Yellowstone expands services despite shutdown

CODY (WNE) — As the partial U.S. government shutdown lurched into its third week, Yellowstone National Park officials announced they are expanding services for the public.

Park Service staff was scheduled to begin picking up trash again Sunday, cleaning bathrooms and placing personnel at most gates, including the East Entrance from Cody.

However, those workers will not collect the standard entry fees.

Workers will remove snow at Canyon overlooks to offer better views and improved safety. 

These noticeable upgrades will be funded by the Park’s recreation fees, deputy director P. Daniel Smith announced.

During the ongoing shutdown, which began Dec. 22., volunteers donated time and Xanterra, the major Park concessionaire, aided with funding for snow clearing.

The Park has limited access during the winter. The road from Gardiner, Mont. at the North Entrance, to Mammoth Springs, to the Northeast Entrance at Cooke City is open.

Snowmobile trips have continued.

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Biodiversity Institute to remain intact

LARAMIE (WNE) — The Biodiversity Institute is expected to remain “intact in its outreach, administration of the Program in Ecology, and convening of activities” through at least the 2020 fiscal year under a plan Ed Synakowski, Vice President for Research and Economic Development, will present to the Board of Trustees next week.

According to an executive summary of that presentation, UW is appointing a new director to head the Biodiversity Institute. That director will “deliver the majority of this presentation” to the trustees.

Brent Ewers, a professor in the Department of Botany specializing in plant physiological ecology, is listed in the board packet as presenting, along with Synakowski, the new plan for the Biodiversity Institute’s future.

UW spokesman Chad Baldwin declined to say whether that means Ewers is taking over as director, or if any current operations of the Biodiversity Institute will discontinue in the upcoming fiscal year.

Under the plan, a new director is set to replace Gary Beauvais, who’s been serving as the organization’s interim director for about two years.

Synakowski’s office will provide “unspent state dollars” to continue Biodiversity Institute operations through the 2019 fiscal year. A new budget for the 2020 fiscal years will be presented to the trustees in May.

The executive summary states that the new Biodiversity Institute director will lead a “planning activity” task force with faculty and UW Foundation representation for a new organization: The Biodiversity Center.

That plan would create three individual entities with similar names: The Biodiversity Institute, the Biodiversity Center, and the Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center.

The plan will be presented for trustees’ approval in the fall.

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Vanguard owes Park County almost $900,000

POWELL (WNE) — As Vanguard Natural Resources fights for a refund of the hundreds of thousands of dollars it paid in property taxes last year, the other half of the oil and gas company’s tax bill remains unpaid in Park County. 

Vanguard only paid the first $879,873.80 chunk of the nearly $1.76 million that the company owed in 2017. 

“They haven’t paid the second half,” said Park County Treasurer Barb Poley. 

Vanguard went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy from February to August 2017. Months later, the company submitted its first payment on that year’s property taxes, but it never made the second payment to Park County. 

Then, last August, Vanguard filed a complaint in federal bankruptcy court in Houston, arguing that it should actually get a refund of the money it had paid; Vanguard contends that Park County officials missed the deadline to file a claim for the taxes with the bankruptcy court. 

The county is contesting those allegations and argues that, even if it missed the deadline, it should be allowed to file a late claim. 

Poley said the county is waiting for the judge’s ruling on the fate of the first half of the property taxes before deciding what to do about the other $879,873.80 that Vanguard was billed.

“Basically we’re waiting to see if they’re going to yank that first half back through [the] litigation,” Poley said. 

The taxes stem from the minerals Vanguard produced and the property it owned in Park County in 2016.

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Wyoming this Weekend, Jan. 18-20

By The Wyoming News Exchange

A pair of events celebrating cold weather fishing are on tap this weekend in Wyoming.

The Saratoga Lake Ice Fishing Derby, now in its 36th year, will be held Saturday and Sunday and will feature cash prizes for the best anglers. One contest will see anglers fishing for specially tagged trout — one of which is worth $20,000.

The Shoshoni Ice Fishing Derby, meanwhile, will be held at Boysen Reservoir on Friday through Sunday. Weigh-ins will be held at noon Friday and awards will be handed out Sunday afternoon.

Other events scheduled for the weekend include:

An “XMR Vintage Oval Race” in Cora on Saturday;

PRO Jackpots barrels, poles and roping at Gillette’s Cam-Plex on Sunday, and

English high tea at Cheyenne’s Nagel Warren Mansion on Friday and Saturday.

For more information on these and other events, please visit the Wyoming Tourism Division’s website at TravelWyoming.com