Fire 2

May 27, 2017 at 7:30 pm

Hello All!

Today we got to explore a town called Cody, Wyoming. We began our small adventure when we were dropped off in a parking lot next to a famous Buffalo Bill’s Irma Hotel. As we walked down Sheridan Ave., we saw several shops that were promoting the wildlife which is there main attraction in Cody, Wyoming. We passed a store called True Indian which had a bunch of animal skulls, calf skins, even a bear rug outside of the shop. As we walked a little further we saw a jewelry store known as The Golden Buffalo which promoted the buffalo as the signature of Wyoming. They had a poster in their front window with the buffalo diamond necklace with the word, keepsake. We found it interesting that the jewelry store was promoting the buffalo as the keepsake as they do not have much buffalo in Cody in comparison with Yellowstone National Park.

(The picture to the left is of the the signature of Wyoming, aka the bison).

Another aspect of Cody we noticed as we were walking down the road was that the buildings were taller than in Jackson, Wyoming, and the downtown was not as symmetrical in architecture. By this I mean, buildings were different heights, and different designs where as in Jackson the buildings downtown were all the same height and all the same color and design for the most part.  The landscape was fairly flat around the town, with mountains in sight every direction we looked. The town itself was not directly a valley, however, parts of the town were located in the flood plain and a valley.  In Cody there are many ranchers that use the flat plains for their livestock to graze, however, we learned many locals are okay with the grizzlies being around the town, which are quite common in Cody, and strongly dislike the wolves.

As we walked down the main street (Sheridan Ave) we went into the local bookstore where we talked to an employee who moved to Cody six years ago. Laure, the employee, basically said that the locals believe in cohabiting with the wildlife and want to see the wildlife on their landscape. They do not want the animals to be afraid to come to their town, and as long as locals are smart about their surroundings then there is much less risk of attacks. Lauren believes that tourism is the town of Cody. Without tourism many local businesses would not be in town. She also touched briefly how as of the last few years tourism has been increasing dramatically in Yellowstone which increases the tourism in the surrounding towns as they need places to stay. She said locals for the most part appreciate their present as long as there is respect for them, and the town.  We saw outside of her show a sign that show’s her support for Yellowstone National Park which in turns creates more business in the town of Cody because more and more tourists are coming.

(The picture to the left is showing the town’s support for Yellowstone National Park which in turns benefits them due to tourism increasing).

We walked a bit further where we went into a high-end furniture shop. It was interesting as we walked around and saw the kinds furniture they were displaying. The furniture store was promoting the Wild West type of vibe, with wood bed frames, animal heads on walls, and animal printed chairs. We then had the opportunity to talk to the owner of the store who gave us quite the opposite opinion on not only the town, but on wolves from what we previously heard from others while on this trip. This was interesting to us because most people don’t like to give us their opinions on such conflicting issues like the wolves without knowing who we are really. However, she explained to us that the wolves kill to just kill. Her and her husband do participate in the managed hunts every season because she does not believe the wolves in Yellowstone that were reintroduced from Canada should not be allowed in Yellowstone. Although her and her husband do hunt the wolves, they don’t believe in hunting all predators. They have a family of foxes that live in their back yard and they have even given them names! She has horses, and last summer one of her mares gave birth to a colt, and the wolves came and killed the colt because they smelled the fresh placenta from the birthing process, so now when they have babies they have to get rid of all the blood/placenta immediately to avoid that situation taking place again.

(The picture to the left is of the high end furniture store we visited, and it shows the the kinds of furniture people in Cody use to decorate their homes/the look they want in their homes).

All in all, the individuals we talked to while in Cody wanted to educate us, and help us understand their view points even if we don’t agree.  They were not trying to argue, but rather explain the facts that they knew.  Managing wildlife is something that will never have one resolution because not everyone will be pleased with the final answer.  Cody was a larger town than Gardiner, and was bout three hours away from Gardiner.  However, I am glad we had the opportunity to go and learn new perspectives, and see the differences in landscape.

(This is a map of the route we took while in Cody).