Dubois–My husband Tory Taylor and I have been riding horseback around northwest Wyoming for more than 35 years. We outfitted wilderness pack trips into the Washakie and Fitzpatrick wilderness areas out of Dubois searching for the perfect camp near a tranquil trout stream, elk meadow or bighorn sheep cliff. During that time we’ve seen a lot of changes along the trail and around our home in the upper Wind River Valley. Perhaps no change has been so widespread and ominous as the devastation of the ancient whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) forests by the pine bark beetle (Dendroctonus pondersoae). During the past decade, the pine bark beetle and accompanying blister rust have swept into Wyoming like a slow-moving northern storm.
