Reporter's Notes

Water meeting

Wyoming State Engineer Pat Tyrrell will join Wyoming's Upper Colorado River Commission Alternate Commissioners in holding a public meeting in Pinedale next Tuesday evening to discuss issues relating to the Colorado River compacts. Interested parties are encouraged to attend the meeting, to be held Tuesday, May 24, at 7 p.m. at the Sublette County Library at 155 South Tyler Avenue.

Purves to TU

Cathy Purves of Lander will be switching jobs. Purves announced that she will be working for Trout Unlimited as its technical advisor for oil and gas development along the Rocky Mountain Front. Purves is leaving her position with the Wyoming Wildlife Federation.

Spring storm

The National Weather Service reported that another spring storm brought significant precipitation amounts May 10 through May 12.

Sublette County SnoTel sites indicate:

Snowfall Amounts:
Wind River Mountains
Gunsight Pass 13 inches
Elkhart Park 13 inches
Big Sandy Opening 4 inches
Kendall R.S. 5 inches
Gros Ventre Mountains
Loomis Park 13 inches
East Rim Divide 9 inches
Granite Creek 5 inches
Gros Ventre 9 inches
Wyoming Range
Triple Peak 19 inches
Snider Basin 7 inches

Cancer

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in Wyoming, with 935 attributable deaths in 2003. According to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Cancer Risk Factors Report, nearly 97 percent of Wyoming adults reported one or more of six preventable cancer-related risk factors. Another 54 percent reported three or more. Risk factors include tobacco use, eating fruits and vegetables fewer than five times per day, heavy drinking, physical inactivity and sunburns.

Wolf hybrids

The Mexican Wolf Recovery Team recently found a wolf/dog hybrid litter, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported.

"The captive-reared female was in estrus when she was released this spring near a wild male," FWS stated. "Unfortunately, they failed to find each other and she dispersed into an area with many dogs and apparently bred with one. The pups were euthanized and efforts are underway to catch the female."

Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery Coordinator Ed Bangs said, "Fortunately, we have never had to deal with captive-reared wolves in our recovery program or any hybrid issues [showing the great wisdom of not letting things be driven to extinction in the wild before trying to restore them]."

Brucellosis

The Greater Yellowstone Interagency Brucellosis Committee will meet May 24-25 in Jackson at Snow King Resort. The technical and information and education subcommittee will meet at 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 24. The executive committee meeting is from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 25. Meetings are open to the public.

GYIBC is a multi-state and federal interagency effort to identify and implement equitable solutions to concerns about brucellosis in the Greater Yellowstone Area while moving towards elimination of the disease that is not native to wildlife.

Topics include updates on infected cattle herds and the Governor's Brucellosis Coordination Team, as well as discussions about research. Discussions of the draft GYIBC memorandum of understanding will be presented; the MOU provides the framework, timelines, resources and funding GYIBC will work toward in the process of brucellosis elimination.