Trees can soothe the beast of depression

Fun fact for Arbor Day: 

There are now 99 elms encircling the CSU Oval and lining its walkways.

So reports an April 2022 story on Colorado State University's web site, Literally just 46 facts about CSU's trees. 

Literally, it was interesting stuff. 

Here's a few other items from the CSU list:

When CSU was first founded 1870, it was located on a treeless prairie. 

Some of the [elm] trees are 80 to 90 feet high, and their roots are 1.5 times their height. 

This one is a surprise:

The Heritage Arboretum/Woody Plant Demonstration and Research Area has the largest collection of woody plants in the region, with more than 1,100 different taxa represented. 

The Arboretum is on the south end of campus, within shouting distance of the new stadium. It's surprising because I passed through this site many times during grad school and didn't know it was an arboretum. Time now for a return visit.

The Oval elms are special. During the spring and summer of 1991, as I worked on my M.F.A. in creative writing, I was gobsmacked by severe depression, I found solace among the elms. As noted, they are sturdy and tall, providing shade for the lawn and itinerant students who need some elm goodness to buck up their spirits. I would bike on over to the Oval, prop myself against a tree, read and study. The tree gave me strength. At the time, I thought they were cottonwoods but it didn't really matter. Trees carry energy and silently impart strength to those humans who take the time to appreciate them. I took antidepressants for the first time but it took a long time for them to work. Meanwhile, I had trees. 

I'd dealt with depression before. When I was an undergrad, a break-up caused me to go sleepless for a week. That was the first time I saw a therapist and talked it through. This was 1975 and pre-Prozac. I was 24 and pleased. I faced the beast and came out the better for it. 

During the next couple decades, I muddled through. Married, had a kid, worked various jobs in Denver until I went to school. After I turned 40, family issues took me back to therapy and anti-Ds. I kicked the drugs several times but the result was always the same. Finally, a psychiatrist in Cheyenne issued a mandate: You'll be on these the rest of your life. And, thus far, I have been.

While the meds percolate through my system, I walk among the trees. It's never been a mystery to me that elms and maples have healing qualities. Psychology Today writes about "Forest Bathing in Japan." Full immersion in the forest. PT referenced a 2012 Outside magazine first-person article by Florence Williams, Take Two Hours of Pine Forest and Call Me in the Morning. Here's the subhead:

These days, screen-addicted Americans are more stressed out and distracted than ever. And there’s no app for that. But there is a radically simple remedy: get outside. Florence Williams travels to the deep woods of Japan, where researchers are backing up the theory that nature can lower your blood pressure, fight off depression—and even prevent cancer.

These days, I need assistance when walking. I'm missing out on forest bathing. But last time I was in the mountains, last September, I sat under pines as my family joined friends in a hike on Vedauwoo's Turtle Rock Trail. I'm usually the one leading these and may again if the docs can get to the bottom of my disability. I can park my rollator walker under any tree. And breathe deeply. 

Happy belated Arbor Day.

Watching the robins like a hawk

Robins are good parents. Both mom and dad brings food to the chicks. When the adult robin alights on the nest, the movement prompts sightless hatchlings to reach for the sky and open their beaks. They cheep, too, a tiny sound but one that the parents recognize. The adult robin regurgitates a diet of worms and insects into the outstretched mouths. They make the trip from nest to great outdoors back to nest up to 100 times daily. They seem insatiable, these young ones. They grow as big as their parents within a month. They are klutzy when they try to fly and this is the most dangerous time in their young lives. A fall can be fatal because parent robins can't boost the kids back into the nest. They fall prey to cats and foxes and raptors. Humans are told not to pick them up and put them back in the nest because the human scent will cause the parent to shun the offspring. Not so, say the experts. Mom and dad know their kids by sight and sound and not smell. To catch falling birds, Chris draped a blanket over a trash can three feet below the nest. Our robins' nest is accessible but most are not. It was built on top of our porch's solar control box. It's just out of my reach if I wanted to reach it. The adults buzz us humans as we water the plants or barbecue a steak. Unlike blue jays, robins seem content on close encounters. Blue jays peck at the heads of interlopers. The shock troops of the bird world. The time from robin egg to hatchling to fledgling is a short one. Humans take note. Thirty days for robins. Thirty years for the process in the typical human nest. Robins should be glad they don't have basements.

The robin and the solar system

Between sunup and sundown on a May day, a robin built a nest on my solar system. When I say solar system, I mean to the control box that monitors the roof's solar panels. The greater system, the one that is powered by the sun, is also the source of power for my house's system. The electrician and crew spent a week installing the metal boxes and the panels. The robin watched from her perch on an elm branch. She pounced when the networks of steel and aluminum and copper were in their proper spots. Hers is a fine nest, a work of art. Robin sits in the nest and stares when I arrive on the patio to water plants or grill a burger. If I linger too long, she flees and and watches me from an elm branch. She is wary of the bipeds who built her foundation. We're known for our mischief. Any living thing can tell you.

With national parks closed, Jackson Hole quiet on the eve of ski season

When I was in Jackson Hole over the weekend, people were plenty sore about the Republican-spawned national park shutdown. Hotel reservations have been cancelled and tour buses rerouted to other parks, notably those in neighboring Colorado and Utah reopened by state funds. In Wyoming, alas, the constitution forbids state funds going to federal government operations. The tourism industry made an appeal to Gov. Mead. Alas, private dollars from Cody and Jackson were enough to plow the roads that got the parks opened in the spring but money couldn't be leveraged for general operating costs. That's fine with me, as I'm content to let Republicans stew in their own juices. Unfortunately, everyone in Teton County, D & R & I alike, is in that same gravy boat.

The newly refurbished Snow King bar wasn't dead, not exactly, but it's a jumping place on sun-drenched summer evenings and frigid ski-season nights. Last Saturday night, with baseball playoffs on one TV screen and an SEC tiff on the other, only a few patrons lined the bar. Most of the rest of the 20-some people were connected with the Wyoming Arts Council's conference going on around town. We made reservations for 10 on Friday evening at the popular Rendezvous Bistro. The place was half-empty by the time we got around to dessert.

Traffic flowed freely and no tourists seemed in danger of getting flattened by an RV; close calls are an every day summer occurrence. There just weren't that many targets (or RVs). 

We heard rumors about a protest by Cody Tea Party types set for Yellowstone's east gate. I don't know if that happened. It was snowing most of the weekend, and that tends to take some steam out of Tea Party gatherings, as most attendees seem to be of advanced years. We did hear about some daredevils sneaking into the park, but they risked getting a ticket from park staff still on duty.

Probably the best quote I heard about the closed national parks came from writer and activist Terry Tempest Williams. She's a Utah native but now lives in Teton County. At an arts conference talk on Monday, Williams spoke about taking a walk "on the periphery of Grand Teton National Park. I was surprised by how quiet it was."

She wondered what the animals were doing and thinking. " 'Frolic' came to mind."

The animals may be frolicking, but the humans, perturbed by Congress's antics, are in a sour mood.

"Listening to Nature" features Navajo poet Sherwin Bitsui & friends

This comes from the fine folks over at the Wyoming Outdoor Council:

Listening to Nature is an annual community event featuring readings and visual artwork by scientists, writers, and artists!

Navajo poet Sherwin Bitsui will join Wyoming presenters to read poems, essays, and other works. The readings will be preceded by a reception.

This year you can catch the event in both Laramie and Riverton.

Receptions for both evenings start at 6:30 p.m., readings at 7 p.m.

Laramie: Friday, October 11
Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center, University of Wyoming campus
Riverton: Friday, October 25
Wind River Room, Intertribal Education and Community Center, Central Wyoming College campus

Both evenings are free and open to the public!

The Wyoming Outdoor Council is co-hosting both events along with the University of Wyoming’s Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, the MFA Program in Creative Writing, the American Indian Studies Program, and Central Wyoming College.

For more information contact: Emilene Ostlind, 307-766-2604, emilene@uwyo.edu

Reflections by writers and artists featured at "Listening to Nature" on Nov. 9

WY Wilderness Association hosts a weekend of art and nature at Honeycomb Buttes

From a press release from the Wyoming Wilderness Association:

The Wyoming Wilderness Association is excited to be hosting a weekend of art and nature with Joan Hoffmann, extraordinary oil and pastel artist from Colorado and Vermont, conservationist and teacher.

Friday- Sunday June, 15-17, Hoffmann will inspire painters of any medium or skill level, in a car campout near Honeycomb Buttes. Saturday morning artists will rendezvous to set up car camping near the Honeycombs, with short day hikes to paint, and campfire critiques and stories to follow. Sunday morning, artists will paint the gorgeous Honeycomb Buttes for a grand finale of an inspiring art-filled weekend. This opportunity is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Martha Tate at 307-672-2751 or visit WWA’s website at http://www.wildwyo.org/

Wyoming Wilderness Association encourages everyone to take advantage of the summer, get out and explore the wild parts of the state, and find out what makes Wyoming and its wilderness areas so special.

If you like your films wild & scenic...

In "Companions in Wonder," Rick Bass writes about how fireflies can illuminate "a newness in the world"

What I'm noticing this morning: tiny clover growing at the root of my awakening strawberry plants.

I have been reading my way through the new anthology, “Companions in Wonder: Children and Adults Exploring Nature Together.” I have a short piece in it about rock climbing with my young son.

Last night read a beautiful piece by Rick Bass, “The Farm.” It is spring and he and his family are visiting Rick’s father’s Texas “brush country” farmhouse near Austin. His mom lived here for a time, but died too young. Now it’s a place for the Bass family on a spring hiatus from Montana’s snowbound Yaak Valley.

As always, Rick is lyrical in his descriptions of people in nature. He delights in his daughters’ first encounter with fireflies. “I am not sure they had even known such creatures existed.” Not many fireflies up there on the Yaak. The girls, ages 3 and 6, are bedazzled by them. The family manages to snare one and put it in a jar. Rick remembers catching whole squadrons of them as a kid.

I remember the same thing while growing up in southeastern Kansas lightning bug territory. Not all that distant from Austin. The fireflies lit up those muggy summer evenings. I remember my brother and sister and I chasing them amongst the backyard swing set which backed up against dense undergrowth. We didn’t stop until the jars were filled with bugs and grass. We came inside, punched air holes in the lids, and marveled at our catch.  

The Bass family repeats this “time-honored ritual.”

Writes Rick: “That simple, phenomenal, marvelous miracle – so easy to behold – as old familiar things left us, replaced by a newness in the world. The heck with electricity, or flashlights. Yes. This is the world my daughters deserve. This is the right world for them.”

We see the world anew through children’s eyes. That’s an old saying, isn’t it? It’s one thing to say it and other to illustrate it with stories from personal lives, told well. That’s what this book is about. It will help you as an adult take another wonder-filled look at nature. And that’s what I’m planning to do today – take another look at my rejuvenating strawberry plants and a crocus rising from winter and the buds on my maple and the deep blue sky.    

To order “Companions in Wonder,” go here. It’s a $21.95 trade paperback. ISBN-10: 0-262-51690-X; ISBN-13: 978-0-262-51690-7  

President Obama declares a "major disaster" in Wyoming due to flooding

File under "That Darn Federal Gubment:"

President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster in Wyoming because of spring and summer flooding.

The action means the federal government will help the state pay for costs incurred from damaged roads, highways and other infrastructure.

Seven people have died in Wyoming this spring and summer in waters running high from heavy rain and melting record snowpack.

The state's response included deploying Wyoming National Guard members and low-risk prison inmates to several areas around the state to help fight flooding.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has estimated damage to public infrastructure at $4.2 million. The number is expected to go higher. Agriculture losses are being assessed separately.

Rivers and streams continue to run high throughout most of the state.

Read more: http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/article_9dd67751-8c60-5aaf-9028-c4454b042d93.html#ixzz1Su4f2KDg

Not nice to fool Mother Nature -- or the Internet

On Monday, I was musing about my garden and telling you folks out home about my wonderful high plains strawberries. I ended the post with this: "Now if we can just keep the hail at bay..."

You know what happened on Tuesday. A torrent of golfball-sized hail destroyed gardens and roofs and cars. Nobody hurt, thank goodness.

Except for the strawberries. They were shredded. I have a few plants with leaves and blossoms remaining. I plucked a half-dozen ripe fruits from the wreckage. As I surveyed the carnage, I thought about how it's not nice to fool Mother Nature. Or tempt her with a hail challenge.

Maybe it was the Internet's fault. Perhaps we have underestimated its power.

From now on, this blog will only spell out things like h-a-i-l and t-o-r-n-a-d-o.

"Berry Prairie" taking shape on UW Biodiversity Center roof

Hymenoxys grandiflora by Susan Marsh, from Wyoming Native Plant Society web site.

This is cool (in more ways than one):

Planting is underway on a green roof being established at the University of Wyoming's Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center. Landscapers are installing a variety of native grasses, wildflowers, cacti and shrubs, among other things.

Greg Brown, director of the Biodiversity Center, that native plants are being used, ones that grow within a 20-mile radius of the campus.

WPR: Green roof installed at UW Biodiversity Center

Olyeller clashes with Olblue

Tea Party Slim has recreation on his mind this Fourth of July weekend.

"Glendo?" I asked, mentioning a state park about 90 miles north of Cheyenne.

Slim sneered. "Too many Greenies."

I nodded. "We should put up a southern border fence."

Slim looked pensive. "Might work -- just a fence to keep out the Liberals. Colorado's crawling with them."

I laughed. "A fence with a Liberal detector? Turn back anyone with a pointy little head?"

"Or drinking a latte." He joined the laughter.

"Obama bumper sticker? Turn 'em around, tell 'em to get back to Boulder."

"Two Obama bumper stickers? Lock 'em up!"

"On what charge?"

Slim paused. "Reckless endangerment -- of Wyoming's citizens."

"DUI: Driving Under the Influence -- of Liberal Ideas."

A real knee-slapper. Slim slapped his knee. "Aiding and abetting -- terrorists."

I ceased laughing. "See Slim, there you go ruining a good time by going all Tea Party on me."

"What?"

"And we were having such a good time together bashing Colorado Liberals."

Slim tried to make amends. "Look, I was just..."

"Heard it all before, Slim. Obama is soft on terrorists. He may be one himself, seeing as he's from Kenya and his father was a Muslim. Isn't that the Tea Party line?"

"There's no Tea Party line," Slim said, looking defensive. "We're not a political party so we don't have a party line."

"That's true," I said. "Let's just say that those are typical Tea Party talking points."

"We don't have talking points."

"Yelling points?"

Slim smiled. "I just yelled once at a town hall meeting last year and now I'm a yeller?"

"Ol' Yeller?"

"That's a pretty good Twitter handle."

"I'll steer clear of your posts."

"C'mon Mike, I'll be olyeller and you can be Ol' Blue, as in blue state."

I stared at Slim. "Not bad -- Ol' Blue. But it sounds a bit like the name of a hound dog some Alabama KKK guy would own. 'Sic 'em, Blue, sic that pointy-headed Liberal. Get that colored fella next."

Slim slapped me on the back like some Alabama KKK guy. "I love joshin' with you Olblue, but I have to get rolling. The misses and the RV are waiting."

"Where are you going?

"It's a secret."

"State park?"

"No."

"National park? National forest?"

"No."

"BLM land?"

"None of those. A bunch of us own some land up around Laramie Peak. Private land, so we can recreate in peace."

I imagined a forest grove with a dozen RVs circled up like Conestogas. Slim and his fellow Tea Party windbags sat by the fire roasting Obamacare and big gubment. The little women were barefoot (too old to be pregnant) and busy cooking and cleaning and cutting firewood. I wondered what circle of Dante's Inferno this would be.

"You have fun, Slim. While you're recreating in the mountains, the Liberal misses and I will be plotting the overthrow of the U.S. Government."

"Hey," he said, standing tall, "that's our job."

Photo: Tea Party Slim is out there somewhere, plotting mischief. Photo of WY Shirley Rim/Hwy. 77 (used under Creative Commons license).

We hate that darn gubment! But thanks for the darn flood money!

Floods in Basin along the Big Horn River. Saratoga swamped by the North Platte. Creeks creeping toward flood stage in Sheridan and Johnson counties. Rez facing floods. Grand Teton National Park getting ready for high water. The Snake River keeps on rising and the snow has just started melting. Get the latest on Wyoming floods at http://trib.com/special-section/flood/

File this under "That Darn Federal Gubment:"

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Friday announced that the federal government will provide $3 million in financial and technical assistance to five Western states to help battle potential flooding. Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming will each receive $600,000 in aid.

After the drought comes the deluge

DAN CEPEDA Star-Tribune:  Vicky Marlow takes snapshots of the swollen North Platte River near the whitewater park in Casper on Friday afternoon. The river has risen past its highest point last year, according to experts, and is expected to keep rising.

I spent most of my day working in the yard. Normally on May 28, I would have applied a healthy dose of sunscreen. I am a freckle-faced Celt, prone to sunburn and skin cancer. However, the sun made only a brief appearance in Cheyenne today. No sunscreen required. The rest of the day was cloudy and, as I was grilling salmon for dinner, the rains came. We're not getting cataclysmic storms, just steady rains. The mountains continue to get snow and, when the thaw does come, we're going to have some bitchin' floods.

Gov. Mead has dispatched the Wyoming National Guard to flood-prone areas of the state, which includes all but my own Laramie County, land of little rain and small creeks. Our local waterway is Dry Creek, which gives you some idea of how little water we usually have. All I can say about Dry Creek is that it is a bit less dry than normal, but not exactly a raging torrent.

On the other hand, the North Platte in Saratoga and Casper and the Laramie River in Laramie are out of their banks. The Popo Agie and the Snake are flooding, as is the Belle Fourche. You've got to hand it to us -- we have some sweet names for our creeks/rivers.

Last spring, I was in Lander as the Popo Agie roared through town, undercutting foundations of riverside homes and roiling over its banks. On the reservation, water was over the roads and more was expected. Much more is expected this year.

We have it pretty good compared to our fellow Americans in Mississippi and Louisiana. Still, our neighbors that serve in the National Guard will not be barbecuing but will be on alert this weekend, prepared to sandbag and rescue as the need arises. Think of them on Memorial Day. Think of them as you pay your taxes. Think of them the next time you criticize government employees.

Joplin, MO, not so far away from Cheyenne, WY

Joplin, Missouri, is about the same size as Cheyenne, Wyoming.

If a tornado wiped out one-third of Cheyenne and killed 132 residents, we would come together to take care of one another -- no doubt about that. Disasters bring out the best in people. A few days ago, I watched on CBS as neighbors and first responders worked together in the rain to search for an 80-year-old woman. They removed the rubble of the two-story home all the way to the basement. No sign of the elderly woman.

We are usually not asked to go to such lengths to help our neighbors. We will, if needed.

Meanwhile, we can send donations to the Red Cross:

The Red Cross depends on financial donations to help in times of disaster. Those who want to help people affected by disasters like tornadoes, floods and wildfires, as well as countless crises at home and around the world, can make a donation to support American Red Cross Disaster Relief. This gift enables the Red Cross to prepare for and provide shelter, food, emotional support and other assistance in response to disasters. Visit www.redcross.org or call 1-800-RED-CROSS; people can also text the word “REDCROSS” to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Contributions may also be sent to local American Red Cross chapters or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013.

Love them budget cuts -- except when it affects "our park"

Put this under the heading of "we don't need that darn federal gubment."

All of us in the West love the national parks and national forests. Some on the Right believe that parks such as Yellowstone -- a national treasure and international heritage site -- takes care of itself, that you just push the self-clean button when all the tourists go home in September and it takes care of itself.

Yellowstone visitation is up over the past two summers. Here are some 2010 numbers from the NPS: 

It has been a record-breaking summer for Yellowstone National Park. Visitation figures for June, July, and now August, have all shattered previous records. Yellowstone hosted 854,837 visitors in August. It is the first time August visitation has passed the 800,000 mark, and is up more than 81,000 from the previous August record of 773,307 visitors set back in 1995. Visitation for the 3 summer months topped 2.5 million. Visitation for the first 8 months of the year was almost 2.87 million.  

With gas prices climbing above $4 per gallon, this summer looks to be another blockbuster for national parks in the West, including my favorites -- Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Rocky Mountain. Meanwhile, Republicans in the House want to cut budgets on all domestic spending. 

There's an irony here. Energy exploration is the number one industry in Wyoming followed closely by tourism with agriculture a distant third. Our U.S. Congressional delegation want to cut domestic spending but seem to be O.K. with us spending freely in Iraq and Afghanistan. And $4 billion in tax breaks for oil companies? That's fine with them too. But what about keeping the toilets clean and the roads repaired in Yellowstone? Forget it!

So the National Park Foundation is raising money to make up the shortfall:   

Dear Friend, Imagine for just one moment a world without our national parks…no Yellowstone, no Grand Canyon, no Yosemite. No opportunity to share these great treasures with your children, to build memories together that would last a lifetime. We need your help! Our parks are constantly facing the threat of budget cuts and shortfalls. This year alone our parks faced a final budget cut of more than $132 million. This has had a dramatic impact on the nearly 400 national parks spanning 84 million acres of stunning scenery and historical shrines. We can’t sit idly by while America’s national parks are being compromised. Help us to ensure that our national parks continue to receive the resources they need to protect fragile ecosystems and wildlife habitats, restore and maintain hundreds of miles of trails, fund educational programs that introduce children to our parks, and support thousands of volunteers that assist our park rangers and the millions of visitors the parks see each year. Now is the best time to show your support for our national parks. Thanks to the generosity of National Park Foundation Board member Jay Kislak, if you donate now, your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $50,000! America’s national parks belong to you. Please make a generous donation today to NPF. Only you can guarantee the future of our national parks.  

Know Nothings take over the G.O.P.

I'm not surprised by the fact that the anti-science wing of the G.O.P. has taken over Congress. That's what they campaigned on. But there are some people in this group that, at least from the outside, appear normal and logical and even attended college.

Rep. John Shimkus of Illinois says we need not worry about the planet being destroyed because, citing chapter 8, verse 22 of the Book of Genesis, God promised Noah it wouldn’t happen again after the great flood.

According to his official web site, Rep. Shimkus received a Bachelor of Science in general engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1980. He serves on the House Commerce and Energy Committee.


How did this engineer and military officer turn into a proud member of the G.O.P. Know Nothing Caucus? He had to pass muster with the Tea Party Know Nothings to get into office and must remain a loyal member to get reelected in 2012.

“I personally believe that the solar flares are more responsible for climatic cycles than anything that human beings do. …” — Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, Wisconsin

Rep. Sensenbrenner (from his web site):

Jim was born in Chicago and later moved to Wisconsin with his family. He graduated from the Milwaukee Country Day School and did his undergraduate studies at Stanford University, where he majored in political science. He then earned his law degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1968.... Jim’s current committee assignments include serving as the Vice Chairman of the Committee on Science and Technology and he also serves on the Committee on the Judiciary.  Congressman Sensenbrenner is Chairman of the Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security Subcommittee.  He also serves on the Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet Subcommittee (Judiciary), as well as the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee (Science and Technology) and the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee (Science and Technology).

What does our own lone House Rep, Cynthia Lummis, think about science? She received her Bachelor of Science in animal science and biology from the University of Wyoming. She is a foe of the Obama Administration's efforts to regulate greenhouse gases, especially those emitted by the coal industry, Wyoming's number one industry. She believes that climate change has been exaggerated. These stances are not surprising. Coal and oil and natural gas pay the bills in Wyoming. We saw coal's clout yesterday when Ken Salazar flew into Cheyenne to hobnob with Republican Gov. Mead and to announce that millions of acres of Wyoming will now be open to King Coal. Good for Arch Coal, good for Wyoming, bad for the planet.


Wyoming Senators Enzi and Barrasso continuer to pander to the lowest common denominator, even though they won't be up for reelection until 2014. Sen. Enzi wants to save the Edison light bulb and Dr. Sen. Barrasso is anti-healthcare. The world has gone nuts. Or maybe it's just the U.S. Congress.  

Toxic tulipmania in a Wyoming national forest?

Daily Kos going crazy with posts about Wyoming (see earlier one from today). This one is about the rush to obtain unobtainium and other assorted strategic stuff known as "rare earths" in the Black Hills National Forest. Strip mines are planned. Go to Toxic tulipmania in a Wyoming national forest?

Jackson Hole National Monument

Neat Daily Kos post on the Jackson Hole National Monument