Smoke, school policy and baseball

A little bit about this and that on a muggy summer evening.

Smoke. Here we go again. Our skies have once again been choked with smoke billowing south from forest fires burning to the north.

While the smoke-filled air makes for great sunset photos, it certainly mars the quality of life for folks living in the West.

According to the National Interagency Fire Center, there are currently 95 large, active wildfires in the USA being managed with full suppression strategies. The current fires have burned 2,180,105 acres, and to date in 2024, 28,154 wildfires have burned 4,449,282 acres.

There are six fires burning in Montana, one in Wyoming, 10 in Idaho, eight in Washington and 35 in Oregon. There are hundreds more burning in Canada.

About three years ago, Wyoming Public Television was scheduled to visit the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area for a segment about the park, having completed a great piece about Queen Bee Honey Candy. We were looking forward to the chance to promote our area, but when it came time to shoot the segment, the smoke was so thick in the region that the shoot was called off. Smoke would have greatly marred the production.

Is this to be our mid to late summer condition every year now? We can remember smoky skies every few years, but now it appears that smoke in the air will be an annual event, though on certain days the skies clear due to the direction of the wind, as happened Wednesday.

Whether one chooses to blame climate change, forest mismanagement or something else, one thing is perfectly evident: Murky, smoke-filled skies caused by wildland fires are ruining our summers and our quality of life.

Wyoming has always been known for crystal clear blue skies. Now, our summer skies are grey. It’s truly unfortunate.

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Last week’s story about the Professional Boundary Policy in School District No. 1 has stirred a lot of, shall we say, discussion in our community. Informally known as the “hugging policy,” though it covers far more than that, the boundary policy was approved on second reading at the July school board meeting on a 3-2 vote, with two board members absent.

We have heard arguments for and against the policy, but suffice it to say that all of us – educators, district patrons, administrators and this newspaper staff – need to understand the policy better before weighing in on it, and School District One took steps this week to get the policy out to parents.

As a newspaper, we hope to write a story next week to better explain the rationale behind the policy and how it will actually work. With more information in the hands of parents and patrons, better informed opinions can then be formed.

In the end, this episode shows that more information is better for all concerned when it comes to significant school policies.

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The Lovell Mustangs fought tooth and nail at the State Class A American Legion Baseball tournament in Powell this week and were two runs short of playing for the state title, falling to often powerful Cody on Tuesday, 4-3.

Lovell manager Michael Jameson and his coaches have done a great job developing this team and seeing that the players peak at the right time. The team is fundamentally sound, has great pitching depth and has developed a never-say-die attitude. Batters up and down the lineup have shown they can hit the ball.

The boys of summer in North Big Horn County have been fun to watch this year, and with the success of the Lovell C team this year as well as the A team, the future is bright for the Mustangs.