A decade-plus-long fight over potentially hazardous levels of fecal bacteria in a scenic Sweetwater River tributary may be closer to ending — at least on paper — if a Wyoming proposal to reclassify the stream and change regulatory thresholds goes through.
At issue is Lander Creek, a small stream along the southwest tip of the Wind River Range that has seen on-again, off-again environmental impairment listings for a strain of intestinal bacteria that can cause diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and stomach pains when ingested. The waterway’s noncompliance with the Clean Water Act directly traces to Cora-based environmental activist Jonathan Ratner, who in 2010 submitted water quality samples that led to its initial impairment.
Reached Monday in India while convalescing from a bike wreck, Ratner said he’s not surprised by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality’s current proposal, which reasons that an impaired stretch of Lander Creek ought to be held to less-stringent E. coli standards because it’s seldom-used and too small for immersive recreation.
“They will do anything to avoid admitting that there is tons of cow shit in our water,” Ratner said. “I’ve collected E. coli data across multiple states over multiple decades, and basically there is no place where cows have access to a waterbody and it does not violate Clean Water Act standards.”
Ratner’s involvement in the Lander Creek saga has directly caused its yo-yo-like impairment status.
After the Wyoming DEQ first recognized its waters to be unfit for recreation back in 2012, Lander Creek’s and two other streams’ impairments were undone when the Wyoming Department of Agriculture, Wyoming Stock Growers Association and Wyoming Association of Conservation Districts voiced concern that the samples came from Ratner, who then worked for the Western Watersheds Project, a livestock-focused and combative environmental advocacy group. Explaining the reversal, state regulators reasoned that Ratner’s incubating machine was “self-made” and “wasn’t certified” and produced questionable results.
At the time, the Wyoming Stock Growers Association’s executive vice president, Jim Magagna, specifically took issue with Lander Creek, asking that its listing be scrapped. The stream flows through his state land grazing allotment, where Ratner took his sample.
“Of utmost importance to us, this sample was taken while trespassing on state lands,” Magagna wrote to the DEQ in 2013. “The only authorized public access to state lands off of a public right of way is … for the exclusive purposes of hunting, fishing, and ‘casual recreational uses.’”
That dispute precipitated a change to state trespass laws criminalizing data collection, including photography, on private and “open” land. That law, however, was challenged in court and ultimately found to be unconstitutional and repealed.
Other regulatory changes related to Ratner’s grazing-focused water quality sampling followed.
The Wyoming DEQ updated its sampling requirements, making it more difficult for individuals and non-governmental organizations to assist in water quality monitoring.
Then, in 2015, the DEQ categorically relaxed E. coli standards for streams with modeled average flows of less than six cubic feet of water per second. For the last decade, those waters statewide have had a regulatory threshold for fecal coliform bacteria that’s five times higher than it used to be. The state agency’s rationale is that immersive, full-body recreation wasn’t possible in the smaller streams, and so higher concentrations of fecal constituents should be allowed.
Environmental regulators took samples from Lander Creek in June, July and August 2016 to verify findings that came out of Ratner’s samples. The water was noncompliant, registering an average of 318 bacterial organisms per 100 milligrams — about 2.5 times the safety criteria. The stream reappeared as having E. coli issues in Wyoming DEQ’s 2020 impaired water report.
Two other streams that Ratner had previously sampled were tested again, but both were found to be compliant with the new, less-stringent E. coli threshold for low-flow waters. Pacific Creek, another Wind River Range drainage, was assessed and cleared and so was Clarks Draw, a diminutive Hoback River tributary. Data from the assessments show that both would have been listed as E. coli-impaired using the DEQ’s earlier, more stringent regulatory threshold.
Lander Creek was listed as impaired because modeling suggested it carried too much water and should be subject to E. coli standards more protective of human health.
That’s a judgment that the Sublette County Conservation District disagreed with. The county-funded organization conducted the sampling and analysis on Lander Creek, using a Wyoming Department of Agriculture water quality grant.
Responding in writing to Lander Creek’s proposed listing in 2020, the conservation district successfully convinced the state to trim the length of impaired waters from 6.3 miles to 2.5 miles, arguing that low volumes above a tributary named Ord Creek should subject that section of stream to the less stringent E. coli standard.
The conservation district also asked Wyoming DEQ to reevaluate the lower stream for its recreational potential, a request that led to the state’s current proposal. Mike Henn, who manages the district, said that his intent is not to circumvent the Clean Water Act.
“It’s not like we were pinpointing Lander Creek and trying to get it off [the list] by trying to find a loophole,” Henn told WyoFile. “The model was not accurate.”
Henn disagreed with Ratner that the situation was a clear-cut case of livestock polluting Lander Creek.
“Grazing is not the only source of E. coli,” Henn said. He listed other sources: “Wildlife, recreation, humans, canines.”
Not far away in the region, breathtaking Lonesome Lake — where few livestock tread, but people swarm — is being investigated for a potential E. coli impairment.
Environmental regulators’ proposal for Lander Creek is outlined in a “use attainability analysis,” which is a “relatively uncommon” maneuver for the state agency, according to Eric Hargett, DEQ’s assistant supervisor for surface water monitoring. The DEQ last prepared one in 2011 covering 11 waterbodies. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agreed to it, redesignating those streams and subjecting them to the less-stringent E. coli standards.
Wyoming DEQ’s analysis argues that “full body contact water recreation is not attainable” in Lander Creek.
“Field observations and surveys indicated that fishing, camping, wading, and picnicking were minimal along the 2.5-mile segment, and with no reports of full body contact water recreation such as swimming or child’s play,” the document states.
Magagna, whose land and grazing allotment are bisected by Lander Creek, agrees.
“I’ve not seen primary recreation taking place there — swimming or getting in the stream,” Magagna told WyoFile. “It’s rare to see anybody even camping near that part of the stream.”
Not everybody in the neighborhood is on the same page. A landowner survey appended to Wyoming DEQ’s analysis includes a statement from an unnamed person — their identity was redacted — who stated that fishing and camping take place there.
“I see a lot of camping and picnicking and wading,” the landowner wrote.
Wyoming DEQ is accepting feedback on its proposal until Oct. 22. Comments can be submitted through the agency’s electronic portal.
Ratner, for one, won’t be weighing in. It’s not because he’s out of the country, dealing with broken ribs and nerve damage. After years of tussling with state authorities over livestock grazing’s impacts on water quality, he gave up the fight.
“It was such a torrential downpour of effort to avoid complying with the Clean Water Act that I just gave up on Wyoming,” he said. “I just couldn’t take it.”
I for one have submerged in Lander creek after a hard day of hunting elk in area 99. Two summers ago, both of my boys had a blast catching creek chubs there and both were wading and jumping into the deeper pockets. I’m glad they didn’t get sick.
Maybe those cattlemen and woman should have to use that water themselves if they feel it is safe.
Maybe welfare cowboss Managna is right, let’s delist Lander Creek. While we’re at it, instead of installing septic tanks, rural homes should just direct their effluent straight into the streams of this State. Cities shouldn’t treat wastewater, just dump straight it into the Platte River. I’m all fine for this if Managna would source his drinking water straight from Lander Creek. Beef cows produce 50+ pounds of manure per day. Cattle allowed to access stream beds will put some of that shit straight into the water. They say people don’t swim in Lander Creek. Fair enough, but Lander Creek flows into the Sweetwater River which flows in the Casper Reservoirs like Pathfinder and Alcova (Where people do swim) and ends in in the North Platte and directly into Casper’s potable water system. But, sure, Managna, keep letting the cows and sheep shit into the streams and we’ll all look the other way. Right.
The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality wants to remove Lander Creek from its list of E. coli–impaired waters — not because the water is cleaner, but because they say it’s not used for swimming.
This is a blatant attempt to sidestep the Clean Water Act. If pollution exceeds the legal limit, the waterway is impaired. It’s that simple. But instead of requiring cleanup or better grazing practices, DEQ wants to reclassify the creek to a weaker standard — letting more fecal contamination slide just because people aren’t doing cannonballs into it.
People still camp, wade, and fish in and around Lander Creek. Exposure doesn’t only happen through swimming. The idea that low-flow streams should be allowed to carry more livestock waste just because they’re “too small to swim in” is a dangerous precedent — especially in a state that values outdoor recreation and public lands.
If DEQ keeps lowering the bar every time water quality fails, then the Clean Water Act means nothing in Wyoming. Protecting clean water means confronting the source of contamination — not rewriting the rules to benefit powerful grazing interests. Wyoming residents deserve better.
Magagna and his welfare cowpokes once again don’t want to take responsibility for their actions, but still always have their handout for a freebie. When livestock are allowed unmitigated access to riparian areas and stream beds, of course they’re going to shit all over the place and contaminate the waters. If any Wyofile readers want to see total riparian destruction on public lands, take a drive on both Hwy 14 and 14A and see all the cattle along the creeks and rivers.
I assume Highways 14 and 14A through the Bighorn National Forest. Cows everywhere, streambeds included and hardly a tuft of grass to be found. North Tongue River looks like a feedlot and compound the fact that cattle were allowed to be grazed during a severe drought.
Wow, Magagna is just not in touch with reality. He considers public land as private and one who accesses state lands is actually trespassing. That’s messed up. In Magagna’s quest to obtain almost free public land grazing for his welfare cowboys, he’s also contributing to a blatant impairment of stream via his almost free grazed sheep. Here’s a solution for Magagna regarding his disgust for public land users and denial that livestock shitting in streams causes pollution – get your range maggot livestock off our public lands. By ending the nearly free grazing and your welfare cry-babying, this will allow you to not worry about it and he can go about his life making an honest living vs. being heavily supported by govt subsidies
socialist ranchers, using state and federal land at below cost for personal gain and wanting to deny access to the public