Yonder Lies: Unpacking the Myths of Jackson Hole

There's no doubt that water, and its absence, is an issue deeply stitched into the fabric and conflicts of the American West – and when you start looking into a future where megadroughts are the norm, it gets spooky quick.

It's easy to get lost in the science and projections around climate change – so, how can fiction and art help us to better imagine a landscape and way of life drastically different from our present? How can stories create empathy and invoke action in the present?

In this episode, Hannah shares an excerpt from her senior thesis The Space is Not Empty, exploring how a West without water would feel, be experienced by a woman named Theresa – by a body, by somebody with memories and family and dreams and sorrows.

When a change is so all-encompassing, sometimes it's all we can talk about.

This one should resonate with everyone, given our current global situation with COVID-19.

Today we look at the decades-long policy debate over how to best deal with Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in Wyoming, and specifically, on the National Elk Refuge, and even more specifically: in regards to the century-old program of feeding wild elk throughout the winter.

Hang on. It's going to be a wild ride. A cataclysm awaits!

Feeding the Problem

Jesse spent the summer of 2018 living in Ten Sleep, WY looking at the ways in which the explosion of rock climbing was affecting the small ranching town.

In this episode, Jesse reads a piece he recently published in Sage Magazine about the American rock climbing community, identity, and socioenvironmental conflict and change in the rural West.

Jesse and Hannah talk through some of the implications of COVID-19 on the community in Jackson, Wyoming.

In this interview, Jesse talks with Dr. Justin Farrell of the Yale School of the Environment about wealth in Jackson, Wyoming and his new book Billionaire Wilderness: The Ultrawealthy and the Remaking of the American West.

Today we are joined by Dr. Justin Farrell of the Yale School of the Environment to discuss wealth in Jackson Hole, and his new book Billionaire Wilderness: The Ultrawealthy and the Remaking of the American West from Princeton Press.

Over the course, we try to understand the conditions that have made Teton County, Wyoming the wealthiest county in America and this means for the Jackson community.

We also wonder if this is good, and if so, for who?

Content from this interview with Len Necefer, Founder of Natives Outdoors, was used in Episode 3: Indigenous Presents.

We hope you enjoy the full conversation!

In this episode, we explore how ski resorts impact the people and land around them. What's behind the mythology of the ski bum? How do tourist economies impact local labor? And how have places like Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and Snow King tried to mitigate their environmental impacts as a changing climate threatens the future of winter?

We'll also hear from Phil Cameron, Executive Director of Energy Conservation Works, and his perspectives on Jackson's efforts to switch to greener energy sources.

On Monday, February 24, the Secretary of the Department of the Interior, David Bernhardt told Grand Teton National Park to "step down" with their helicopter gunning.

GTNP has already killed some goats, but will not release how many exactly they have lethally removed.

As the sun rises on the Tetons on Tuesday, February 25, everyone is in the dark.

More than half a century ago, Idaho Fish and Game decided they wanted to hunt mountain goats so they captured some near Coeur d'Alene and released them into the Snake River Range. Fifty years later, these goats are threatening the extinction of the Teton Bighorn Sheep.

Between the recording and when you'll hear this, nearly 100 mountain goats will be killed by helicopter gunners in Grand Teton National Park.

In this episode, we try to understand how it came to this.

More info: Working Group Assessment