The Wyoming Jet Set

The Wyoming Jet Set

By Michael McCoy

Michael McCoy

Left to right: Liz, Susan, and Nancy in Darby Canyon, New Year's Day 2010.

A bunch of us did a great ski tour up Darby Canyon last Friday afternoon, hoping to burn off some calories in preparation for a New Year's Day dinner feast. As we skied, Liz Davy, who organized the outing and the dinner, nonchalantly told us about a jet ride she'd taken earlier in the week. Liz is the silviculturist (tree person) for the Bridger-Teton National Forest, and is stationed in Jackson, though she lives in Teton Valley southeast of Driggs.

"I was invited to help guide [Wyoming] Governor Dave Freudenthal and Harris Sherman, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, on an air tour of the Bridger-Teton," Liz said. "I was told about the trip on Christmas Eve day, and we went out on Tuesday, December 29th."

She went on to explain that Gov. Freudenthal's goal was to have a key person from the Department of Agriculture tour some of western Wyoming's forest lands to get the message across that Colorado, known for its pine-beetle infestations, isn't the only state getting hit hard by the beetle.

"Also along for the ride besides Freudenthal, Sherman, the two pilots, and myself," Liz said, "were three of the governor's aides and the supervisor from the Shoshone National Forest. We boarded the governor's state jet in Cody, and from there flew over a lot of the Shoshone forest, up the North Fork and the South Fork. Then we flew down to the vicinity of Togwotee Pass and on toward Pinedale. From there, we went west to the Wyoming Range, going south from around Horse Creek to Kemmerer, where we ended up. Altogether, we were in the air about an hour and a half.

"The governor was really personable," Liz said, "and he seemed genuinely concerned about the pine beetle situation here. However, he wasn't so impressed when I told him I'm a vegetarian and not that crazy about the dining possibilities in Kemmerer, where we had lunch. 'That should teach you,' he said. I think he meant that should teach me not to be a vegetarian."

Starting this week, and continuing for the next few months, Liz will be in a new role as the acting district ranger on the Afton District of the Bridger-Teton National Forest. Her friends are proud of her, but also happy to know that she'll be coming home on weekends to telemark down the slopes and speed along the Nordic tracks of the west side of the Tetons.

Reader Comments:

Old to new | New to old

Jan 23, 2010 06:08 pm

Posted by CIndy

Hi there, I've been try to send Liz a Christmas card and I keep getting it sent back. Anyway you know her address? We were buddies when I was a ski bum in Driggs in the 8o's. She taught me how to ski powder. I miss Driggs and Targhee and the runs on the pass.

Feb 7, 2010 11:04 am

Posted by Michael M.

Cindy, I can give you Liz's address if you zip me an email at mac@powdermountainpress.com -- MM

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About This Blog

Michael McCoy

Editor Michael McCoy is a native Wyomingite who, through no choice of his own, moved to Iowa (“the third greatest state in the nation,” he says) when he was only a few weeks old. After high school graduation, he beelined it back to the University of Wyoming, where he earned a degree in Anthropology and the nickname of “Mac.” In addition to his Teton-area editorial duties, Mac works for the Missoula, Montana-based Adventure Cycling Association and writes freelance articles and books about the outdoors. “But that’s enough about me,” he says. “This blog is about you. I will prime the pump with an entry now and then--but ultimately, we hope it will be our readers, both locals and out-of-staters, who keep the streams of conversation flowing.”

Contributing blogger Susan Traylor Lykes was born and raised in the Denver area, a third-generation Coloradan. She spent much of her childhood in the mountains, and took up fly fishing at the tender age of ten, wielding her grandfather’s old bamboo rod and Pflueger reel. After graduating from the University of Vermont, Susan earned a master's degree in Town Planning from the University of Montana. For the past decade, she has focused on nonprofit land conservation and land use, serving on the boards of the Land Trust Alliance, the Teton Regional Land Trust, and the Orton Family Foundation.
Susan and her husband, Mayo, call both sides of the Tetons home. They are enthusiastic travelers and outdoorsmen — hiking, skiing, fly fishing, and bird hunting.

Contributing blogger Jeanne Anderson is a Cheyenne native and graduate of the University of Wyoming who has spent the last 25 years as a writer, PR consultant, columnist, and editor. Her passions include hiking, cooking reading, traveling, community, and creativity (she’s in her third term on the Idaho Commission on the Arts). She credits her broad practical streak to her parents, who started the first travel agency in the Cowboy State—from them she learned “every bathroom in the world is down the hall and to the left.” Jeanne and her husband Peter started Dark Horse Books in Driggs in 1995; their two-year experiment lasted 14 years. Now out from behind the bookstore counter, she’s looking forward to many new adventures.