Section Tuesday, September 26, 2006 The Source rat's leader IMe nature excatiiig "When you add computers, video games, TV and all those things, we're absolutely producing a culture of children that don't identify with the outdoors. Suzanne Lewis Yellowstone National Park Superintendent they do come, what will be their comfort level in the parks? What will they want in these wild places?" Lewis said a declining interest in nature may mean a lack of long-term stewardship for places like Yellowstone Park, but she said such a trend also represented "an opportunity in Cody and other communities." "When your visitors come to Cody, you have to look at how to market yourself," she said. "What are you doing to help families have a good experience in the outdoors?" The same challenge faces those in Yellowstone Park who create interpretive programs, she said. "You have to have exciting, fun things they want to do. If it looks like a boring walk with Mom and Dad, Please see Visitors, 3B By RUFFIN PREVOST Gazette Wyoming Bureau CODY, Wyo.
With changing demographics among visitors to national parks, and some observing that kids increasingly feel less comfortable in nature, it's time for gateway communities to launch a "no child left inside" program. That was the message Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Suzanne Lewis delivered to a gathering of business owners and civic leaders Monday in Cody. "Visitation is going down nationwide in the National Park Service," said Lewis. "For Yellowstone in 2006, we'll finish up at about a 1-percent drop" from last year. Lewis said there was also "a lot of debate going on about 'nature deficit citing "Last Child in the CBM helps Sheridan's economy SHERIDAN, Wyo.
(AP) Wyoming has seen an abundance of mineral wealth from the production of coalbed methane this decade. The industry has been a significant economic contributor to the Sheridan area, as there are almost 3,500 completed wells in the county and more than 9,000 permits have been issued, according to the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Besides providing jobs for area workers, the industry has increased the county's valuation by $282 million since 1998 and the amount of property taxes collected by $18,915,884 since 2000. It has also provided increased business to hotels, restaurants and other establishments frequented by methane workers. While business has been booming, how long will it last? According to Ron Surdam, Wyoming's state geologist, the Powder River Basin has about another 10 to 15 years worth of producible gas.
He said there is an estimated 20 trillion to 25 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas left in the basin. Twenty percent of CBM produced in the state comes from the basin, Surdam said. About 320 billion Please see CBM, 3B things, we're absolutely producing a culture of children that don't identify with the outdoors." Which could mean bad news for national parks and the communities that depend on them for business, she said. "If that is true, then who is going to come to parks in the next 20 years?" Lewis asked. "And when Woods," a book by Richard Louv that postulates today's Internet-generation is less likely to identify with nature.
"When I grew up in suburban Ohio, we played in the woods all day long," Lewis said. "But today, a lot of kids aren't comfortable in the outdoors. When you add computers, video games, TV and all those rs 4 I 1 mn 1- i tl -'L i A1 l)iA 1r 'V; 1 il I B' a i -luafc at k-J RUFFIN PREVOSTGazette Staff Life appeared to imitate art Friday as Fred Breisch, left, and Dave Miller move a painting by Thorn Ross called "It Went Up with a Bang" in preparation for the Buffalo Bill Art Show Sale in Cody. Setting a new record in its 25th year, the show earned more than $1 million to benefit the Cody Country Chamber of Commerce and the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Art show earns record receipts Michele Thome, an independent researcher working in Yellowstone National Park, separates her garbage and puts it into recycle bins near Mammoth.
The park is now recycling 65 percent of its garbage. Yellowstone Park gets into recycling ions of visitors 1 1 if- a- i 3 By RUFFIN PREVOST Gazette Wyoming Bureau CODY, Wyo. Rain didn't keep art fans at home last week, with a million-dollar art show and sold-out ball topping last week's Rendezvous Royale events. "We wanted to make a million dollars this year, so the committee was pretty excited," said Deb Stafford, director of the Buffalo Bill Art Show Sale, which took in $1,048,050 from 'i leave tons of garbage each year Story By MIKE STARK Photos By DAVID GRUBBS Of The Gazette Staff YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK Bears used to be the biggest garbage worry here. Now it's keeping as much out of the landfill as possible.
Instead of trucking garbage away to the dump, Yellowstone's trash today is sifted and separated and 65 percent of it is recycled. There are the usual suspects from the recycling bin such as cardboard, paper, cans and glass. But at Yellowstone, add these to the list: tires, construction materials, used cooking oil and propane bottles from camping stoves. Tons of compost On top of that, about 1,900 tons of uneaten food, coffee grounds and other material are mashed into compost every year. 'Twenty years ago, we were throwing everything in a garbage can and taking it to a landfill," Steve Iobst, the park's chief of maintenance, said --1 Steve Iobst, chief of maintenance at Yellowstone National Park, walks by a propane bottle recycle trailer at the park.
Among the park's recyclable are the bottles used with camping stoves. Art show winners Among those artists who won awards at the Buffalo Bill Art Show Sale were: Joseph Bohler, of Monument won the William Weiss Purchase Award for "Autumn Snow Along the Missouri." Cyrus Afsary, of Scottsdale, won the Painting Award for "Mystical Transformation." R.V. Greeves, of Fort Washakie, won the 2006 Sculpture Award Steve Devenyns of Cody won the People's Choice Award for "Spirit of Wyoming." Afsary, Grant Redden of Evanston and Jim Wilcox of Jackson won the Artists' Choice award in a three-way tie. Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey of Bigfork, Mont, won the Dean St Clair Memorial Award. Nikolo Balkanski, of Lakewood, Colo, won the Mike Maier Award.
Friday's sale and related events. Celebrating its silver anniversary, the sale benefits the Cody Country Chamber of Commerce and the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. This year's sale was the first to top $1 million While a steady rain fell, volunteers worked backstage Friday evening to keep artwork dry beneath a party tent, and more than 1,000 guests bid on paintings, sculptures and other works by more than 100 artists. Stafford said her crew was "worried a little bit about the weather" but heard no complaints during the sold-out show. Selling works this year for the first time by deceased artists "taps into a different kind of collector, as well as providing something for everyone," said Stafford.
as he guided a white SUV to a transfer site near Mammoth Hot Springs. "That's not practicing what we preach." Even five years nn on i TV i percent of the trash I from Yellowstone's IOBST 3 million or so visitors each year Small propane tanks crushed Last year, 5,000 propane bottles recycled on prototype recycler The latest items on the list of recyclables in Yellowstone National Park are those small propane bottles that fuel camp stoves and lanterns. Park officials, tired of picking the 1-pound containers out of the trash, commissioned Billings-based WWW Industries to come up with a solu-tioa It arrived in the form of a mobile recycling machine that sucks the excess propane out of the bottles and uses that gas to crush the bottles into steel that can be used again. "It's a closed system," said Steve Iobst, Yellowstone's chief of maintenance. Last year, about 5,000 propane bottles were recycled on the first-of-its-kind machine in Yellowstone and Grand Teton.
The prototype recycler not only reduces the park's garbage load but also removes a potential found its way to the landfill Spurred by its employees, the park since then has embarked on one of the most ambitious recycling programs in the national park system Waiting for change "Eventually they will change the recycling model for the parks," said Bill Crane, general manager of the Helena-based recycling cooperative Headwaters, which trucks away tons of recyclables from Yellowstone each year. Not only is recycling the right thing to do, Crane said, but it costs a little over half of what it would cost to simply send it to a landfill. Please see Recycling, 3B Jim Anderson unloads propane cylinders from his garbage truck in Yellowstone. Anderson said the park picks up about 15 cylinders per day In the summer months. danger from trucks that crush and compact trash every day.
It's also become a curiosity as it has moved around the park. "We have a lot of people ask about it," Iobst said. Americans throw away about 60 million small propane canisters each year, park officials estimate. If the mobile recycler proves to be a success, they're hoping it will be replicated elsewhere. The Buffalo Bill Historical Center's annual Patrons Ball was attended Saturday by a capacity crowd of 570, with proceeds from that fundraiser still being calculated.
Cody resident Shirley Lehman won a restored 1966 Mustang convertible in a BBHC raffle, said Jill Gleich, special-events coordinator. Raffle sales raised around $123,000, said Gleich, with tickets selling for $20. Lehman has the option of keeping the car or taking $25,000 cash. "We may decide to take the cash instead," Lehman said. "I really don't know where I have room to park another car.
We're still debating." at Contact Ruffin Prevost rprevostbillmgsgazette.com or 307-527-7250..
