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If I’m being completely honest and not worrying about political correctness, the announcement of further developments and subdivisions in key big game migration corridors in Sublette County, Wyoming and the good ol’ boy actions of county commissioners in that county, make me disgusted.
According to a www.wyofile.com report, the county commissioner’s rulings in favor of property developments were “in defiance of their planning and zoning board’s recommendation”.
Wyoming, like much of middle America and the Rocky Mountain West, has seen droves of people moving to the state’s most scenic regions to get away from the craziness of big city life from the fallout of 2020 and 2021 in our country. Our landscape and persona are changing rapidly due to Californians (mostly) moving in and changing our way of life, and the way of migration corridors to our cherished wildlife including mule deer, pronghorn, elk, and even the sage grouse.
A 51 unit subdivision and now a 32,400 square foot trauma therapy center are on the approval list in well-documented big game migration corridors and core sage grouse habitat.
Josh Coursey with the Muley Fanatic Foundation sums it up pretty well, “When you have overwhelming support one way or another, and then [the decision] goes against the grain of the voice of the people — which this has — it just leaves you in defeat,” Coursey said. “You just shake your head in disgust.”
The point is this – move here if you want to but don’t move from your home state to another state and attempt to bastardize your new home state to be like the place you moved from! We all live here for a reason and if you think you need to change this place…stay where you are.
And to the county commissioners who ignore the wishes of the people, keep running your post as a dictator and you’ll be voted out of a job.
I’d say your statement about Californians moving “in” and “changing our way of life” is a xenophobic editorial over-reach. Nothing has changed in Wyoming as you attempted to point out. You say, “Good old boys” are still ignoring the people and changing zoning laws to suit their fancy. That’s as old as hills. It’s called greed. Keep new people coming here in the city where they belong, not on newly rezoned and approved subdivisions granted by the old crony club. Maybe a recall petition might get their attention.
The good ole boy scenario is alive and well. It listens to ways that have been and somehow thinks that these developments will provide the county and not seriously damage or impact wildlife use in and adjacent to these corridors. I’m sure at one point in the past the Colorado front range felt the same way….or closer to home you can always look at the Jackson Hole scenario. We don’t see impacts because they happen over time. We don’t seem to care about what attracted many of us to these areas to start with.