Nearly 300 Tyrannosaurus rex bones that were dug up from three sites in the United States and assembled into a single skeleton sold Tuesday at an auction in Switzerland for 4.8 million francs ($5.3 million), below the expected price.
The 293 T. rex bones were assembled into a growling posture that measures 38 feet long and 12.8 feet high. Tuesday’s sale was the first time such a T. rex skeleton went up for auction in Europe, said the auction house, Koller.
The composite skeleton was a showpiece of an auction that featured some 70 lots, and the skull was set up next to the auctioneer’s podium throughout. The skeleton was expected to fetch 5 million to 8 million Swiss francs ($5.6-$8.9 million).
“It could be that it was a composite — that could be why the purists didn’t go for it,” Karl Green, the auction house’s marketing director, said by phone. “It’s a fair price for the dino. I hope it’s going to be shown somewhere in public.”
Green did not identify the buyer, but said it was a “European private collector.” Including the “buyer’s premium” and fees, the sale came to 5.5 million Swiss francs (about $6.1 million), Koller said.
The skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex is seen in the Dinosaur Gallery of the Royal Belgium Institute of Natural Sciences on April 7, 2023 in Brussels, Belgium.
Thierry Monasse / Getty Images
Promoters say the composite T. rex, dubbed “Trinity,” was built from specimens retrieved from three sites in the Hell Creek and Lance Creek formations of Montana and Wyoming between 2008 and 2013.
Often lose their heads
Koller said “original bone material” comprises more than half of the restored fossil. The auction house said the skull was particularly rare and also remarkably well-preserved.
“When dinosaurs died in the Jurassic or Cretaceous periods, they often lost their heads during deposition (of the remains into rocks). In fact, most dinosaurs are found without their skulls,” Nils Knoetschke, a scientific adviser who was quoted in the auction catalog. “But here we have truly original Tyrannosaurus skull bones that all originate from the same specimen.”
T. rex roamed the Earth between 65 and 67 million years ago. A study published two years ago in the journal Science estimated that about 2.5 billion of the dinosaurs ever lived. Hollywood movies such as the blockbuster “Jurassic Park” franchise have added to the public fascination with the carnivorous creature.
A picture of “Trinity” is seen during sale of the skeleton of the Tyrannosaurus-Rex (T-Rex) by Koller auction house in Zurich, on April 18, 2023.
FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images
The two areas the bones for Trinity came from were also the source of other T. rex skeletons that were auctioned off, according to Koller: Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History bought “Sue” for $8.4 million over a quarter-century ago, and “Stan” sold for nearly $32 million three years ago.
Two years ago, a triceratops skeleton that the Guinness World Records declared as the world’s biggest, known as “Big John,” was sold for 6.6 million euros ($7.2 million) to a private collector at a Paris auction.
If you want to go skiing or snowboarding, it doesn’t get much better than Jackson Hole. Named after Davey Jackson, an esteemed fur trapper out west, the Wyoming destination is home to the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort as well as a lively scene downtown and closer to the base in Teton Village bustling with cowboy energy. (Fun fact: In the 1800s, the term “hole” was used to ID a valley.) Whether you’re hitting the slopes, sampling the local game, or heading to this weekend’s Rendezvous Spring Festival, there’s something for every type of traveler here. Just remember to dress warm and stay hydrated, because the altitude is a very real thing.
What to See
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort
Courtesy Jackson Hole Mountain Resort
Widely regarded as one of the toughest mountains in the U.S., Jackson Hole is legendary for its steep pitch and, if you’re lucky, soft powder. Ski daredevils can try their hand at Corbet’s Couloir, a narrow, high-speed run, but not before mustering up the courage with a waffle at the top of the tram. Should you encounter roped-off areas on your way down, as the saying goes: “If you don’t know, don’t go.”
Surefoot
Courtesy Surefoot
When it comes to custom ski boots, go Surefoot or go home. The company prides itself on its proprietary scanner which creates custom liners and insoles that make historically uncomfortable footwear tolerable. The process of getting the liner filled is a sensation in and of itself—best described as mice crawling around your feet, but in a good way.
Teton Tour Company Snowmobiling Experience
Courtesy Aramark Destinations
With views of the mountains, wildlife, hot springs, and even dog-drawn sleds, snowmobiling through the Tetons is a memorable, once-in-a-lifetime experience that you’ll definitely want to bring your camera to capture.
Halfdays Georgie Puffer Jacket
Where to Eat
The Kitchen
Courtesy The Kitchen
Helmed by executive chef Joe Boyles, The Kitchen offers a unique spin on Asian cuisine. Think: sticky rice tamales, elk pho, and—perhaps most notably—shrimp and grits.
Local
Courtesy Local
This steakhouse serving up specialty cuts of seasonal, locally sourced meats is, pun intended, a local favorite. The Buffalo Wellington, comprised of buffalo tenderloin, mushroom duxelles, spinach, puff pastry, and horseradish bordelaise sauce drizzled on top, is one highlight of many. Vegetarians may want to dine elsewhere.
Persephone Bakery
Courtesy Persephone Bakery
Everything is good at Persephone Bakery, an adorable, sunlit café downtown, but especially the bread and pastries. Come ready to carbo load to your heart’s content.
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Mansur Gavriel Upcycled Woven Mini Bucket Bag
Where to Drink
Million Dollar Cowboy Bar
Courtesy Million Dollar Cowboy Bar
No trip to Jackson is complete without a stop at Wyoming’s self-proclaimed landmark watering hole, Million Dollar Cowboy Bar. Take a seat on one of the saddle bar stools and enjoy a craft beer or whiskey and live music (Willie Nelson has played here, among others). Make sure to get the full story behind the taxidermy bear.
Silver Dollar Bar & Grill
Courtesy The Wort Hotel
Situated inside the Wort Hotel, the Western-themed Silver Dollar Bar & Grill is known for its silver dollar coin-adorned bar and swing dancing, where pros will literally grab you onto the dance floor and teach you the steps in real time.
The Mangy Moose Restaurant & Saloon
JAY NEL-MCINTOSH
The Mangy Moose is a go-to après-ski bar for many reasons, a few of them being its boozy slushies, trays of nachos, and quirky décor—stuffed moose included.
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Where to Stay
The Cloudveil
Ryan Sheets
The Cloudveil, right on the Town Square, is the epitome of convenience, with complimentary breakfast, shuttles to and from the mountain, and snack stations on each floor. Part of the Autograph Collection of hotels, the luxury property has 100 guest rooms and suites, along with its own restaurant, The Bistro, an outdoor pool and hot tub, and live music in the lobby. In case you were curious, the name is a tribute to the Cloudveil Dome in the Tetons, and can be seen in the painting above by a local artist.
Four Seasons Resort and Residences Jackson Hole
Courtesy The Four Seasons
Like most Four Seasons, the Jackson Hole property doesn’t miss. Conveniently located at the base of the mountain, the ski-in, ski-out resort is a great choice if you’re trying to maximize your time on the slopes. If not, then check out The Handle Bar for a beer “boot” and a homemade mustache-shaped pretzel, hence the name.
Amangani
Alex Moling
You can count on Amangani, of the ultra-luxe Aman resort chain, for outdoor pools, fire pits, and classy, stylish, and sprawling rooms with balcony views of the Snake River Valley and Tetons. It’s a bit of a schlep from the mountain, but the solitude is well worth it.
HoMedics® TotalComfort® Portable Ultrasonic Humidifier in White
Sleepy Tie Midnight Sleepy Tie
Beauty Picks
Aquaphor Lip Repair
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When your lips are too chapped to purse or even kiss, Aquaphor is the only answer. Apply it liberally on the plane, at night, and in the morning.
Alpyn Beauty Melt Moisturizer with Bakuchiol and Squalene
Combat Wyoming’s drier-than-dry air with this moisturizer from local brand Alpyn Beauty, made with hyaluronic acid, squalene, and wild plants.
Flamingo Estate Skin Strength Salve
Here, your skin needs all the help it can get. Fortunately, this strengthening salve will help protect you against the elements by locking in moisture.
Deputy Editor
Claire Stern is the Deputy Editor of ELLE.com. Previously, she served as Editor at Bergdorf Goodman. Her interests include fashion, food, travel, music, Peloton, and The Hills—not necessarily in that order. She used to have a Harriet the Spy notebook and isn’t ashamed to admit it.
Abortion will again be legal in Wyoming — at least for now — after a judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked a ban that took effect a few days earlier.
Teton County District Court Judge Melissa Owens’ decision halts the ban amid a challenge in her court to a law that took effect Sunday. The Republican-controlled Legislature approved the law despite earlier rulings by Owens that had blocked a previous ban since shortly after it took effect last summer.
Owens put the new ban on hold after a hearing Wednesday in which abortion-rights supporters said the law harms pregnant women and their doctors and violates the state constitution. Owens suspended the ban for at least two weeks.
The ban prohibits abortion at all stages of pregnancy except in cases of rape or incest that’s reported to police, or to save a woman’s life.
An amendment in the Wyoming Constitution says adults have a right to make their own health care decisions, so Republicans enacted a ban that states abortion is not health care.
However, Owens said it’s up to the courts, not lawmakers, to decide whether that’s the case.
“The state can not legislate away a constitutional right. It’s not clear whether abortion is health care. The court has to then decide that,” Owens said in an oral decision given at the end of an hourslong hearing.
The judge did not weigh in on another new abortion law that’s also being challenged in her court: Wyoming’s first-in-the-nation ban on abortion pills. That law, signed by Republican Gov. Mark Gordon on Friday, is not set to take effect until July 1.
The man known as the father of the abortion pill, French scientist Etienne-Emile Baulieu, told Agence France-Presse Wyoming’s ban of the drug is “scandalous” and “a setback for women’s freedom.”
Baulieu, 96, is still working on treatments for depression and Alzheimer’s, and he didn’t hold back in denouncing the pills ban.
“It is a setback for women’s freedom, particularly for those in the most precarious position who do not have the means to go to another state” to get an abortion, he told AFP.
In Wyoming, two nonprofits, two doctors and two other women have sued to block the state’s broader abortion ban.
While the new overall ban says abortion isn’t health care, the new abortion pill ban suggests otherwise, John Robinson, an attorney for abortion rights supporters, argued. That pill ban allows “treatment” for miscarriages and to save a woman’s life, he pointed out.
“How can abortion be health care in one statute prohibiting abortion and not the other?” Robinson said. “That’s medical treatment.”
Even Gordon, in allowing the overall abortion ban to become law without his signature, expressed concern it didn’t resolve the constitutional question, Robinson noted.
Special Assistant Attorney General Jay Jerde, however, told the judge the Legislature is permitted to “interpret the constitution and that interpretation is entitled to significant deference from the court.” He said it would be “almost absurd” to claim, for example, that the amendment would allow illegal treatments in Wyoming such as medical marijuana.
Owens suspended a similar abortion ban in Wyoming in July after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending a nationwide right to abortion and leaving it to states to decide. After Owens’ previous order, lawmakers wrote a new law to try to address her concerns.
Wyoming has only one abortion provider, a women’s health clinic in Jackson that only provides medication abortions but had been forced to stop after the state’s broad ban took effect this week.
In Casper, the nonprofit Wellspring Health Access had been planning to open the state’s only full-service clinic to provide surgical and medication abortions. Its opening was delayed by an arson fire in May 2022, and authorities on Wednesday announced a woman was arrested in the case. Lorna Roxanne Green, 22, of Casper, was scheduled to appear in federal court in Cheyenne on Thursday.
The nonprofit’s president, Julie Burkhart, welcomed Wednesday’s court ruling.
“Regardless of how anti-choice legislators try to spin it, abortion is health care, and Wyomingites have a constitutional right to that care,” Burkhart said in a statement.
Though the arson attack prevented that clinic from opening as planned last summer, organizers are hoping to open it next month.
Gordon said in a statement he was disappointed by the ruling but looked forward for the next chance for the state to defend the abortion ban in court.
There are more than 75,000 wild horses roaming public land in the west. “Wild horses” are the descendants of domesticated horses, the first, brought here by Spanish explorers 500 years ago. By 1971, their numbers were dwindling and Congress stepped in passing a law to protect this romantic fragment of our history. It worked, almost too well. Today, federal land managers say the number of wild horses is nearly three times what it should be – and left unchecked, their population can double every five years. As Sharyn Alfonsi first reported in November, there is a program in Wyoming designed to rein in the wild horses – and an unlikely group of men.
It’s hard to imagine anything surviving on this stretch of badlands in northern Wyoming. Sagebrush blankets the high desert all the way to the Rocky Mountains. But in this empty quarter of the Cowboy State is a thundering herd of mustangs, untouched, wild and breathtakingly beautiful.
But wild horses can also wreck the rangelands they roam. Government land managers say, in the West, wild horses are competing with cattle and wildlife for increasingly scarce water and food and their overpopulation often furtherstrains the environment.
So the Federal Bureau of Land Management regularly rounds up wild horses. Mainly by using small helicopters to locate, capture and truck them off to corrals or enclosed pastures like this one – a horse can live for about 20 years and most of these horses will remain here until they die.
The Wind River Wild Horse Sanctuary outside Lander, Wyoming, is run by Jess Oldham and his family.
Jess Oldham
Sharyn Alfonsi: Talk about the horses that are here. For most of them, this is it, right?
Jess Oldham: Yes, ma’am. We have the 225 long-term residents and–
Sharyn Alfonsi: Long-term residents?
Jess Oldham: Long term residents.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Sounds like a nursing home.
Jess Oldham: That’s what I call ’em. I mean they’re part of our family. And– and– they’re gonna be here long term.
Sharyn Alfonsi: And there they go.
Jess Oldham: Yes, ma’am.
The 1,400 acre facility is on an indian reservation. The Oldham’s are one of dozens of contractors paid by the government to feed and care for mustangs after they’ve been removed from the wild. Activists want the horses to remain free.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Why not just let the wild horses be wild and run?
Jess Oldham: The harsh reality is ecosystems are a delicate balance of each species coexisting together in the environment. There is a limited amount of resources in grass and water. And the wild horses are a very dominant species. They’re smart. They’re fast. They eat a lot of food. And they need to be properly managed.
Keeping count of all thosehorses is Holle Waddell, the division chief of the program that oversees wild horses for the Bureau of Land Management.
Holle Waddell
Sharyn Alfonsi: How many wild horses is the government now caring for?
Holle Waddell: So we are currently caring for over 57,000 wild horses.
Sharyn Alfonsi: And caring for them is not inexpensive.
Holle Waddell: No. The cost of care for wild horses in our off-range corrals and pastures was two-thirds of our budget last year, which was a little over $70 million.
Sharyn Alfonsi: $70 million to care for the wild horses.
Holle Waddell: Taxpayer dollars.
To relieve some of the burden on taxpayers, in 2021, the bureau says 3,742 mustangs came off the government rolls through an incentive program that pays individuals $1,000 to adopt one. Wild horses attract relatively few takers. But these horses did. Picked for their youth, balance, and temperament – that are sent to be trained in, of all places, prisons, like the Wyoming Honor Farm.
The fence marking the grounds of the Wyoming Honor Farm
It’s a 640-acre compound of tidy buildings, manicured lawns, cattle and enough hay to feed them. It may look like a dude ranch, but this is a state-run, minimum-security prison with felons working the land and the horses. There are no towers or armed guards – a simple four-foot cattle fence marks the perimeter between the prison and the town of Riverton, Wyoming.
Curtis Moffat: Yeah, Wyoming has a tendency to do things a little differently cause we’re a smaller state. And I think it’s one of those things…until you see it you can’t actually believe it yourself.
Curtis Moffat has spent his entire career in corrections. He’s the warden on the farm and about the only one here who doesn’t wear cowboy boots to work.
Sharyn Alfonsi: The thing that struck me when you drive up you see a four-foot– high cattle fence. What’s to stop an inmate from making a run for it or riding off into the sunset?
Curtis Moffat: Realistically, himself. Most of these guys are at the end of their sentence. So most of ’em don’t want to destroy that or, you know, catch another number– do another five years or so. It’s on them to make sure that they’re gonna do things the right way.
Curtis Moffat
Most inmates have earned the right to be here, transferred for good behavior from more restrictive state prisons. And each day about 30 inmates report to work in a maze of chutes and pens with wild horses weighing up to 1,000 pounds – their job is to transform these mustangs from wild burdens of the state into riding horses that can fetch thousands at auction.
Travis Shoopman: These guys are here to do their time. But it’s really about changing their life, put a change in them in a positive direction.
Travis Shoopman is the cowboy in charge. He’s the manager of the farm.
Shoopman spent his life teaching the art of training horses. It shows in a stride kinked by old fractures.
Travis Shoopman: Have you ever had a halter on this horse Mr. Suchor?
Peytonn Suchor: Never.
And a voice both firm and calm – as much for the inmates as the horses.
Travis Shoopman: Do the rope-a-dope and throw the rope into your hand. Do not get kicked.
Travis Shoopman
It takes time to train a wild horse, but Shoopman says there’s nothing special about how it starts.
Travis Shoopman: You walk him in there, like you just kinda rip off the Band-Aid and the human goes in there.
Sharyn Alfonsi: What’s the next step?
Travis Shoopman: Then you teach ’em to yield to pressure. So, you stop the forward movement, teach ’em that if they move forward towards you the pressure goes away. And then from there you get to where you can touch ’em, you get to where you can pet ’em, introduce a halter, get ’em halter broke. And then you have that trust. Like, they understand if they give up their right of flight to stay with you, there’s some trust there.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Are you talking about the horses or the inmates?
Travis Shoopman: The horses. We are in the people business and helping the horses is extra. But the guys really learn a lot of life lessons from the horses. They learn to try, they learn to not lie to themselves about their feelings, they learn to control whether it’s the highest of high emotions or the lowest of low emotions.
No one here ‘breaks’ a horse – the method used at the farm is called ‘gentling’ – force is replaced by patience, persistence, and an even keel. In any pen on any day, you can see it play out. A ballet in dusty boots. A delicate dance of inches, repeated a hundred times over. Days in the making, for this, the first human touch. Next door, a mustang in full gallop, a runaway train, yields and stops on command.
Sharyn Alfonsi: We’re watching all these things step, by step, by step, but this doesn’t happen overnight.
Travis Shoopman: No. Sometimes it’ll take four weeks. Sometimes it’ll take four months to do these steps. And a wild horse takes a little bit longer sometimes.
Michael Davis has been riding horses his whole life. He’s serving 15 to 20 years for voluntary manslaughter – he’s eligible for parole in a little over three years.
Michael Davis
Michael Davis: If you’re mad, if you’re scared, that horse knows before you ever even touch it. How they know, I don’t. You have to control your feelings considerably with the horse because it is so easy for them to pick up on your mood.
Sharyn Alfonsi: So you’re good at controlling your feelings with the horse. But with people, how are you doing?
Michael Davis: Not real great.
Sharyn Alfonsi: You’re still working on that?
Michael Davis: I have my moments. I’m still workin’ on it. But we’re gettin’ better.
Davis is an old cowboy and one of only a few inmates here who can handle this – this horse has never had a man on its back, until now. A remarkable skill that can’t be acquired without a few scars.
Michael Davis: I’ve got broken ankle, a separated shoulder, a broken collarbone, stitches in my head, broken hand. Fingers, lots of fingers.
Sharyn Alfonsi: What has the program taught you? What’s it meant to you?
Michael Davis: A little piece of freedom. I mean, I’m wearin’ boots and jeans instead of hospital scrubs. And, I mean, it’s hot out here, but it’s a good hot. It’s as close to bein’ outside as I can get until I get outside.
Out here it is easy to forget this is a prison with 300 inmates under the watchful eye of Warden Moffat.
Sharyn Alfonsi: People at home will say like these guys are felons. They’ve done terrible things. Committed awful crimes, ruined families. Why should they be allowed to be out here, to be trusted to be working with these horses?
Curtis Moffat: We don’t provide the sentence to ’em. We don’t provide the punishment for ’em. The judge decided all of that. Our job is to supervise ’em while they’re in here. And hopefully return ’em to society where they’re responsible individuals, where they can be law-abiding citizens. I think this program goes a long way to do that. And I want to make sure they get out and– and we can believe that they’re gonna be successful. And they aren’t gonna re-offend.
Sharyn Alfonsi: You want to make sure, right, that the horses aren’t returned, and the inmates don’t return? Is that fair to say?
Curtis Moffat: Right. Right. Right.
In Wyoming, the recidivism rate is below 30% and if you’re wondering about that 4-foot cattle fence, well, the warden says, in the last 22 years, fewer than 10 inmates have made a run for it.
Peytonn Suchor
Staying on the right of the fence is not lost on Peytonn Suchor, an inmate serving 7 to 10 years for aggravated assault. He transferred from a maximum-security prison a year ago and came here with no experience working with horses.
Sharyn Alfonsi: What’s it like to step into a pen the first time with a wild 800-pound horse?
Peytonn Suchor: Adrenaline, heart-pounding excitement. But I was excited to do it ’cause once you get a horse to go the direction you want and then come join up to you and you turn around and he’s right there. It’s like wow. This animal, this connection, this feeling. I can’t explain it.
Sharyn Alfonsi: What has this taught you about yourself?
Peytonn Suchor: It’s taught me responsibility. It’s taught me what I wanna do for a career when I get outta here. This makes you look at life a whole different way.
And Suchor’s patience and feel are paying off. At auction, a gelding like this one could sell for thousands – but it’s not without a little heartache.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Is it hard to see them go?
Peytonn Suchor: It is but at the same time we’re not doin’ this just for us, we’re doin’ it for them, too. It’s a second chance for them, as well.
This September, the Honor Farm held its second auction of the year. Hundreds of buyers came to the prison from all over the country to inspect these horses and query their trainers – a little like kicking the tires on a car lot. Then, each mustang takes the main stage, trotting and loping – sold to the highest bidder. In all, 34 horses fetched $65,000 for the Bureau of Land Management, an achievement almost as good as the look on the inmates’ faces.
But remember Michael Davis, the old cowboy who couldn’t be bucked? We noticed he wasn’t at the auction. The warden told us he was suspended for not getting along with others. Gentling a horse and rehabilitating the man don’t always happen on the same clock. By high noon – every mustang had a new home and for this wild bunch, gentling has its virtues.
Sharyn Alfonsi: I think I know the answer to this. If you were a betting man, would you bet a psychologist is quicker to change the behavior of man, a doctor, a therapist, or a horse?
Travis Shoopman: I think a horse. 100%. And that’s just purely Travis Shoopman talking, but the horses are a major role in what betters those men. They can teach you life lessons every step of every way. Teach you that you got something in you that you didn’t think you had. They can teach you that it’s okay to be afraid, but it can still be done. Nothing’s impossible. There’s so many life lessons.
Produced by Michael Karzis and Katie Kerbstat. Broadcast associate, Elizabeth Germino. Edited by Warren Lustig.
A series of crashes caused by a wrong-way driver on Interstate 80 killed five people, including two Arkansas high school students and three recent graduates of the school, and seriously injured others in south-central Wyoming.
Highway Patrol troopers got word of the Dodge Ram headed east in the westbound lanes minutes before the pickup truck collided with a passenger car and commercial truck near Sinclair on Sunday night. The driver of another commercial truck then swerved onto the median to avoid the wreck, according to the statement Monday.
The second commercial truck crossed the highway and hit an eastbound Ford F-150 pickup truck head on, engulfing the two trucks in flames.
The second crash killed all five people inside the Ford pickup. Others were taken to hospitals with critical injuries.
The patrol statement did not say how many others were injured or identify anyone involved, including the alleged wrong-way driver.
However, the Pulaski County Special School District identified the crash victims as Sylvan Hills High School seniors Suzy Prime and Ava Grace Luplow, as well as recent graduates Andrea Prime, Salomon Correa and Maggie Franco. The district said counseling would be offered to students and staff.
The Pulaski County School District said Sylvan Hills High School seniors Suzy Prime and Ava Grace Luplow died in the crash.
Pulaski County School District
“Our thoughts are with the families and school community as they grieve the loss of such young lives. You will all be greatly missed,” the school district said.
The five friends were on their way home after spending a week visiting Jackson Hole Bible College in Wyoming, the Kansas City Star reported, citing the Faith Bible Fellowship Church.
The crash marked the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th fatalities on Wyoming’s roadways in 2023 compared to 1 in 2022, 8 in 2021, and 3 in 2020, the state highway patrol said.
Sinclair is about 140 miles west of Cheyenne, Wyoming, and 300 miles east of Salt Lake City.
The 80-year-old isn’t slowing down; in fact, he’s been busier than ever, with two TV series (including the “Yellowstone” prequel “1923”), and a fifth Indiana Jones movie. Harrison Ford talks with Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz about playing “ordinary” people; fame and the loss of anonymity; and the attraction of returning to his home in Wyoming.
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The travel app, Visited, which is popular among US travelers as well as those that travel internationally has published the top 10 most visited US monuments as determined by their 1,500,000 users.
Press Release –
Jan 19, 2023
TORONTO, January 19, 2023 (Newswire.com)
– The travel map app Visited by Arriving In High Heels Corporation has published a list of the top 10 most visited U.S. national monuments.
Visited, available on iOS or Android, is an app with over 1.5 million internationally travelled users that allows users to mark off places and countries they’ve been to. Users can also browse top travel destinations, set travel goals, get custom printed travel maps, and more in the Visited app.
The top 10 most visited U.S. national monuments according to Visited include:
Statue of Liberty National Monument in New York City draws the most visitors each year, attracting people from around the world who come to see Lady Liberty, a symbol of freedom.
Muir Woods National Monument includes majestic, towering redwood trees located north of San Francisco, California.
Fort Sumter National Monument in Charleston, South Carolina, is the site of the first Civil War battle.
Colorado National Monument features a vast arid landscape of red rock canyons and towering monoliths.
Devils Tower National Monument is a sacred butte located in the Black Hills of Wyoming.
Rainbow Bridge National Monument is one of the world’s largest natural bridges and includes multi-colored rocks in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in Utah.
Montezuma Castle National Monument features ancient housing built by indigenous people in the desert of Camp Verde, Arizona.
Fort McHenry National Monument is a historic fort in Baltimore, Maryland, that played a part in defending the country from attack by the British in the War of 1812.
Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument includes over 12,708 acres of submerged marine habitat located off Saint John, Virgin Islands.
George Washington Birthplace National Monument is where the first president of the U.S. grew up in Westmoreland County, Virginia.
To see the complete list of the most popular U.S. national monuments and over 50 bucket lists of the most visited travel destinations, download Visited on iOS or Android.
FORT BELKNAP AGENCY, Mont. — Native species such as swift foxes and black-footed ferrets disappeared from the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation generations ago, wiped out by poisoning campaigns, disease and farm plows that turned open prairie where nomadic tribes once roamed into cropland and cattle pastures.
Now with guidance from elders and outside wildlife groups, students and interns from the tribal college are helping reintroduce the small predators to the northern Montana reservation sprawling across more than 1,000 square miles (2,600 square kilometers) near the U.S.-Canada border.
Sakura Main, a 24-year-old Aaniiih woman who is entering Fort Belknap’s Aaniiih Nakoda College in January, is helping to locate, trap and vaccinate the severely endangered ferrets against deadly plague in a program overseen by the tribal fish and game department.
The nocturnal animals live among the mounded burrows of prairie dog colonies, where ferrets stalk the rodents almost as big as they are, wrapping themselves around their prey to strangle and kill it.
On a recent clear night, the Nakoda sacred site Snake Butte looming on the horizon, Main shined a flashlight into a long, skinny, wire trap atop a prairie dog burrow. Inside was the second ferret that she’d caught that night with fellow wildlife worker C.J. Werk, daughter of the former tribal president.
“We got one in there!” Main quietly exclaimed.
“Wow, really another one?” replied Werk, who was engaged in a friendly competition with another worker, her cousin, to catch the most ferrets. “I’m going to rub it in.”
Hurried back to the “hospital trailer,” the animal was sedated and vaccinated against sylvatic plague carried by their favorite prey, work done in partnership with World Wildlife Fund. It had a microchip inserted beneath its skin for future tracking, before being released back into the prairie dog colony to a soft cheer from Main and Werk.
As extinctions of animals and plants accelerate around the globe, Native American tribes with limited funding are trying to re-establish imperiled species and restore their habitat — measures that parallel growing calls to “rewild” places by reviving degraded natural systems.
But the direct relationship that Native Americans perceive between people and wildlife differentiates their approach from western conservationists, who often emphasize “management” of habitat and wildlife that humans have dominion over, said Julie Thorstenson, executive director of the Native American Fish & Wildlife Society.
“Western science looks at humans as kind of external managers of the land and of the ecosystem,” she said. “Indigenous people see themselves as part of it.”
The Nakoda and Aaniiih people have struggled to restore their land to a wilder state. Plague periodically wipes out ferret populations, and half the foxes released so far may have died or fled.
But tribal members say they’re committed to rebuilding native species with deep cultural significance to restore balance between humans and the natural world. Tribal elders speak nostalgically of the long-gone Swift Fox Society, which prized the secretive, rarely seen animals and used their pelts and tails to adorn hair braids and costumes. They call the foxes and ferrets their “relatives.”
“It’s like having your family back,” said Mike Fox, former director of the Fort Belknap wildlife program. “We have a pretty darn good spot on the Northern Plains to bring these animals back and just about complete the circle of animals that were originally here.”
Prior to European settlement as many as one million ferrets occupied an estimated 156,000 square miles (400,000 square kilometers) from Canada to Mexico — wherever prairie dogs were found. By the 1960s, conversion of grasslands to crops, plague and poisoning campaigns reduced prairie dogs to 2,200 square miles (5,700 square kilometers). Ferrets were presumed extinct then rediscovered in 1981 on a ranch in Meeteetse, Wyoming.
They’re one of the most endangered mammals in North America, with only about 300 in the wild, including fewer than 40 on Fort Belknap. Populations are propped up with a captive breeding program to counter periodic decimations by plague.
Prairie dogs are still considered a nuisance among ranchers, including on Fort Belknap, because they eat grass. Prairie dog shooting tournaments once were held annually to raise money for the tribal fish and game department, Fox said. The tournaments are gone on Fort Belknap, and prairie dogs — squirrel-sized rodents common across the U.S. Plains — are now recognized as vital to ferrets.
Parts of Fort Belknap also are being repopulated with bison, a species that sustained Native Americans for centuries before white settlers killed them off. Bison are being restored by dozens of tribes across the U.S., which is similar to efforts in the Pacific Northwest to sustain wild salmon populations, another keystone species that provides food for tribes.
The work to reestablish black-footed ferrets and swift foxes is different. Unlike bison and salmon, foxes and ferrets aren’t food sources. They live in the shadows, hunting mostly at night, and are rarely seen.
Ferrets have been reintroduced to seven reservations on the Northern Plains and two tribal sites in the Southwest, while swift foxes have been returned to four reservations, said Shaun Grassel, a former biologist for the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe in South Dakota.
Less than 100 yards (91 meters) from a small pen holding three swift foxes about to be released at Fort Belknap, tribal elders Buster Moore and John Allen sat among cactuses and scrubby grasses and passed a pipe around a circle of men, while women sat nearby, watching and listening.
After the ceremony, Moore — whose Nakoda name is Buffalo Bull Horn — rubbed his hands on the hard earth, explaining that they prayed for the foxes, the tribes, the land itself.
“It sustains itself, it helps Mother Earth, everything sustain balance,” Moore said of the restoration work celebrated that day. “Prairie dogs, wolves, swift fox, red fox, black-footed ferrets.”
Once abundant on the plains, swift foxes now occupy about 40% of their original habitat. Since 2020, the tribes and college have worked with scientists from the Smithsonian’s National Zoo to capture about 100 foxes from healthy populations in Wyoming and Colorado and relocate them to Fort Belknap.
As Moore spoke, the reservation’s fish and wildlife biologist Tim Vosburgh and two assistants cautiously approached a few foxes in a pen. They used wire cutters to cut through the chain link and pulled it open.
When they moved about 50 yards (46 meters) away, a fox poked its head out of a prairie dog burrow inside the pen. It soon darted out the opening, followed within minutes by two others.
They disappeared across the rolling landscape and into the glaring sun behind the Bearpaw Mountains to the west.
“What they need is a little luck,” said Allen the elder. “They need to survive the winter and then they won’t have to worry about it, you know, because they’ve got all the skills. So we call on our relatives to protect them.”
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Follow Matthew Brown on Twitter: @MatthewBrownAP
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Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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This story has been corrected to say that swift foxes were captured in Wyoming and Colorado, not Wyoming and Montana.
There are more than 75,000 wild horses roaming public land in the west. “Wild horses” are the descendants of domesticated horses, the first brought here by Spanish explorers 500 years ago. By 1971, their numbers were dwindling and Congress stepped in, passing a law to protect this romantic fragment of our history. it worked almost too well. Today, federal land managers say the number of wild horses is nearly three times what it should be – and left unchecked, their population can double every 5 years. So, when we heard about a program in Wyoming designed to rein in the wild horses – and an unlikely group of men – we headed west.
It’s hard to imagine anything surviving on this stretch of badlands in northern Wyoming. Sagebrush blankets the high desert all the way to the Rocky Mountains. But in this empty quarter of the Cowboy State is a thundering herd of mustangs, untouched, wild and breathtakingly beautiful.
But wild horses can also wreck the rangelands they roam. Government land managers say, in the West, wild horses are competing with cattle and wildlife for increasingly scarce water and food and their overpopulation often furtherstrains the environment.
So the Federal Bureau of Land Management regularly rounds up wild horses. Mainly by using small helicopters to locate, capture and truck them off to corrals or enclosed pastures like this one – a horse can live for about 20 years and most of these horses will remain here until they die.
The Wind River Wild Horse Sanctuary outside Lander, Wyoming, is run by Jess Oldham and his family.
Jess Oldham
Sharyn Alfonsi: Talk about the horses that are here. For most of them, this is it, right?
Jess Oldham: Yes, ma’am. We have the 225 long-term residents and–
Sharyn Alfonsi: Long-term residents?
Jess Oldham: Long term residents.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Sounds like a nursing home.
Jess Oldham: That’s what I call ’em. I mean they’re part of our family. And– and– they’re gonna be here long term.
Sharyn Alfonsi: And there they go.
Jess Oldham: Yes, ma’am.
The 1,400 acre facility is on an indian reservation. The Oldham’s are one of dozens of contractors paid by the government to feed and care for mustangs after they’ve been removed from the wild. Activists want the horses to remain free.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Why not just let the wild horses be wild and run?
Jess Oldham: The harsh reality is ecosystems are a delicate balance of each species coexisting together in the environment. There is a limited amount of resources in grass and water. And the wild horses are a very dominant species. They’re smart. They’re fast. They eat a lot of food. And they need to be properly managed.
Keeping count of all thosehorses is Holle Waddell, the division chief of the program that oversees wild horses for the Bureau of Land Management.
Holle Waddell
Sharyn Alfonsi: How many wild horses is the government now caring for?
Holle Waddell: So we are currently caring for over 57,000 wild horses.
Sharyn Alfonsi: And caring for them is not inexpensive.
Holle Waddell: No. The cost of care for wild horses in our off-range corrals and pastures was two-thirds of our budget last year, which was a little over $70 million.
Sharyn Alfonsi: $70 million to care for the wild horses.
Holle Waddell: Taxpayer dollars.
To relieve some of the burden on taxpayers, last year, the Bureau says 3,742 mustangs came off the government rolls through an incentive program that pays individuals a thousand dollars to adopt one. Wild horses attract relatively few takers, but these horses did. Picked for their youth, balance, and temperament – they are sent to be trained in, of all places, prisons like the Wyoming Honor Farm.
The fence marking the grounds of the Wyoming Honor Farm
It’s a 640-acre compound of tidy buildings, manicured lawns, cattle and enough hay to feed them. It may look like a dude ranch, but this is a state-run, minimum-security prison with felons working the land and the horses. There are no towers or armed guards – a simple four-foot cattle fence marks the perimeter between the prison and the town of Riverton, Wyoming.
Curtis Moffat: Yeah, Wyoming has a tendency to do things a little differently cause we’re a smaller state. And I think it’s one of those things…until you see it you can’t actually believe it yourself.
Curtis Moffat has spent his entire career in corrections. He’s the warden on the farm and about the only one here who doesn’t wear cowboy boots to work.
Sharyn Alfonsi: The thing that struck me when you drive up you see a four-foot– high cattle fence. What’s to stop an inmate from making a run for it or riding off into the sunset?
Curtis Moffat: Realistically, himself. Most of these guys are at the end of their sentence. So most of ’em don’t want to destroy that or, you know, catch another number– do another five years or so. It’s on them to make sure that they’re gonna do things the right way.
Curtis Moffat
Most inmates have earned the right to be here, transferred for good behavior from more restrictive state prisons. And each day about 30 inmates report to work in a maze of chutes and pens with wild horses weighing up to 1,000 pounds – their job is to transform these mustangs from wild burdens of the state into riding horses that can fetch thousands at auction.
Travis Shoopman: These guys are here to do their time. But it’s really about changing their life, put a change in them in a positive direction.
Travis Shoopman is the cowboy in charge. He’s the manager of the farm.
Shoopman spent his life teaching the art of training horses. It shows in a stride kinked by old fractures.
Travis Shoopman: Have you ever had a halter on this horse Mr. Suchor?
Peytonn Suchor: Never.
And a voice both firm and calm – as much for the inmates as the horses.
Travis Shoopman: Do the rope-a-dope and throw the rope into your hand. Do not get kicked.
Travis Shoopman
It takes time to train a wild horse, but Shoopman says there’s nothing special about how it starts.
Travis Shoopman: You walk him in there, like you just kinda rip off the Band-Aid and the human goes in there.
Sharyn Alfonsi: What’s the next step?
Travis Shoopman: Then you teach ’em to yield to pressure. So, you stop the forward movement, teach ’em that if they move forward towards you the pressure goes away. And then from there you get to where you can touch ’em, you get to where you can pet ’em, introduce a halter, get ’em halter broke. And then you have that trust. Like, they understand if they give up their right of flight to stay with you, there’s some trust there.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Are you talking about the horses or the inmates?
Travis Shoopman: The horses. We are in the people business and helping the horses is extra. But the guys really learn a lot of life lessons from the horses. They learn to try, they learn to not lie to themselves about their feelings, they learn to control whether it’s the highest of high emotions or the lowest of low emotions.
No one here ‘breaks’ a horse – the method used at the farm is called ‘gentling’ – force is replaced by patience, persistence, and an even keel. In any pen on any day, you can see it play out. A ballet in dusty boots. A delicate dance of inches, repeated a hundred times over. Days in the making, for this, the first human touch. Next door, a mustang in full gallop, a runaway train, yields and stops on command.
Sharyn Alfonsi: We’re watching all these things step, by step, by step, but this doesn’t happen overnight.
Travis Shoopman: No. Sometimes it’ll take four weeks. Sometimes it’ll take four months to do these steps. And a wild horse takes a little bit longer sometimes.
Michael Davis has been riding horses his whole life. He’s serving 15 to 20 years for voluntary manslaughter – he’s eligible for parole in a little over three years.
Michael Davis
Michael Davis: If you’re mad, if you’re scared, that horse knows before you ever even touch it. How they know, I don’t. You have to control your feelings considerably with the horse because it is so easy for them to pick up on your mood.
Sharyn Alfonsi: So you’re good at controlling your feelings with the horse. But with people, how are you doing?
Michael Davis: Not real great.
Sharyn Alfonsi: You’re still working on that?
Michael Davis: I have my moments. I’m still workin’ on it. But we’re gettin’ better.
Davis is an old cowboy and one of only a few inmates here who can handle this – this horse has never had a man on its back, until now. A remarkable skill that can’t be acquired without a few scars.
Michael Davis: I’ve got broken ankle, a separated shoulder, a broken collarbone, stitches in my head, broken hand. Fingers, lots of fingers.
Sharyn Alfonsi: What has the program taught you? What’s it meant to you?
Michael Davis: A little piece of freedom. I mean, I’m wearin’ boots and jeans instead of hospital scrubs. And, I mean, it’s hot out here, but it’s a good hot. It’s as close to bein’ outside as I can get until I get outside.
Out here it is easy to forget this is a prison with 300 inmates under the watchful eye of Warden Moffat.
Sharyn Alfonsi: People at home will say like these guys are felons. They’ve done terrible things. Committed awful crimes, ruined families. Why should they be allowed to be out here, to be trusted to be working with these horses?
Curtis Moffat: We don’t provide the sentence to ’em. We don’t provide the punishment for ’em. The judge decided all of that. Our job is to supervise ’em while they’re in here. And hopefully return ’em to society where they’re responsible individuals, where they can be law-abiding citizens. I think this program goes a long way to do that. And I want to make sure they get out and– and we can believe that they’re gonna be successful. And they aren’t gonna re-offend.
Sharyn Alfonsi: You want to make sure, right, that the horses aren’t returned, and the inmates don’t return? Is that fair to say?
Curtis Moffat: Right. Right. Right.
In Wyoming, the recidivism rate is below 30% and if you’re wondering about that 4-foot cattle fence, well, the warden says, in the last 22 years, fewer than 10 inmates have made a run for it.
Peytonn Suchor
Staying on the right of the fence is not lost on Peytonn Suchor, an inmate serving 7 to 10 years for aggravated assault. He transferred from a maximum-security prison a year ago and came here with no experience working with horses.
Sharyn Alfonsi: What’s it like to step into a pen the first time with a wild 800-pound horse?
Peytonn Suchor: Adrenaline, heart-pounding excitement. But I was excited to do it ’cause once you get a horse to go the direction you want and then come join up to you and you turn around and he’s right there. It’s like wow. This animal, this connection, this feeling. I can’t explain it.
Sharyn Alfonsi: What has this taught you about yourself?
Peytonn Suchor: It’s taught me responsibility. It’s taught me what I wanna do for a career when I get outta here. This makes you look at life a whole different way.
And Suchor’s patience and feel are paying off. At auction, a gelding like this one could sell for thousands – but it’s not without a little heartache.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Is it hard to see them go?
Peytonn Suchor: It is but at the same time we’re not doin’ this just for us, we’re doin’ it for them, too. It’s a second chance for them, as well.
This September, the Honor Farm held its second auction of the year. Hundreds of buyers came to the prison from all over the country to inspect these horses and query their trainers – a little like kicking the tires on a car lot. Then, each mustang takes the main stage, trotting and loping – sold to the highest bidder. In all, 34 horses fetched $65,000 for the Bureau of Land Management, an achievement almost as good as the look on the inmates’ faces.
But remember Michael Davis, the old cowboy who couldn’t be bucked? We noticed he wasn’t at the auction. The warden told us he was suspended for not getting along with others. Gentling a horse and rehabilitating the man don’t always happen on the same clock. By high noon – every mustang had a new home and for this wild bunch, gentling has its virtues.
Sharyn Alfonsi: I think I know the answer to this. If you were a betting man, would you bet a psychologist is quicker to change the behavior of man, a doctor, a therapist, or a horse?
Travis Shoopman: I think a horse. 100%. And that’s just purely Travis Shoopman talking, but the horses are a major role in what betters those men. They can teach you life lessons every step of every way. Teach you that you got something in you that you didn’t think you had. They can teach you that it’s okay to be afraid, but it can still be done. Nothing’s impossible. There’s so many life lessons.
Produced by Michael Karzis and Katie Kerbstat. Broadcast associate, Elizabeth Germino. Edited by Warren Lustig.
Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney endorsed Virginia Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger on Saturday, weighing in on another highly competitive House race in the final days of the midterm election campaign.
Spanberger, a former CIA officer who was among the class of national security Democrats first elected in 2018, is locked in a tough contest with Republican challenger Yesli Vega to represent Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.
“I’m honored to endorse Abigail Spanberger. I have worked closely with her in Congress, and I know that she is dedicated to working across the aisle to find solutions. We don’t agree on every policy, but I am absolutely certain that Abigail is dedicated to serving this country and her constituents and defending our Constitution,” Cheney said in a statement.
“Abigail’s opponent is promoting conspiracy theories, denying election outcomes she disagrees with, and defending the indefensible,” she continued.
The move is Cheney’s latest endorsement of a member of her opposing party. The Wyoming Republican campaigned for Michigan Rep. Elissa Slotkin on Tuesday and endorsed her last week saying, “While Elissa and I have our policy disagreements, at a time when our nation is facing threats at home and abroad, we need serious, responsible, substantive members like Elissa in Congress.”
Spanberger has campaigned on issues like infrastructure and lowering prescription drug costs, while her opponent, Vega, has said she will work to keep the Biden administration in check if elected.
Virginia’s 7th District House race is rated as “tilt Democratic” by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales.
CNN has reached out to Spanberger’s campaign for comment on the endorsement.
Cheney is leaving Congress at the end of her current term after losing the Republican primary for her at-large Wyoming seat in August. Her continued criticism of former President Donald Trump for his role in inciting the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol was seen as a key factor in her defeat.
SALT LAKE CITY — Family members of a 22-year-old woman whose boyfriend admitted to killing her last year have filed a wrongful death suit against the Moab Police Department, claiming their negligence led to her death weeks later.
The lawsuit filed on Thursday is the latest development in the high-profile case around Gabby Petito’s death. What began as a missing person’s case last summer rode a wave of true crime obsession to become a social media sensation, drawing amateur online sleuths and the kind of worldwide attention that can help authorities locate missing people.
Petito and her boyfriend, 23-year-old Brian Laundrie, were stopped by police officers in Moab, Utah last summer but were ultimately not cited for domestic violence amid signs of distress and their own statements about physical conflict. Petito’s body was later found on the edge of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming after being strangled. Laundrie was the only person ever identified by law enforcement as a person of interest and was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after returning alone to his parents’ home in Florida.
The contrast between the cheerful façade on display on Petito’s widely followed Instagram account — where she chronicled her cross-country trip in a van to tens of thousands of followers — and the darker reality of domestic violence she was experiencing in the lead-up to her death captivated millions and sparked unprecedented national conversation about dating violence. It also brought criticism of authorities and the news media for focusing more attention on missing white women like Petito than on missing and murdered indigenous women and women of color.
Petito’s mother, father and other family members have sought to keep her name in the news, hoping to honor her legacy and help make sure signs of abuse are recognized by authorities in a position to intervene, they said.
“There are laws put in place to protect victims. And those laws were not followed. And we don’t want this to happen to anybody else,” said Nicole Schmidt, Petito’s mother, her voice quivering.
Schmidt, other family members and their team of lawyers stood in front of a picture of Petito smiling in a slot canyon at a Thursday press conference in Salt Lake City.
The wrongful death lawsuit seeks $50 million in damages from the police department in Moab, a rural Utah city known for being an entryway to national parks full of red rock canyons and mesas.
It lays blame for Petito’s death on the city’s police officers, who did not issue a domestic violence citation after a bystander called to report conflict between Petito and Laundrie. In doing so, the lawsuit claims officers disregarded signs of violence they should have been trained to notice.
The suit also claims police officers “coached Gabby to provide answers that the officers used to justify their decision not to enforce Utah law,” which requires action be taken in response to domestic violence incidents.
Moab Police Officer Eric Pratt “was fundamentally biased in his approach to the investigation, choosing to believe Gabby’s abuser, ignoring evidence that Gabby was the victim and intentionally looking for loopholes to get around the requirements of Utah law and his duty to protect Gabby.”
The complaint bases that bias claim off of an unnamed woman referred to as “Witness 1,” who alleges Pratt threatened to kill her after their relationship ended while he was serving as police chief in Salina, Utah, another rural town.
After the lawsuit was filed, the city of Moab said the death was tragic yet not the fault of their police department. Pratt did not respond to a phone call requesting comment and the city of Moab said no employee of the city or police department would be commenting further at this time.
“Our officers acted with kindness, respect, and empathy toward Ms. Petito,” city spokesperson Lisa Adams said in a statement. “No one could have predicted the tragedy that would occur weeks later and hundreds of miles away, and the City of Moab will ardently defend against this lawsuit.”
The lawsuit follows a notice of claim filed in August, notifying Moab that Petito’s family intended to file for damages due to wrongful death. An independent investigation in January faulted police for making “several unintentional mistakes” including not issuing a domestic violence citation after Petito told police she had hit her boyfriend.
College wrestling teammates Kendell Cummings and Brady Lowry were attacked by a grizzly bear in Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming. The executive director of The Bear League said that bears are stocking up on calories before hibernating. Carter Evans has more.
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Jackson, Wyoming is often called the Last of the Old West. Its cowboy culture runs so deep it even rides long on the morning cup of coffee. And while some of the best things in life here may be free, you pay a steep price to live in this valley known as Jackson Hole.
Elizabeth Hutchings moved here from Massachusetts in 2018. “I love this community and I love the place where I live. But there is always that question in the back of your mind of, are you going to be able to survive here?”
For the first seven months, the only place she could afford to live was in her van.
Correspondent Ben Tracy asked, “Between living in your van, your car, and various apartments, how many places have you lived here in four years?”
“Eight or nine,” Hutchings replied. “And in a lotta places there’s been that question of, ‘Oh, this is home, but for how long?’”
Teton County is now home to a divide bigger than those mountains for which it’s named. It is the wealthiest, and most unequal, in America. The average income here is $312,000. The median home price in the county is now more than $3.6 million. That’s left a food pantry overwhelmed by demand, staring at $6 million townhomes rising across the street.
Hutchings said, “The level of wealth you see and the level of disparity that you see, I mean, some people have more money than you could spend in ten lifetimes.”
With COVID accelerating the arrival of the ultra-wealthy, Teton County in Wyoming is now home to the widest income divide in America, squeezing out the middle class.
CBS News
There’s a saying in town that you either have three homes or three jobs. Many workers have been forced to cheaper towns nearly 40 miles away over sometimes treacherous roads.
Hutchings works at a local restaurant, and shares a basement apartment with a roommate. It’s the most stable housing she’s ever had here.
“If you’re spending so much of your time driving, or so much of your time working, just trying to survive, I think everybody has that question of, is it worth it?” she said.
Elizabeth Hutchings works in a Jackson, Wyoming restaurant. “There is always that question in the back of your mind of, are you going to be able to survive here?”
CBS News
Yale School of the Environment professor Justin Farrell grew up in Wyoming, and is author of the book “Billionaire Wilderness.” He said the middle class here has been completely hollowed out.
Tracy asked, “Inequality is an issue playing out across the country. Is it uniquely bad here?”
Princeton University Press
“It is uniquely bad, actually. It’s nation-leading bad,” Farrell replied. “If you’re making $40,000 or $50,000, $60,000, you’re likely living in your car, or you’re living 45 minutes away. For most people, it’s becoming unlivable.”
The reason, he said, is that the ultra-wealthy find Teton County very livable. Their arrival here accelerated during COVID. The desire for multi-million dollar mountain escapes has created a new land rush.
Farrell said, “Americans have always looked West. It’s always been the lodestar of American identity. And probably Jackson Hole, with the cowboy image and the Tetons, it’s, I think, what makes it so special for so many people. On top of that, it’s functionally a tax haven. Wyoming does not have a state income tax. It doesn’t have a corporate tax. So, it’s a really great place to park your money legally.”
All that wealth is cleverly disguised behind a facade of pickup trucks and jeans. it’s almost as if the landmark watering hole, the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, knew what was coming
Farrell said, “This place is really unique, because it allows people to engage in this personal transformation to become a normal person. They rely on the Western stereotypes to do that, and so you have these millionaires and even billionaires dressing in Wrangler jeans, dressing down, trying to avoid any sort of class indicators that might make them look wealthy. And I think it’s really well-intentioned.”
Phil Hartl is a private wealth advisor who moved here from high-tax California. He and his wife Monica relocated to Jackson in late 2020. “It was really about living in a different kind of place and really being closer to nature,” he said. “And so, it’s tremendous to be a part of that.”
Private wealth advisor Phil Hartl relocated to Wyoming from California.
CBS News
Tracy said, “I get a sense that you really do have a respect for the place.”
“Very much so.”
“And I don’t want this to sound rude, but I assume you’re aware that some people here think you’re part of the problem?”
“Oh, of course. Absolutely, absolutely.”
“How does that feel?”
“It’s my responsibility to show them that, you know, I understand that we came here more recently – we’re COVID babies, right?” Hartl said. “But at the same time, if you approach it with a regard and a respect and a listening, and at the end of the day, like anywhere, they judge you as an individual, what kind of person you are.”
Hartl said he’s planning to donate a third of his tax savings to local nonprofits and charities. (Teton County is one of the most philanthropic communities in America.) “Am I part of the problem? Sure I am, you know?” said Hartl. “I’m one of the people that came in and was able to buy a house at a marked-up price. And I’m very grateful for that. But again, I also see that I have an obligation as a result.”
The median home price in Teton County is above $3.6 million.
CBS News
For Elizabeth Hutchings, she says she wants to make sure people like her – the horsepower that keeps this cowboy town running – can also call it home. “If we don’t find a way to create a more equitable society and to support people with housing and human services, you won’t have an economy,” she said. “You won’t have dozens of nice restaurants to eat at.”
Tracy asked, “Do you look down the road and do you see yourself here in ten years?”
“I don’t care if I’m here in ten years,” Hutchings said, “but I want other people to have a better quality of life in ten years.”
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Story produced by Sari Aviv. Editor: Karen Brenner.
CARMEL, Ind., April 28, 2021 (Newswire.com)
– Bridges is pleased to announce Steve Boyer as Vice President of Bridges Mountain West Region. In this role, Boyer will bring immense leadership experience to Bridges of Montana, Bridges of Colorado, and Bridges of Wyoming. Bridges is confident that Steve Boyer’s experience, leadership, and vision will lead Bridges to continued growth and development.
Steve Boyer began his career at Bridges in 2014 as Regional Director in Lafayette, Indiana. Boyer then served as a Strategic Development Specialist where he developed expansions in Kentucky and Virginia. Since 2018, he has worked as Regional Operations Director for individuals receiving support throughout West-Central Indiana.
Prior to Bridges, Steve Boyer has served as a leader in the field of Human Services since 2008, first working as an administrator in facilities serving at-risk children. In 2012, he transitioned to HCBS Waiver Supports as a QIDP working for a large community provider and, later in 2014, as a Waiver Case Manager.
Steve Boyer has a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University in Economics as well as a master’s degree from Indiana Wesleyan University in Business Administration. Boyer serves on the Board of Directors for Ascending Angels, a non-profit organization providing no-cost final-rest options for individuals receiving supports, veterans, and individuals experiencing homelessness.
Jonathan Burlison, Chief Executive Officer of Bridges US, said, “I am thrilled to welcome Steve Boyer into this role. From day one, he has been a tremendous asset to our team and the growth of our company. Steve exemplifies the qualities of what our team values. Above all else, he has immense dedication for each individual we serve. This is a wonderful transition for Bridges Mountain West region consumers and employees.”
Bridges’ mission is to provide the services necessary to allow individuals with disabilities, with the support of their families and friends, to live, learn and work where they choose within the community. Keep up to date with Bridges by liking our Facebook page.
