Using Western Landscapes - Mountains and Plains: The Ecology of Wyoming Landscapes - page 305

Chapter 18 Using Western
Landscapes

the first euroAmerican immigrants to Wyoming terri-
tory began building their homes in the 1820s. the human
population at that time numbered fewer than 10,000, 99
percent of them tribe members. 1 Most likely, bison, elk,
deer, and pronghorn outnumbered people by 150 to 1.
then, and for the previous 10,000 years or more, the
primary human uses of the land were hunting and gath-
ering. Forty years later the population of domesticated
livestock still numbered only a few thousand—mostly
horses—and timber harvesting was restricted to small
trees used for fuel, shelters, sleds, and weapons. the great-
est human influence was igniting fires that sometimes
burned for weeks or months. tribal council meetings to
discuss air and water quality were probably not necessary.
today there are about 575,000 people and somewhat
more than a million elk, deer, bison, moose, and prong-
horn in Wyoming. Livestock, mostly cattle and sheep,
number almost 2 million. A small proportion of the
land is cultivated; agriculture is concentrated in a few
areas at low elevations. Fossil fuels rather than wood
are the primary source of energy. Agriculture, techno-
logical advances, and towns and cities have benefited
many people, but they have also led to a need for envi-
ronmental quality councils at federal, state, and local
levels. conservation biologists and land managers are
faced with new challenges—the topic of this chapter.

West coast along the oregon trail . 2 A few of them estab-
lished homes along the way, but the first large wave of
immigrants arrived after the completion of the Union
Pacific Railroad in 1869. others arrived in the 1950s and
1970s, when Wyoming's oil, coal, uranium, natural gas,
and soda ash became more valuable to the nation as a
whole. Upticks in the annual census occurred with each
new development and were mostly associated with the
energy industry. tourists, campers, hunters, and anglers
come to Wyoming during the summer and fall.
During the past 200 years, new episodes of rapid
change have occurred. the world of native Americans
was turned upside down by the slaughter of bison and
the introduction of horses, cattle, and sheep. nothing
so severe has happened since then. Still, the rate of
population growth in western states has been above the
national average. Wyoming's population grew 14 per-
cent from 2000 to 2010, with some counties growing
much more rapidly. For example, campbell county's
population in the Powder River Basin grew by 37 per-
cent during that 10-year period, and Sublette county in
the upper Green River Basin grew by 73 percent.
new oil and natural gas developments were the pri-
mary cause for this latest wave of immigration, with
thousands of new wells drilled in the Powder River Basin
alone. Such activity has threatened biological diversity
through habitat fragmentation. An added threat has been
new rural housing developments, which provide places
where people can live close to the natural amenities that
more and more people enjoy—good hunting, fishing,
hiking, and biking. But traffic has increased along the

The New West

Hundreds of thousands of euroAmericans passed
through Wyoming in the mid-1800s, destined for the

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