer Todd Wilkerson describes the incident recently in a Jackson Hole News and Guide column published in April of 2015. The site was established to allow researchers to gauge how smart drought and disease-affected pollution is found as wildfire approached and swept across the plain. But Despain and the other fire scientists had the last word.
Speaker 1:The recovery in Yellowstone was a slam dunk for science and the let-burn policy. As little as five years after the fires the park was recovering well. The forest is going to be re-established. In many cases the seedling density is greater than the original stand density, said Monica Turner of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory at a 1993 meeting in Jackson held to discuss the implications of the 1988 fire. In many burned-over areas where the mature lodgepole pines once stood, the number of established seedlings is eight times as large as the original number of trees. Many lodgepole seeds require a fire to open.
Speaker 1:The fires also put to rest the Bambi myth that wildlife flees in panic from approaching fires. At the same 1993 conference, grizzly Bear researcher Steve French said we didn't see a lot of stress on the animals. Bison right in front of the fire line only moved out of the way very casually. A survey French conducted of large animal deaths found that more than 390 documented deaths from fire, nearly all from smoke inhalation. Of those, 333 were elk, 32 mule deer, 12 moose, 9 bison and 6 black bears. There were no antelope, mountain lion, grizzly bear or bighorn sheep carcasses. With no exception animals saw the flames coming and simply stepped aside. University of Wisconsin-Steven Point professor Mark Boyce said in a talk at the conference that if he were the superintendent of Yellowstone I would maintain fire every chance I had. I would do my best to eradicate this species. At this he showed a slide of Smokey Bear, the patron saint of the fire suppression, advertisement from the park.
Speaker 1:Research findings on the ecological impact of the Yellowstone fires indicate there were very few cases one-tenth of one percent of the burned area where the high fire temperatures burned deep roots. The impact on the park wildlife was minimal, despite early concerns. White bark pine and aspen came back. The Yellowstone fires were a watershed in the public understanding of fires' impact on ecosystems. Wildland fires have become more easily tolerated, except in cases where fires threaten people's houses and structures, an increasing problem as more people moved into the urban-wildland interface. Thanks for joining us today and we hope you enjoy our podcast. As per the code of the west, we ride for the brand and we ride for wyoming. We'll be right back. 3, 2, 1, go, go, go, go. Thank you.
