Them On Us: Sad parting; Smith-Batchen surprise; wolf limbo

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

By Jake Nichols

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Tragic news of the death of Exum guide George Gardner last weekend reverberated throughout media outlets throughout the Rocky Mountain region. The Denver Post ran a brief in its Sunday paper, a day after the 58-year-old climber died of injuries from a fall while climbing solo on the Grand Teton. Gardner was from Ridgway, Colo.
                                                      •
If Idaho’s Lisa Smith-Batchen turned some heads when she ran the Badwater Ultramarathon in 2006, she flabbergasted the rest when she turned around at the finish and ran it again in reverse. The 135-mile endurance race weaves its way through Nevada-California desert lands, where temperatures regularly hold steady at 115 degrees and often swell to 130. In 2006, Smith-Batchen raised $294,000 for AIDS Orphans Rising.
                                                      •
Hunters, hold on. Plans for that autumn wolf hunt have just been put on ice, according to the Yellowstone Insider and the Los Angeles Times and New York Times.

The political volleyball called ‘wolf management’ has just received another about-face legal decision. On Friday, July 18, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy granted a preliminary injunction restoring the gray wolf in the northern Rocky Mountains to the endangered species list. The 40-page ruling will mean environmentalists will be allowed to further their lawsuit against the federal government and the delisting of the gray wolf is immediately rescinded.

Judge Molloy, by the way, is the same judge who once sentenced a Whitefish, Mont., man to wear a sandwich board bearing the message “I am a liar. I am not a Marine” on the front and “I have never served my country. I have dishonored veterans of all wars,” on the back after the man was found guilty of making false statements insinuating he was a Marine. Molloy is a veteran himself. This story was in the July 2006 archives of the Missoulian.

                                                      •

It’s hard to think about the chill of winter in late July, but that’s just what Teton County officials are doing in preparation for an expected hike in heating costs this winter.
 Wyoming consumers have been put on notice: expect dramatically higher heating costs this winter as compared to last year - as much as 64 percent higher.

Some Wyoming towns are trying to maximize energy efficiency in their buildings through the Wyoming Energy Conservation Improvement Program. Manager of the state program, Tom Fuller, told the Casper Star-Tribune his organization will help nonprofit organizations reduce energy consumption. Savings realized from retrofitting, remodeling or new construction are used to pay for the work WYECIP does.

Teton County is one of 14 Wyoming counties to sign on with the performance contract that includes an “investment grade energy audit,” in which an energy service company assesses buildings and guarantees energy savings.

                                                      •

The dream of a trail that spans the entire course of the Continental Divide comes true one arduous mile at a time. The Boston Globe ran an epic tale in their Sunday Travel/Destinations section on the dedicated handful of volunteers who are spending a portion of their summer clearing trail in the Wind River Range.

A man from New Mexico joined a couple from Montana and a forest ranger from Delaware to help repair a two-mile stretch of trail on Gunsight Pass. Volunteer efforts are coordinated by the Continental Divide Trail Alliance, an organization dedicated to maintaining and building a trail that may someday run from Mexico to Canada along the Continental Divide.

                                                      •
The Idaho Post Register is reporting the housing crunch h
as landed in Teton County, Idaho. The dizzying pace of development over the hill has been slowed recently by a glut of inventory. Even the exclusive 1,350-acre Huntsman Springs project has felt the bite. They shut down their sales office after developer Bill Reid said the nationwide lending crisis prevented him from obtaining more financing. Construction crews will stop plans to build any additional units and concentrate, instead, on finishing the first 24 homes.
PERMALINK:
Them On Us: Sad parting; Smith-Batchen surprise; wolf limbo | Planet JH News Article: General News

Leave a Comment