At a public meeting on Wednesday, tribal members from around the country spoke out against the decision by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to hold a fall grizzly bear hunt. Blackfeet member Tom Rogers is with the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council. He said the federal government is required by law to consult tribes on natural resource issues that affect them, like a grizzly bear hunt.

“The tribes might have been listened to, but they haven’t been heard,” he said. “And I think we’re past the day and age where we’re actually going to do trophy hunting for grizzlies?”

Hundreds of bison that leave Yellowstone National Park each year are rounded up and killed to keep them from spreading brucellosis. But tribes have long wanted the disease-free bison to go to reservations.

Now, the National Park Service has signed an environmental assessment that will quarantine animals for six to 12 months before releasing them into tribal care. Public lands are also interested in growing bison herds.

The “Mountain Was Our Secret” is the title of a new exhibit at Heart Mountain Interpretive Center. Heart Mountain was the site where 14,000 Japanese-Americans were incarcerated from 1942 to 1945.

Dakota Russell, the museum manager at Heart Mountain Interpretive Center, said Estelle Ishigo was one of the few white women that went to the camp even though she was not required to.

The University of Wyoming Faculty Senate, the administration and the Board of Trustees have reached an agreement on changes to regulations regarding how the university will respond to financial challenges in the future.

This is following push back on campus that the trustees were looking to enhance their authority to eliminate programs, positions, and change policies without input from faculty, staff or students.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission unanimously voted to approve hunting regulations for Grizzly Bears on Wednesday. It would allow up to ten bears to be killed within a core management area near Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and 12 more in other areas of the state.

The commission voted unanimously to approve the hunt despite concerns expressed by opponents. Many noted the slow reproductive rate of grizzlies. Chris Colligan of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition fears that the population could be impacted dramatically.

Wyoming Governor Matt Mead has agreed to provide a $5 million loan to a private group to keep Laramie’s WyoTech open. The previous owners had planned to close the automotive college. During the 2018 budget session the state legislature supported efforts to keep the school open.

Carbon County recently filed suit against opioid manufacturers and distributors, and Teton County is considering the idea too. But Wyoming’s attorney general would rather the state take the lead on an opioid lawsuit.

Carbon County Commissioner Leo Chapman said his county has the fourth highest rate of opioid related deaths in the state and would be happy to see the state step in and pursue its own lawsuit.

The 2018 Wyoming Bike Walk Trails Summit convened Monday to help build momentum for the improvement of bicycling and pedestrian trail systems across the state. The event featuring speakers from varying communities around Wyoming was held at Snow King Resort in Jackson. 

After 30 years, the way elk hunting licenses are handled for residents and non-residents may change. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department held eight different public meetings around the state last week to determine what could be modified.